Police in Savannah, Georgia, are hunting for a suspect who tricked hotel valet workers into letting him drive off with a $90,000 luxury SUV.
The heist occurred at the Hyatt Regency Savannah around 12:30 a.m. on Aug. 14.
Before taking the gray 2026 BMW X5, the suspect was seen retrieving items from a white 2025 Audi A5 parked in the garage.
The suspect then presented a valet ticket and falsely claimed to be a professional athlete.
He convinced the workers of his high-status identity by declaring, “I am a professional basketball player with multiple vehicles at this hotel.”
However, the employees later told police, “Each valet ticket is unique to a specific vehicle.”
The stolen SUV belonged to a local dealership that had provided it as a loaner vehicle to a hotel guest.
A tracking system inside the BMW eventually showed the vehicle had been driven to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Detectives later discovered that the white Audi used by the suspect had also been reported stolen the previous day.
The undamaged Audi was found unlocked in the hotel garage that morning.
Police have also linked the same suspect to a previous valet theft that occurred on Aug. 5 at a nearby Fairfield Inn.
In that earlier incident, a guest discovered her black 2019 Toyota C-HR was missing after a valet retrieval code was used without her knowledge.
Authorities described the suspect as a Black male between 20 and 30 years old.