Two Ledyard men who appeared Tuesday in New London Superior Court on charges they threw a stolen pistol out a car window while fleeing from police in May 2017 also are accused of conspiring to steal three firearms from a Preston home two months earlier.

Frank I. Kelly, 23, of 959 Shewville Road and Jordan X. Lacey, 21, of 12 White Pine Road both pleaded not guilty when they appeared in the court where major crimes are heard.

State police allege that Kelly pretended to be a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses and knocked on the door of a home on Lake Isle Road in Preston on March 24, 2017, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. The man who answered told him he wasn't interested in a scripture reading. Four days later, Kelly knocked on the door again, this time to ask for jumper cables. He befriended the man who once again answered the door, and they made plans to go driving around later in the day to smoke marijuana, the affidavit says.

While Kelly and the man were driving around, state police allege that Lacey broke into the home through a basement window and stole three guns. The resident reported missing a Sig Sauer P238 .380 caliber pistol, a Ruger .357 caliber revolver, both of which had been stored in closets, and an SKS semiautomatic rifle that was kept beneath a couch.

Lacey is charged with third-degree burglary, fourth-degree larceny and three counts of stealing a firearm. Kelly is accused of conspiracy to commit all of the same crimes and attempt to commit criminal possession of a firearm.

In the car chase case from May 25, 2017, Lacey is accused of fleeing when a Ledyard police officer attempted to pull him over for speeding on Shewville Road. Police said Lacey, in a blue Audi, forced several vehicles off the roadway and struck two cars as he fled. A witness reported that one of the occupants had thrown a gun out of the car window during the chase. Lacey said the Smith & Wesson Model 6906 semi-automatic pistol was his, but police traced it to his front seat passenger, Kelly, through DNA testing, according to the affidavit.

The Smith & Wesson had been stolen from a Norwich home in December 2015, police said.

In another incident, Kelly is accused of accompanying two women to a Shewville Road home on April 17, 2017, while they vandalized a car with a baseball bat. When somebody came out of the home, Kelly, who was standing outside of the car, lifted his shirt to expose a "black gun" in his waistband and told the person, "Don't touch my cousins," according to an affidavit.

Kelly also was suspected, police said, of firing a paintball gun at the front of Mashantucket Tribal Police headquarters and the Brookside Cafe in Preston.

Kelly is being held in lieu of $175,000 at the Corrigan-Radgowski Correctional Institution and is represented by attorney Anthony Basilica. He has a total of nine pending cases in the state court system, and has past convictions for threatening, carrying a pistol without a permit, first-degree criminal mischief, violation of probation and reckless driving.

Lacey is free on a written promise to appear in court and is represented by attorney Michael Hasse.

k.florin@theday.com