WATERVILLE — Two women are headed to court next month after they allegedly invaded an elderly woman’s apartment on Water Street as she napped in her recliner and stole her purse containing $250 cash from the kitchen counter.

Renee Belisle, 33, and Lindsay Gillis, 26, both of 5A Poolers Park Way, were later arrested and taken to jail.

Police got a call at 2:53 p.m. Friday from the 85-year-old woman’s daughter saying her mother called her to report she had been taking a nap in her living room when she woke up to find a woman in her apartment, according to Deputy police Chief Charles Rumsey.

The 85-year-old looked in the kitchen and saw a woman dressed in a floral print shirt take her purse from the counter and flee the apartment, Rumsey said.

The woman’s daughter called police, who scoured the streets for a woman wearing such a shirt. The daughter also called family members, who spread out to search the South End.

Detective Duane Cloutier saw two women in the Water Street area — one of whom matched that description — acting in a suspicious manner, according to Rumsey.

Cloutier kept them within sight and called other officers. Police found the purse, which had some items of value missing from it, he said. Rumsey said the woman’s two sons also had found the suspects and were engaged in a verbal altercation when police arrived.

Officer Tim Hinton detained Gillis and Officer Ryan Dinsmore detained Belisle, who was wearing a floral print shirt, on Water Street near the former Dick’s Variety Store. Gillis sat down on the curb, reached into her pocket and threw its contents down a storm drain, according to Rumsey.

“We called the (Waterville) Sewerage District to assist us in getting items out of the storm drain — a Social Security card and some other items that linked back to the burglary of the victim,” he said. “Officer Hinton looked down the storm drain and saw what appeared to be credit cards and ID cards, which had obviously just been thrown down, that were later recovered by the Waterville Sewerage District.”

Police arrested Gillis. Hinton found on her person a bank receipt with the woman’s name on it, Rumsey said. Gillis also was wearing a backpack, and inside police found just under an ounce of marijuana in a plastic bag, he said.

Gillis was charged with class B felony burglary and class C felony theft, as she had theft convictions, and falsifying physical evidence, as she tried to destroy evidence by throwing it into the storm drain, Rumsey said. Her bail was set at $600 cash.

Belisle was charged with class B felony burglary and class C felony theft because she had multiple outstanding warrants for unpaid fines from Augusta District Court, Rumsey said. The pair were taken to Kennebec County jail in Augusta, where a jail spokesman said they remained Monday. Belisle’s bail was $350, he said.

The pair are scheduled to appear in Kennebec County Superior Court July 20.

Meanwhile, Rumsey said it appeared the pair did not know the woman who lived in the apartment.

“It looks like the door (to the apartment) was not forced, so it was not locked,” he said.

He said police are happy they were able to bring the case to a conclusion so quickly.

He said because Cloutier happened to be in the area and saw the suspects, “officers quickly responded and detained them.”

He said police are also “glad that the family members, although able to find and engage verbally with the suspects, did not attempt to start a physical altercation.”

“We’re glad that nobody was injured,” Rumsey said.

Amy Calder — 861-9247

acalder@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @AmyCalder17