A man allegedly posing as a professional basketball player reportedly drove away with a $90,000 BMW SUV from a Georgia hotel after convincing valet workers that he was the vehicle’s owner.
According to a police report, the suspect was seen walking through the lobby of the Hyatt Regency Savannah at about 12:30 a.m. on August 14. He had reportedly arrived in a white Audi and was seen retrieving belongings from the vehicle before presenting a valet ticket for a grey 2026 BMW X5.
Investigators said the man told hotel employees that he was a professional basketball player with several vehicles at the hotel before getting into the BMW and driving away.
Valet workers reportedly told police that each ticket issued by the hotel was linked to a specific vehicle.
The BMW belonged to a dealership and had been provided as a loaner vehicle for a hotel guest. The dealership later tracked the SUV to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, prompting Savannah police to alert authorities in the area and have the vehicle entered into state and national stolen-vehicle databases.
Investigators later discovered that the white 2025 Audi A5 the suspect had been seen driving had also been reported stolen the previous day.
The Audi was found unlocked in the hotel’s parking garage later that morning without any visible exterior damage. However, authorities have not determined how the vehicle was originally stolen.
Police also linked the suspect to another alleged valet theft in Savannah nearly two weeks earlier.
On August 5, a guest at a Fairfield Inn reportedly left her black 2019 Toyota C-HR with the hotel’s valet service. When she returned the following morning to collect the vehicle, it was missing.
Valet records showed that the vehicle’s retrieval code had been used at 12:06 a.m., several hours before the guest requested the car. The system did not record the phone number from which the request originated, while the key was still listed as being checked in but could not be found in the valet lockbox.
The Savannah Police Department subsequently released surveillance images of the suspect and described him as a Black male believed to be between 20 and 30 years old.
The incident comes amid other recent cases involving individuals allegedly posing as professional athletes to defraud victims.
Last month, 35-year-old Daejon Labrayae Love and his alleged accomplice, 18-year-old Taylor Jamie Chan, were arrested and charged with wire fraud and conspiracy over an alleged scheme targeting dozens of women across California, Oregon, Idaho and Washington.
Prosecutors alleged that Love falsely presented himself as a wealthy San Francisco 49ers player, while Chan allegedly posed as his financial adviser to persuade victims to invest money in fictitious opportunities.
