MASSENA - Five hours after being released from the St. Lawrence County jail, a Canton man led state police on a brief pursuit that ended with him crashing his friend’s vehicle and being charged with third-degree grand larceny, first-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, and an aggravated driving while intoxicated count.

State police also charged Andrew M. Larche, 25, with reckless driving and ticketed him for speeding, failure to obey a police officer, red light violations, two speeding counts - including 85 mph in a 30 mph zone on Grove Street - and making an unsafe turn.

Mr. Larche was arraigned by acting Massena Village Justice James M. Crandall and sent to the jail in Canton. Bail was set at $50,000 cash or $100,000 bond.

He had been held at the jail since Oct. 16 when he was one of three men charged with allegedly operating a methamphetamine lab inside their residence at North Country Freedom Homes, 25 Dies St., Canton. He has been indicted for third-degree unlawful manufacture of methamphetamine in connection with that incident.

Tiffany Kerr, in a statement she provided state troopers, said Mr. Larche had walked to the McDonald’s on Main Street Wednesday evening following his release from the jail, and she had picked him up there and brought him back to Massena for the night. They went to a friend’s house that evening, where Mr. Larche drank alcohol, she said.

Ms. Kerr, a home health care aide, said Mr. Larche later went with her when she stopped at client homes to do her work. At the second stop, she said she left the keys in her vehicle with Mr. Larche when she went inside the home. When she returned approximately 20 minutes later, her car was gone. She said she reported the stolen vehicle to police and a short time later dispatchers called her back to inform her the 2008 vehicle had been extensively damaged in an accident in the village.

Troopers reported the time of the accident at 11:17 p.m. Mr. Larche had a blood alcohol content of 0.23 percent, nearly three times the 0.08 threshold for a DWI charge, police said. DWI counts are elevated to aggravated DWI when the blood alcohol content is 0.18 percent or higher.

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