Thief Poses as Pro Basketball Player to Steal $90,000 BMW at a Hotel in Georgia
The $90,000 BMW wasn't the only allegedly stolen car involved, and police believe the same suspect may be linked to another valet theft.
A man allegedly managed to drive away with a $90,000 BMW from a Georgia hotel after convincing valet workers that he was a professional basketball player who owned the luxury SUV. Police have yet to identify the suspect, but investigators believe he may be connected to another valet car theft in Savannah.
The Independent reported that surveillance footage captured the suspect inside the Hyatt Regency Savannah before the BMW disappeared on August 14. He was reportedly seen removing belongings from a white Audi before approaching a valet with a ticket for a gray 2026 BMW X5.
A police report obtained by WSB-TV states that the man told the valet he was a professional basketball player with several vehicles parked at the hotel. As it seems, the story was convincing enough to get him behind the wheel. He reportedly drove away in the BMW at around 12:30 a.m., making grand theft auto look pretty easy.
Apparently, Confidence Can Get You Pretty Far
The valet team told investigators that its tickets correspond to specific vehicles, which raises one rather expensive question: How did the suspect get the correct ticket? Police haven’t publicly explained how it ended up in his possession.
The BMW didn’t actually belong to a basketball player, either. It was reportedly a loaner vehicle being used by a hotel guest, and police haven’t disclosed which professional athlete the suspect allegedly claimed to be.
The dealership later tracked the BMW all the way to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, roughly 226 miles from Savannah. Authorities there were asked to flag the BMW SUV as stolen in state and national databases, although it remains unclear whether the vehicle has since been recovered.
This Allegedly Wasn’t His First Valet Rodeo
The Audi seen in the hotel’s surveillance footage adds another layer to the story. Investigators reportedly discovered that the vehicle had itself been reported stolen the day before the BMW disappeared. Evidently, showing up to an alleged car theft in another allegedly stolen car wasn’t enough automotive drama for one person.
Police also linked the same suspect to another alleged valet theft in Savannah roughly two weeks earlier. In that case, a woman left her 2019 Toyota C-HR with a valet at a Fairfield Inn on August 5, only to discover the following morning that someone had already retrieved it.
The woman had sent the valet service her retrieval code that morning so her vehicle could be prepared. Staff reportedly told her that someone had used the same code shortly after midnight to leave with the Toyota, once again leaving investigators with the question of how the person obtained information meant to authorize the vehicle’s release.
Savannah police released surveillance images of the suspect in hopes that members of the public could help identify him. Pretending to be a professional basketball player is already quite the performance. Allegedly turning that performance into the keys to a $90,000 BMW, though, takes “fake-it-till-you-make-it” to a considerably more expensive level.
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