A boat, a package, a mystery

A stolen FedEx package discovered on an unoccupied boat floating adrift in Vineyard Haven Harbor last month has led to one charge of larceny.

The bizarre case involved investigations by two Island police departments, before landing in the office of the Cape and Islands District Attorney. 

Still, a number of questions remain unanswered.

On May 20, Tisbury Police were dispatched to Owen Park after receiving reports that a Vineyard Haven Yacht Club employee had recovered a boat “drifting through the harbor unoccupied,” and attached it to the Owen Park pier. 

The employee observed an open black backpack onboard what police reports describe as “an older Mako Center Console, approximately 23 feet long, with the name Paws printed on the hull.”

Upon further inspection of the bag, the yacht club employee found a pair of North Face brand racing shoes, and a packing slip belonging to an Oak Bluffs resident. The employee notified the Oak Bluffs resident, who then went to the pier to retrieve his shoes.

The Oak Bluffs resident, who prefers to stay anonymous, told The Times that he contacted local police to report that the package he dropped off at the Vineyard Haven UPS location had been located mysteriously aboard an unknown, unmanned vessel and “soaking wet.” The package was supposed to be returned to North Face.

Responding officers then searched the boat for information on the owner, which led them to registration paperwork for Sandwich resident James Gorman.

In the meantime, Tisbury harbormaster John Crocker, who was unaware of the situation, permitted the boat to be temporarily tied up at the pier. 

With help from the Sandwich Police Department, Tisbury Police were able to contact Gorman, who arrived on the Vineyard later that day to speak with police at the Tisbury station. 

According to the reports obtained by The Times, Gorman told officers that his boat had been anchored in the mooring field before the incident, but “may have been moved” by a friend, since the boat is often used by “various people.” 

When police inquired about who could have access to the boat, police reports say Gorman became “defensive and argumentative, stating he would not disclose the individual’s name.” He told them that he’d previously employed the unnamed individual, but he had been recently terminated. Gorman told officers that they could “deal with him.”

When officers asked Gorman “why a package belonging to a third party was located on his boat,” he informed them that he works for FedEx, “and found the package on the side of the road near the airport.” 

Gorman told them that the recently terminated employee “was supposed to return the package, but it had not been done.”

“Mr. Gorman informed me that he tried to give people second chances when employing them, but unfortunately, gets let down more often than not,” Tisbury Officer Patrick Souza wrote in his report.

Gorman was then directed to relocate his boat. 

On May 24, Tisbury Police officers followed up with local FedEx and FedEx Ground managers, who were able to determine that the return package with the shoes had been scanned as an outgoing parcel at the Vineyard Haven UPS Store eight days earlier.

When speaking to employees at the UPS Store, police were told that because UPS doesn’t typically handle FedEx packages, no record of the return shipment had been entered into their computer system. 

According to employees, UPS will occasionally take FedEx packages from customers as a courtesy, and will hand them off to FedEx trucks when they make deliveries. 

Using the FedEx website, the “tracking show[ed] the package pertaining to [the Oak Bluffs resident’s] return was picked up at 2:15 pm in Edgartown.”

In subsequent calls to FedEx security agents, Tisbury Police were told that the shipping company would prefer to handle the matter internally.  

That same day, police spoke with the manager of FedEx Ground in Edgartown, who shed more light on Gorman’s work with the company.  

The manager “was able to provide information on how the FedEx company works and corroborate that James Gorman does work for FedEx from time to time as a contract employee, as a mechanic,” police reports state. “FedEx will routinely rent Budget box trucks when they are short [of] delivery trucks and, if and when these trucks break down, [Gorman] is then hired by FedEx to come fix them.”

The manager told police he wasn’t sure if Gorman was working for FedEx on the day the package was dropped off at the UPS Store. 

When asked “if it was normal for [Gorman] to have a package that was in transit from FedEx, or to have a package in his possession on his personal boat,” the manager “answered ‘no’ to both questions.” 

Reports say that when Tisbury officers reached out to Gorman a second time for an explanation of why a package belonging to a third party was found on his boat, Gorman “became defensive and irritated and asked, ‘Do I need to lawyer up?’”

Gorman proceeded to tell officers that he’d become frustrated with the fact that FedEx drivers at the FedEx Ground facility in Edgartown will sometimes “use a Budget truck to drive from the main building to an employee parking area several hundred feet away.”

According to police reports, Gorman told officers this “irritates” him, because on occasion, he’s seen packages fall out of the trucks when the roll-up door was ajar. 

He said that happened a few days prior to his boat being found adrift, and when asked by police, confirmed that the package that had fallen out of a truck at the FedEx ground facility in Edgartown was the same package that was found on his boat.

According to police documents, when asked if he took the package, Gorman answered, “Yes, I did, you know why?” Tisbury Police Sergeant Edward St. Pierre wrote in his report that Gorman told him he took that package “to show how incompetent the FedEx facility in Edgartown is.”

According to Sgt. St. Pierre, Gorman then “began to get hostile,” and “make statements that he hates cops,” along with expressing that “he hopes FedEx gets kicked off the Island because they owe him money.” Gorman claimed that he’s owed $11,000 for completed work by the company, but had not been paid.

Reports say that Gorman shared his plan to “bring the package to the Middleborough FedEx facility to show the bosses there how poorly run the FedEx in Edgartown is.”

Gorman inferred that there was more than one package taken from the FedEx facility. He insisted that he “had done nothing wrong,” as the items found on his boat were “just returns … nobody cares about returns.” 

Gorman insisted that his intention was to return the package to the off-Island facility, and hence, was not theft.

It remains unclear at this time whether there was more than one third-party package discovered on the boat, as claims of additional packages have not been corroborated by local police. 

On June 11, following numerous inquiries made by The Times for more information about the theft, Tisbury Police stated in an email that the investigation “is closed on our end since FedEx Security and Edgartown PD have been made aware.” 

Tisbury officials say that because the theft of the package occurred in Edgartown, the investigation and potential recommended charges should be up to Edgartown. 

Edgartown Police Chief Bruce McNamee told The Times this week that since being notified of the incident, EPD has been in contact with the District Attorney’s office, who have, as of Thursday, issued Gorman a summons for one count of larceny under $1,200.

A communications advisor for FedEx Services issued a statement to The Times: “The safe and secure transport of our customers’ shipments is a top priority. While the individual involved is not a FedEx employee or team member, we are reviewing the circumstances behind this matter in conjunction with law enforcement.”

James Gorman could not be immediately reached for comment.