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A Saranac Lake native who is facing federal fraud charges in New York was reportedly inside an alternate fuel business he is connected to in California when it exploded, killing an employee.

A pressurized container used to heat water exploded during an apparent attempt to make alternate fuel at Realm Industries in Simi Valley, Calif. Thursday, killing 28-year-old Tyson Larson, according to the Ventura County Star. The newspaper says William Stehl and Francisco Torres were also there but only had minor injuries. Both refused medical treatment.

Stehl, 65, is free on $100,000 bond. He and his business partner Richard Rossignol, 59, were arrested in late March and charged with a decade-long fraud scheme that allegedly bilked investors out of more than $6 million by convincing them to invest in companies Stehl was affiliated with that were purportedly developing or utilizing an alternative energy source Stehl claimed he had developed.

A spokesman for the Simi Valley police department didn't return a message left Monday afternoon.

Stehl's and Rossignol's trial in Albany was originally scheduled to have begun Monday, but federal Judge Gary L. Sharpe delayed it last month until Nov. 8, at the request of both the prosecution and defense.

Stehl graduated from Saranac Lake High School in 1962 and in the early 2000s ran a business, Rainbow Technologies, at the Harrietstown business park in Lake Clear. Stehl said he had developed a gas called BGX which could separate nitrogen from water and would have widespread implications for agriculture, water treatment and transportation.

Stehl is also connected to a Shepard Avenue home the government is trying to seize.

Stehl has a patent dated April 2009, along with Tyson Larson, and originating from Santa Monica, Calif., for a device to convert fluid molecules from a liquid to a vapor state. The indictment also mentions Timothy A. Larson, who is corporate agent for Realm Catalyst according to the Star, alleging Stehl lied to federal investigators by claiming Larson was going to buy one of his companies, BGX Technologies. The indictment does not allege the Larsons did anything wrong, however.

The explosion Thursday afternoon was loud enough to be heard blocks away and did significant damage to the building, according to the Star. There was another, smaller explosion at the business in December 2008, when it was in a different, nearby building. No injuries were reported then.