Newsdate: Thu 09 July 2015 – 08:10 am
Location: SAN DIEGO, California

Tom Selleck, a well-known actor who has starred in many Westerns and detective movies and on TV and is a horse lover on and off set, was recently cited for illegally taking water during the on-going California drought.

Tom Selleck at his ranch

Tom Selleck, a well-known actor who has starred in many Western and detective movies and on TV, was recently cited for illegally taking water during the on-going California drought.
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According to a complaint filed by the Calleguas Municipal Water District in Ventura County, California, Superior Court, on more than a dozen occasions since 2013, a white truck filled up at a Thousand Oaks hydrant and hauled the water to Selleck’s 60-acre ranch in Westlake Village.

Before filing the complaint, the water district tried to get Selleck to halt the unlawful water deliveries. In November 2013, Calleguas sent cease-and-desist letters to both Selleck’s home and an Avenue of the Stars address that’s linked to the property, according to court papers.

As recently as March 2015, the water truck was spotted filling up at the same hydrant and delivering water to Selleck’s estate on four separate days, according to the complaint.

According to reports, in a somewhat ironic twist on detective stories, the water district spent $22,000 to hire a private detective to gain evidence against Selleck, who is famous for his detective role in Magnum PI.

It was after Selleck's western role as sharpshooter Matthew Quigley from Quigley Down Under in 1990 that Spike, an American Quarter Horse, became one of his most valued possessions.

After filming concluded, Spike’s owners gifted him to Tom. The horse, now well into his 20s, still lives at Selleck’s California home and  starred for a second time as Tom’s mount in The Last Stand at Saber River in 1997. The National Cowboy Hall of Fame recognized Selleck with the “Wrangler” award for his work in the TNT series. Rudy Ugland, horse wrangler for the movie, was quoted saying, “Mr. Selleck is a good horseman, and if he wasn’t an actor, he’d probably be a cowboy.”