Man posing as NBA star steals $90K luxury car from Georgia hotel

A man allegedly stole a $90,000 BMW SUV from a Georgia hotel by convincing valet workers that he was a professional basketball player who owned the car.Surveillance footage caught the suspect walking through the hotel lobby, removing belongings from a white Audi, then showing a valet a ticket for a gray 2026 BMW X5 parked at the Hyatt Regency Savannah.The man picked up the car around 12:30 a.m. on August 14, according to a police report obtained by WSB-TV.According to the report, the suspect told the valet he was a professional basketball player who had multiple cars parked at the hotel. Once he was in the BMW, he drove off from the hotel.The valet team told investigators that each ticket they give out is tied to a specific vehicle in the lot. The BMW that was stolen was given out as a loaner vehicle to a guest staying at the hotel.The suspect in a $90,000 BMW theft from a hotel in Savannah, Georgia. The suspect allegedly told a valet that he was a professional basketball player who owned the vehicle (Savannah Police Department)It's unclear how the hotel guest's valet ticket ended up in the suspect's hands. Police did not reveal which professional basketball player the suspect was impersonating.The dealership tracked the BMW to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina — approximately 226 miles from Savannah — and asked local police to flag the vehicle as stolen in state and national databases, according to the broadcaster.It's unclear if the vehicle has been recovered since the August theft. The Independent has requested comment from the Savannah Police Department. Investigators later learned that the Audi, which was left at the Savannah hotel, had also been reported stolen the day before the BMW heist.A BMW X5 SUV. A man in Savannah, Georgia allegedly stole a BMW X5 valued at $90,000 from a hotel by claiming he was a professional basketball player who owned the vehicle (BMW X5 xDrive50e M Sport r)The same suspect was linked to another alleged valet theft in Savannah approximately two weeks prior, according to WSB-TV.A woman at a Fairfield Inn left her black 2019 Toyota C-HR with a valet service around 4 p.m. on August 5. The next morning, she sent the valets a retrieval code so they could get her car ready, but the vehicle was already gone.The valets told her that someone had used the same code just after midnight the night before to leave with her car.As in the BMW theft, it's unclear exactly how the suspect ended up with the unique information needed to retrieve the vehicles.The suspect was captured on surveillance video and is described as a Black man between the ages of 20 and 30 years old. Those images were released by police in Savannah in hopes that someone might be able to identify the individual.