Whether longtime Modesto Irrigation District board director Larry Byrd stole water for his personal gain from the public utility he helps lead is the subject of an active investigation, Stanislaus County District Attorney Jeff Laugero confirmed.
Byrd, first elected in 2011, has denied allegations of corruption since they became public a year ago, setting off a series of actions involving the MID board, state ethics enforcers, the local civil grand jury and the California Attorney General’s office, before landing with local prosecutors.
On Friday, Byrd told The Modesto Focus, “I welcome the investigation. They called and asked if they could come out, and I said, ‘Absolutely.’ I’m sure they’ll come to the same conclusion that the grand jury came to.”
Stanislaus County’s 2025-26 civil grand jurors did not issue a report on the matter when their term ended in June, and the current cohort’s actions are secret by design.
The saga centers on an almond orchard Byrd and his partners operate near La Grange in east Stanislaus County. The orchard straddles an MID boundary – part is in district territory and entitled to MID surface water, while the portion outside cannot legally be nourished with district water.
An MID-sanctioned independent study found that trees outside the limit could not have survived on privately pumped groundwater alone as Byrd claimed, but it stopped short of concluding that MID water was stolen – even though no other water source exists.
Since then:
- Byrd in December voted against continuing an investigation into himself. This defies state conflict-of-interest laws requiring that elected leaders not participate in votes affecting their own pocketbooks, multiple ethics experts said.
- The California Fair Political Practices Commission, which enforces such laws, launched an investigation into Byrd’s vote at the request of state Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil. The probe is ongoing.
- MID Board President Robert Frobose in June asked California Attorney General Rob Bonta to investigate.
Frobose told The Modesto Focus on Friday, “I’m supportive of any inquiry to get to the truth for the benefit of ratepayers.”
The irrigation district issued a statement through spokesperson Melissa Williams, saying, “MID will cooperate and provide any necessary information.”
Self-dealing in public office?
The spectre of corruption has figured in multiple local and regional media reports since an initial Modesto Focus article in September 2025. Many, including Byrd’s colleagues on the MID board, assumed his orchard was entirely within district boundaries, which turned out not to be the case.
Byrd in 2023 ardently favored selling surplus MID water to east Stanislaus growers outside district boundaries at a below-market price. Some said they assumed he was arguing for his neighbors, not realizing he potentially could benefit himself.
MID has a vast impact on Valley life. The district provides farmwater to 2,300 growers with 66,000 acres, and it also provides electricity to 133,000 customer accounts in Modesto, Salida, Waterford and Mountain House, as well as parts of Ripon, Escalon, Oakdale and Riverbank. About half of Modesto’s tap water comes from treated MID river water.
Following normal protocol, Laugero refused Thursday to discuss his team’s investigation. It’s not known, for example, whether the new probe includes Byrd’s business partners.
While prosecutors typically focus on criminal matters, district attorneys are empowered to bring civil actions as well on behalf of the public, explained Doug Maner, a retired attorney who formerly worked both for the Stanislaus DA’s office and later as a defense attorney in Modesto.
The value of publicly owned water Byrd allegedly misused, according to his critics, ranges into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Frobose’s complaint to the state attorney general, for instance, estimated “upwards of $240,000 or more.”
The accusations figure in a long-running feud between water customers on the county’s east end – where low-value rangeland has been transformed over the years into high-value nut orchards – and MID ratepayers elsewhere. Both sides have high-powered advocates.
Bill Lyons, a west-side grower, former state agricultural secretary and former MID board member, has long been at odds with Byrd and his supporters. They include Stanislaus County Supervisor Terry Withrow, former Congressman John Duarte and his wife, Alexandra, who is running for the state Senate on the Nov. 3 ballot.
Frobose is on the ballot as well, running for reelection to his MID seat. Byrd’s current term of office ends in 2028.
Officials with Stanislaus County are developing a plan to slow depletion of groundwater in the east, where many growers rely on the dwindling aquifer.
Garth Stapley is the accountability reporter for The Modesto Focus, a project of the nonprofit Central Valley Journalism Collaborative. Contact him at garth@themodestofocus.org.