A Washington County man implicated in a bizarre alligator incident last year died Sunday in a fiery car crash.

William St. Sauver, 31, was killed when his car caught fire in rural Scandia, east of Forest Lake. He was dead at the scene, the Washington County Sheriff's Office said Monday.

Emergency responders were summoned to the 12200 block of 228th Street N. in Scandia about 9:45 p.m. Sunday after a report of a car on fire, Sgt. Wayne Johnson of the Sheriff's Office said. The State Patrol and Scandia Fire and Rescue also responded, but St. Sauver died at the scene, Johnson said.

St. Sauver, of Scandia, was the only occupant of the vehicle. The Sheriff's Office is investigating the cause of the crash, Johnson said.

St. Sauver was convicted in June of keeping wild or exotic animals, a petty misdemeanor, after an alligator surprised two boys fishing in Goose Lake in Scandia. A state Department of Natural Resources conservation officer later found an alligator swimming in the lake and killed it with a shotgun.

St. Sauver later said he had recovered a second alligator but denied releasing the two alligators in the lake. He said someone had stolen the alligators from a tank on the farm. He also said they were too small to hurt anyone.

Will St. Sauver died at the scene of a fiery car crash Sunday.

The city of Scandia sent a letter to St. Sauver informing him that he was in violation of a city ordinance prohibiting exotic animals, including alligators.

He also was charged in January in the shooting deaths of two horses. A criminal complaint said he shot horses belonging to a neighbor and buried them in a cornfield. One was named Saint Supreme Air and the other Sultan's Gift of Glory.

St. Sauver also had been charged with numerous traffic offenses since 2005, according to court records.

Kevin Giles • 651-925-5037