Police in Georgia are searching for a man accused of posing as a professional basketball player to convince hotel valet staff to hand over the keys to a $90,000 BMW.
The theft reportedly happened at the Hyatt Regency Savannah on August 14. Investigators say the suspect told valet workers that he was a professional basketball player and claimed to have several vehicles parked at the hotel.
According to a police report, he presented a valet ticket for a grey 2026 BMW X5 and drove away in the SUV shortly after midnight.
The BMW did not belong to him. It was owned by a dealership and had been provided as a loaner vehicle to a hotel guest. Authorities later tracked the SUV to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, around 200 miles from Savannah.
Investigators also believe the BMW may not have been the first stolen vehicle connected to the suspect. Surveillance footage reportedly showed him removing belongings from a white Audi A5 before approaching the valet desk for the BMW.
Police later discovered that the Audi had been reported stolen the previous day. The suspect apparently left it behind, and officers found the car unlocked inside the hotel's parking garage later that morning.
Savannah Police have released surveillance images of the man and are asking the public for help identifying him.
Investigators have also linked the suspect to another vehicle theft at a Savannah hotel nine days earlier.
On August 5, a woman left her Toyota C-HR with valet staff at a Fairfield Inn. When she returned the following morning, the vehicle was gone.
Valet records showed that her retrieval code had been used shortly after midnight, more than nine hours before she said she requested the vehicle. The car's key was also missing from the lockbox even though the system still showed it as checked in.
Police continue to investigate the incidents and are working to identify and locate the suspect.