Modesto official investigated for alleged water theft, defended by ex-congressman
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Former Rep. John Duarte defended MID director Larry Byrd amid water theft probe.
- MID investigates claims Byrd used district water on orchard land outside boundaries.
- Duarte pressed for written policy as Byrd refused comment and withheld pumping records.
At a meeting last month, former U.S. Rep. John Duarte continued his defense of a Modesto Irrigation District director accused of stealing water. But he’s not sure the director is innocent.
Duarte, who owns a nursery near Hughson, said at the Oct. 14 board meeting that MID’s investigation of Larry Byrd is a “personal vendetta” and the board needs to “battle over things that actually matter.”
“Really, what we’re talking about is Director Byrd’s respective and unresolved, already explored but still being investigated, possible, maybe, use of district water on some parts that may be outside the district,” Duarte said. “And he’s acquiesced. I don’t think he has to be investigated, but I think he’s acquiesced and cooperated.”
Byrd is under investigation by MID after being publicly accused of using district water to irrigate more than 100 acres of his almond orchard that sits outside the district’s boundaries. Byrd has denied the accusations, saying they came from a disgruntled employee he fired. The story was first reported by the Modesto Focus.
Duarte clarified with The Bee that he doesn’t “know factually if (Byrd) used water inside the district for land outside the district’s area.” But, he said, if MID had a policy for using its water on what Duarte called “fringe properties,” it wasn’t widely known.
Right after Duarte finished his public comment in October, MID board President Robert Frobose responded by saying the district does have a policy on this.
“I haven’t seen it, I don’t think anyone’s seen a policy,” Duarte said. “If (Frobose) is going to push forward this investigation, I’d like him to show what the policy is for what investigations like this are.”
Duarte said that the type of investigation Byrd is under hasn’t been done before and that several hundred growers within MID considered “fringe properties” could be subject to investigation.
“If you’re going to prosecute, especially sitting directors … it really is a lot more comforting to the public if there’s an actual policy that governs this,” Duarte said.
A series of articles published by the Valley Citizen reported that Byrd had repeatedly claimed for years that all of his land was within MID’s boundaries. However, during his comments denying the allegations against him at a September board meeting, Byrd said the portions of his land outside of the district were “irrigated with well water.”
Byrd has failed to reveal pumping records for the deep wells he’s said to have used to irrigate his out-of-district almond trees for the past decade, according to the Valley Citizen.
The investigation into Byrd shortly followed another controversy in September, when MID director Janice Keating was censured in a unanimous vote for allegedly berating and throwing a clipboard at a staff member in a pattern of abuse said to have begun in 2023.
Byrd declined to comment until the investigation concluded.
This story was originally published November 13, 2025 at 7:00 AM.
