A man accused of pretending to be a professional basketball player allegedly managed to leave a Georgia hotel in a $90,000 BMW SUV after persuading valet staff that the vehicle belonged to him.
According to a police report obtained by WSB-TV, the incident unfolded at about 12:30 a.m. on Aug. 14 at the Hyatt Regency Savannah, where the suspect was reportedly seen moving through the lobby and taking items from a white Audi before handing over a valet ticket for a gray 2026 BMW X5.
Investigators said the man claimed he was a professional basketball player and told employees he had several vehicles parked at the hotel. He then got into the BMW and drove away, police said.
Valet workers later told police that every valet ticket issued at the hotel was assigned to a specific vehicle.
The BMW was not privately owned by the guest, investigators said. It belonged to a dealership and had been supplied as a loaner vehicle for someone staying at the hotel.
The dealership later located the BMW in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, leading Savannah police to alert authorities there and enter the SUV as stolen in both state and national law enforcement databases, WSB-TV reported.
As the investigation continued, police learned that the white 2025 Audi A5 the suspect had been seen using before leaving in the BMW had also been reported stolen the day before.
That Audi was found later the same morning in the hotel parking garage, unlocked and with no obvious damage to its exterior.
It remains unclear how the Audi was stolen.
The suspect has also been linked to another hotel valet theft in Savannah nearly two weeks earlier, the outlet reported.
A guest at a Fairfield Inn left her black 2019 Toyota C-HR with valet service around 4 p.m. on Aug. 5, and when she sent a retrieval code the next morning, the car was gone.
According to valet records, the retrieval code had been used at 12:06 a.m., more than nine hours before the guest reported sending it, WSB-TV reported.
The system did not display the originating phone number, and the key remained listed as checked in — but was missing from the valet lockbox, police said.
The Savannah Police Department posted surveillance photos of the suspect on Facebook.
Authorities described him as a Black male between 20 and 30 years old.
The Savannah incident is not the first time someone has posed as a professional athlete to commit fraud.
Daejon Labrayae Love, 35, and his alleged accomplice, Taylor Jamie Chan, 18, were arrested last month and charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud after allegedly creating fictitious investments to defraud dozens of women across California, Oregon, Idaho and Washington.
Prosecutors said Love convinced female victims he was a wealthy 49ers player while Chan posed as his financial advisor, sending Love messages about purported investment opportunities.
Love allegedly forwarded those screenshots to his victims to convince them to send money to him or Chan.
