BOCA RATON, Fla. — A 38-year-old man is facing burglary, theft and stalking charges after investigators say he broke into a former neighbor’s garage, stole thousands of dollars in snowboarding gear, and then spent weeks returning pieces of it marked with profane messages to intimidate the victim.
Fergus K. Calderwood was arrested Monday following an investigation by the Boca Raton Police Department, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in the case.
Police say the ordeal began in late April, when the victim’s wife found the side door of their detached garage pried open. A Lib Tech snowboard, along with goggles, boots, gloves, a jacket and a carrying bag — together worth nearly $2,900 — had vanished. The victim didn’t report it right away, but grew suspicious after a chance encounter with Calderwood, a former neighbor, who allegedly drove past and asked him, “How about that snowboard?”
That comment reportedly triggered the formal investigation in early June. Over the following weeks, the victim says pieces of his stolen property mysteriously began reappearing around the neighborhood — a pair of goggles hanging from a fence, a boot dangling from a tree with profanities scrawled across it in marker, a second marked boot dropped into his truck bed, and finally the empty gear bag left near a public parking lot.
When police confronted Calderwood at his home, he allegedly admitted to breaking into the garage and staging the returns as revenge stemming from a prior dispute with the victim. He reportedly went inside and handed over the snowboard itself, which the victim identified by a personalized sticker and distinctive wear marks.
The victim also told investigators Calderwood had repeatedly followed him, shouted obscenities during his morning walks, and driven past his home — behavior he said left him fearing for his family’s safety.
Calderwood now faces charges of burglary of a structure, grand theft and stalking.
