When Bob Frobose learned that Ty Angle had donated $30,000 to Dominic Giorgi’s campaign for a seat on the Board of Directors at Modesto Irrigation District (MID), his memory flashed back to May 28, 2024. That was the day he and MID Director Larry Byrd had engaged in an intense discussion about the price of water for MID’s Groundwater Replenishment Program (GRP).
Byrd had been pushing for $60 per acre-foot for the GRP, a price he had managed to establish in 2017-18-19. By 2024, MID had raised the price to $200 per acre-foot, in large part because Frobose and other directors had realized that market prices would continue to rise and MID needed to make improvements in infrastructure and maintenance to better conserve water as demand increased statewide.
Frobose pointed out that nearby districts charged far more. Merced Irrigation District charged $350 per acre-foot and had plenty of takers. He added that MID would have ongoing needs to improve conservation of water.
Shortly after that May 28 meeting, Frobose received an irate phone call from Ty Angle. Angle berated Frobose at length for not supporting Byrd’s motion to set GRP prices at $60 per acre-foot.
Angle reminded Frobose that he had donated $2500 to Frobose’s campaign. Frobose, a man of old western principle, told Angle that he’d be happy to refund the donation if Angle wanted his money back.
Shortly thereafter, Frobose received an email saying that Angle would take him up on the offer of a refund. Frobose replied that Angle could have the money in cash at the next MID Board meeting, on Tuesday, June 4.
Monday, June 3, Bob Frobose drove to his bank on McHenry Avenue in Modesto and withdrew $2500 in hundred-dollar bills. Next morning, he tucked the money into the pockets of his faded Wrangler jeans and drove to the 9am MID Board meeting. Ty Angle never showed up.
Frobose brought $2500 to the next two MID Board meetings. His anger simmered that long and still stirs when he remembers the argument.
“All I could think of at the time is that Ty had made Larry Byrd a one-third partner in the AB La Grange Ranch and now Larry was pushing for $60 water,” said Frobose recently.
Ty Angle is a major consumer of groundwater on Stanislaus County’s east side, where he and other groundwater-dependent farmers pump between 70,000 and 90,000 acre-feet of groundwater every year.
“Now I find out Ty has given my opponent for the MID Board $30,000. If he expected to get my vote for $2500, what’s he going to want from Dominic? Dominic may be a nice guy, but far as I know no one’s ever seen him at an MID or STRGBA* meeting. These are times when everyone wants our water. We need people who know water.”
Dominic Giorgi is running against Bob Frobose for Director of Division 3 of MID. Division 3 includes much of northeast Modesto and West Riverbank. Frobose is current President of the MID Board of Directors.
Thus far, Giorgi’s campaign has received $10,000 from Cal Coast Almond Processing. Cal Coast Almond Processing is co-owned by Chris Angle, and has strong ties to Ty Angle. Chris Angle is Ty Angle’s son.
Giorgi has received $5,000 from Cal-Almond Hulling. Cal-Almond’s principal owner is Ty Angle. Giorgi has received another $5,000 from Modesto Reservoir Ranch and $10,000 from Triple A Ranches. Ty Angle is principal owner or partner in both ranches.
Dominic Giorgi has also received $1,000 from AB La Grange Ranch. AB La Grange Ranch was the focal point of last year’s 4Creeks investigation, which determined Larry Byrd could not have used groundwater for his out-of-district almond orchard, as he had previously claimed.
Last December 16, in a clear conflict of interest, Byrd voted against further investigation during an MID Board meeting. According to a report by Trevor Morgan in the Modesto Bee, Byrd cleared over $100,000 from his partnership in the AB La Grange Ranch in 2024 alone.
Dominic Giorgi has also received $1,000 from JX Byrd Cattle Ranch of Waterford. JX Byrd Cattle Ranch is owned by Larry and Cheryl Byrd.
Last week, the Stanislaus County District Attorney opened another investigation into irrigation practices on the AB La Grange, where Byrd is partners with Ty Angle and Byrd’s brother Tim.
