Tom Selleck reaches settlement over water theft claim

Tom Selleck has reached a tentative settlement in a lawsuit which claims he stole truckloads of water from a public hydrant and took it to his ranch in drought-stricken California.

The lawsuit filed by the Calleguas Municipal Water District in Ventura County claims a tanker truck filled up at a hydrant and hauled water to the actor’s 60-acre ranch in Westlake Village more than a dozen times in the past two years.

The Magnum PI and Blue Bloods star’s wife was also named in the suit.

District resource manager Eric Bergh said he could not provide any details about the agreement until it is approved.

The proposed settlement will go before the district’s water board next Wednesday. “Staff recommendation will be to accept,” Mr Bergh said.

The district said it spent nearly 22,000 US dollars for a private detective to investigate.

The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department investigated the allegations but was unable to establish that a crime had taken place, Captain John Reilly said on Wednesday.

According to the district, officials sent Selleck cease-and-desist letters to stop the water deliveries, but as recently as March a truck was seen filling up at a hydrant and delivering water to the ranch.

California has been hard hit by a four-year drought, and the community where Selleck has his land is under mandatory cutbacks as high as 36%.