Source: sjvwater.org

Modesto Irrigation District president seeks state investigation into director’s alleged water theft

Fetched 2026-06-25 10:44 from sjvwater.org

Reading Summary (AI-generated)

Reading Summary: MID Director’s Alleged Water Theft

Key Facts

• MID Board President Robert Frobose sent a letter to California Attorney General Rob Bonta requesting a state investigation into Director Larry Byrd’s alleged use of district water on ~100 acres of almond orchards near La Grange — outside district boundaries, which is prohibited
• The alleged misuse spans 2021–2024 and is estimated to be worth “upwards of $240,000 or more”
• Engineering firm 4Creeks (Visalia) found that the almond trees required more water than Byrd’s wells could have produced, but could not definitively confirm district water use
• The MID board voted 2-2 in December to halt further investigation; Byrd voted on his own case without recusing himself
• The California FPPC is already investigating Byrd’s failure to recuse, prompted by a request from state Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil

Who Is Affected

• MID ratepayers (financially on the hook for stolen water)
• MID board and institution (reputational/governance damage)
• Tuolumne River stakeholders (named explicitly by Frobose as having due process interests)
• Larry Byrd and his business partners (almond orchard operators near La Grange)

Policy/Legal Angle

• California law prohibits delivery of district water outside district boundaries
• The Political Reform Act (enforced by FPPC) governs conflict-of-interest recusal requirements for elected officials
• The Attorney General has authority to intervene in local public agency matters — though the article does not cite a specific statute invoked
• The 4Creeks engineering report serves as the evidentiary foundation but falls short of a definitive legal standard of proof

Blog Angles

1. Governance gap: When a board member can vote to stop an investigation into themselves and trigger a deadlock, what structural reforms — recusal rules, supermajority requirements, or third-party oversight triggers — should California irrigation districts adopt?
2. Water theft valuation: How was the $240,000 figure calculated, and does MID’s rate structure adequately deter or recover costs from out-of-boundary water use?
3. FPPC + AG overlap: With both the FPPC and potentially the AG now involved, what does dual-agency oversight look like in practice, and which body actually has teeth to compel accountability here?

Full Text

Modesto Irrigation District president seeks state investigation into director’s alleged water theft

• Marijke Rowland is the editor of The Modesto Focus , a project of the nonprofit Central Valley Journalism Collaborative . Contact her at marijke@cvlocaljournalism.org .

The Modesto Irrigation District board president has requested that the state Attorney General’s office open an investigation into Director Larry Byrd’s alleged water theft.

The request comes after the MID board hit a stalemate in February about continuing an investigation into Byrd’s use of district water from 2021 to 2024. Board President Robert Frobose sent a letter to Attorney General Rob Bonta on Tuesday asking state officials to step in to look into the claims.

“I just want the truth to be known, whatever that truth is,” Frobose told The Modesto Focus. “If the allegations are to be found true, then I want the financial recovery from Larry Byrd, so that the ratepayers are made whole. When somebody steals something from MID…the rest of the ratepayers are picking up that tab.”

Since last summer, Byrd has faced questions about his use of district water on his almond orchards near La Grange outside of district boundaries, which is prohibited. The issue came to a head last September when Frobose authorized an independent investigation into the allegations.

In December of last year, a technically dense report , finalized by Visalia-based engineering firm 4Creeks, suggested that almond trees on about 100 acres owned by Byrd and his business partners required more water than could have been produced by wells during the time in question.

But because of the complexity of the findings, and the firm’s inability to definitively confirm Byrd’s use of district water, board members voted again on the issue. During a contentious, more than three-hour meeting in late December, the board voted 2-2, and the motion to continue looking into the claims failed. Byrd voted to halt further investigation into himself during the meeting.

His failure to recuse, while fellow Director John Boer did because of ties to one of Byrd’s business partners, further fed the controversy. After a request by state Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil, state ethics enforcers at the California Fair Political Practices Commission are looking into Byrd’s vote and the investigation is ongoing.

Byrd did not return calls from The Modesto Focus for comment.

The longtime MID director, who joined the board in 2011, has called the claims “political attacks” and a “witchhunt” during public meetings.

In his letter to Bonta’s office, Frobose said further investigation is warranted both to give Bryd his due process and to rebuild trust in the public utilities agency. The letter also estimates the misused water could be worth “upwards of $240,000 or more.”

“(T)here is a cloud over both Director Byrd and MID itself. Director Byrd, MID, MID farmers and ratepayers, and all Tuolumne River stakeholders have the right to due process through an open and impartial investigation following conclusions derived by 4Creeks and questions that arose subsequently,” Frobose wrote.

If Bonta’s office does look into the claims, Frobose said he expects the investigation to take several months. He said the seriousness of the allegations and potential violations must be addressed, and believes an independent state review is the best way forward.

“It is our responsibility, as elected officials, to protect the public’s interest and when a link in that chain is broken it becomes an unprecedented challenge,” Frobose said. “I believe my request for the Attorney General’s help in this situation can be the assistance we need to ensure the ratepayers are protected.”