Stanislaus grand jury declines to investigate MID theft and corruption allegations
Despite beginning an inquiry, the Stanislaus County Civil Grand Jury has declined to investigate allegations that have plagued the Modesto Irrigation District for nearly a year.
Last year, MID Director Larry Byrd was publicly accused of stealing or misusing the district’s canal water on his almond orchards in eastern Stanislaus County. Byrd continues to deny the allegations, even after an MID-sanctioned report contradicted some of his explanations.
A series of political moves that followed, which included Byrd voting against investigating himself further, stopped deeper inquiry and sparked cover-up accusations against MID. The grand jury was one of the last avenues, at the local level, for the investigation to continue.
Why the grand jury halted its inquiry into Byrd is not publicly known. By law, its deliberations and procedures operate in near-total secrecy — barring its members from explaining the body’s decisions.
Stanislaus County District Attorney Jeff Laugero, whose office assists the grand jury with legal proceedings, declined to comment on the matter. Laugero also could neither confirm nor deny if his office independently opened an investigation into the allegations against Byrd and MID.
“With respect to MID, we are aware of the allegations, but I cannot comment any further at this time,” Laugero said in an email.
Seeking outside help
In June, MID Board President Robert Frobose sent a nearly 150-page letter asking California Attorney General Rob Bonta to step in, citing evidence the district’s investigation already uncovered and a plethora of public documents.
“There’s multiple reasons I went to the attorney general, and this is one of them,” Frobose said in reference to the grand jury’s decision not to investigate. “I knew this had to get out of the county.”
Eric Caine, a local journalist and commentator who’s written extensively about Byrd, finds the grand jury’s decision baffling. Caine believes that it has every right to investigate Byrd and MID, but that county-level corruption has stopped any attempt to dig deeper.
Caine said he believes the grand jury’s decision “adds urgency and force” to Frobose’s request for a state-level authority to step in.
“Local authorities, obviously, have refused to accept the responsibility to investigate — including MID management and counsel,” he said.
Will the public ever know why?
According to the civil grand jury’s 2025-26 consolidated report, it has a legal obligation under state law “to weigh allegations of misconduct against public officials and determine whether to present formal accusations requesting their removal from office” and “to weigh criminal charges and determine if indictments should be returned.”
Its purview, or authority, reaches “all aspects of county and city government, including dozens of special districts.” Across California, grand juries have investigated irrigation districts in the past — including in Stanislaus County.
In 2016, the Stanislaus grand jury investigated the Oakdale Irrigation District for receiving county property tax funds and for its failure to redistrict following the 2010 federal census.
Since the allegations against Byrd surfaced in August, Stanislaus County’s political heavyweights have publicly become involved and the matter has caused intense arguments during board meetings.
Former U.S. Rep. John Duarte has frequently come to Byrd’s defense. The pair have called the allegations a “personal vendetta” and “a witch hunt.” In January, state Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil recommended that the Fair Political Practices Commission look into Byrd for his vote against investigating himself further.
At the time, she was running against Duarte’s wife, Alexandra Duarte, in a contested Republican primary. The FPPC obliged Alvarado-Gil’s request and launched an investigation in February.
Stanislaus County Supervisor Terry Withrow was also present at the December meeting when Byrd cast his controversial vote. In a packet of documents submitted to MID in 2020, an attorney alleged Withrow had some property connections with Byrd’s business partner, Tyler Angle.
Supporting further investigation into Byrd is Bill Lyons, former agriculture liaison to Gov. Gavin Newsom and former California secretary of food and agriculture.
Byrd’s AB La Grange Ranch includes about 500 acres of almond orchards, 100 acres of which are not within the MID service area, according to Frobose. AB La Grange is owned by Byrd, his brother Tim Byrd and Angle.
MID provides electricity to more than 130,000 customers in the Modesto area and agricultural water to around 2,500 farmers irrigating more than 60,000 acres.
This story was originally published July 8, 2026 at 11:00 AM.
