CALIFORNIA - Is it just me, or is Hollywood going a little Avocado crazy lately? In the latest from a string of bizarre celebrity avocado stories, Magnum, P.I. star Tom Selleck is now being sued for allegedly stealing truckloads of water from a public fire hydrant to water his personal avocado farm.
The Calleguas Municipal Water District in Ventura County is claiming that a tanker truck filled up at a hydrant more than a dozen times and hauled water to a 60-acre ranch owned by Selleck in Westlake Village.
Even more interesting—Selleck claims to not even like avocados.
“I sell them,” he told publication Contactmusic. “They don’t look right… They’re wonderful, healthful, good fat — it’s really good for you but it’s not for me. Why eat them when I could sell them? I’ve got a mortgage.”
In an ironic twist, the district also says it spent nearly $22,000 to hire its own P.I. to document the alleged thefts that date back as far as two years ago.
The lawsuit was filed on June 30th, following the California-mandated 25 percent water cuts that we’ve previously reported on. The specific area in Ventura County where Selleck has his land has imposed mandatory cutbacks as high 36 percent.
The district is claiming that it has sent Selleck cease-and-desist letters ordering him to halt the unlawful water deliveries, but even after the truck was spotted on four separate days, according to Fox News.
In addition to legal fees and the $22,000 in investigative costs, the water district is seeking an injunction barring Selleck and his contractors or employees from taking water from the district.
In an interview the actor did with People Magazine in 2012, he said it’s been “hard to make a living, let alone a profit” from the fruit. AndNowUKnow would never advocate the stealing of water, but if even Tom Selleck is having trouble making profits during this drought, the fire hydrant approach might just be the next best option.