“Most of those guys pumping groundwater aren’t even in the district,” said Frobose last Monday. They’re just looking to have MID ratepayers foot the bill for wrecking the environment.
“I remember the first day I was out walking door-to-door in 2022, he added,
“One of the first people I saw was a nice old lady out watering her flowers. Right then, I realized that that woman and all those other people who need to water their gardens are my constituents. That’s the people I’m representing, them and all our in-district farmers.
“Long as I’m on the board, said Bob Frobose, “MID is not for sale.”
*Stanislaus and Tuolumne Rivers Groundwater Basin Association
$30,000 tells me Ty Angle is in a panic.
Eric thank you for getting this information out to the public. We the rate payers deserve to know who is illegally taking water and putting the onus on the rate payers
They are using ratepayers’ money, through stolen water, to fund their candidate so they can continue taking water and money from the very ratepayers they are supposed to serve. We, as a community, need to come together and get Frobose re-elected. Frobose has protected the ratepayers and will continue to do so.
Add Up the totality of corruption and destruction that a small group/handful of ( you can’t call them farmers) people on the eastside have done wrong to this community can’t be put in words. Byrd, Angle, Duarte and a few more have been doing irreparable harm to our underground water aquifers and environment for a long time at the expense of all of us in this community. Some of these people were sued in 2014 for irreparable harm to the environment and aquifer by 2 environmental groups and these people paid them off with $180,000. We as a community, through our tax dollars, have been paying every year to get this damage that they are doing to stop. This coming January rules kick in to eliminate the continuing damage that they have caused our community. Byrd and his partners stealing water from the ratepayers is just part of the corruption they are involved in. Now they use $30,000.00 to support a candidate (Dominic) that works for Masellis well drilling that has drilled a lot of the wells on the eastside that have caused damage to our underground water aquifers.
I have to give credit to Eric and Director Frobose for their persistence. The bigger question now is how far the DA will take the investigation and will it expose the MID corruption and agenda in the eastside.
There are several areas that warrant closer scrutiny: amount of water used without payment, the alleged cover-up investigation, billing practices, the conflict-of-interest vote, and the parties that have been contributing.
Anyone who has read or watched the investigation report can see that it was written in a way that leaves many important questions unanswered. eric has done a great job dissecting the report. The report appears to be strategically inconclusive rather than providing a complete accounting and conclusion of how much water was needed and used. Instead, upper and lower scenarios were inserted to create uncertainty.
The DA should be asking some basic questions:
Who recommended 4Creeks?
Do they have ties to any members of MID?
Why was a supposedly “comprehensive investigation” ultimately inconclusive?
What information was 4Creeks provided?
Who determined what information was included in the report—and what was omitted or overlooked?
Where is the rest of the investigation report?
Most importantly, who was directing the process from the beginning?
Would a different water engineer use the same inconclusive approach? Probably not.
Who at MID is verifying water measurement and billing for Byrd properties?
Perhaps the DA should start by asking the General Manager or the Executive Director of Water Resources these questions. Both coincidentally recommended by Byrd. Hopefully the truth will be revealed and hopefully the election will bring Frobose, Moradian and a new GM.
30K! Giorgi should feel cheated. Byrd got a “Partnership” for nothing for his vote. Demand more Giorgi! Felonies aren’t cheap to defend.
Folks should start showing up at the MID meeting with handcuffs
offering to drop the investigation if they want to step down NOW.
I think the 100,000 electric customers know what to do and how to vote now!
I am ready to replace the contract farmer right now!
Since we are reading about this “who is cheating who” story and have been following this story line like a day time soap opera for quite some time why don’t we add another layer.
I may be wrong, but haven’t I read in the past that the MID electric rate payers have been propping up the large MID water users who receive artificially lower acre foot rates with their higher electric rates?
Could be wrong about that. Just wondering and thought another layer of “who is cheating who” was needed.