Let this be a stern warning to you would-be-wannabe-water thieves… local California water agencies will spare no expense to track you down and prosecute you.
Yep, they paid a private investigator $22,000 to gather evidence against Tom Selleck who was suspected of stealing water from a hydrant to water his avocado crop.
As is often the case, one hand of the government didn’t know what the other was doing. Selleck had the necessary permits to obtain the water LEGALLY. Guess that PI wasn’t very good either. Shouldn’t he have uncovered THAT in his investigation? Maybe the taxpayers can demand their money back? Doubtful.
But hey… REAL water thieves sit up and take notice… they’ll find you. And they’ll spend plenty of taxpayer money doing it.
And why not? They aren’t using the money to capture rain water, snow melt, or build desalination plants. That would just make too much sense.
