Savannah Police Search for Suspect in Sophisticated Downtown Valet Car Thefts
Savannah Police are searching for a suspect linked to high-end valet vehicle thefts at downtown hotels, including a $90,000 BMW X5 and an Audi A5.
The Savannah Police Department in Georgia is investigating a series of sophisticated vehicle thefts from valet services at downtown hotels, linking a single suspect to multiple incidents.
The Hyatt Regency Incident
On August 14, at approximately 12:30 AM, a suspect was captured on security footage entering the lobby of the Hyatt Regency hotel in downtown Savannah. After retrieving personal items from a white Audi parked outside, the man approached the valet staff. He presented a valid parking ticket associated with a gray 2026 BMW X5.
According to the police report, the suspect claimed to the valet employees that he was a professional basketball player and owned several vehicles parked at the hotel. Despite the BMW not belonging to him, the staff released the vehicle, and the suspect drove away. Valet employees later informed investigators that while each ticket is strictly linked to a specific vehicle, the suspect was indeed in possession of the correct physical ticket.
The BMW X5, valued at approximately $90,000, was owned by a dealership and loaned to a hotel guest. The dealership later tracked the vehicle's GPS location to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Savannah authorities alerted local police in South Carolina and entered the vehicle into the national database of stolen cars.
A Trail of Stolen Vehicles
Subsequent investigations revealed that the white 2025 Audi A5 the suspect initially arrived in was also stolen. The Audi, valued at $30,000, had been reported stolen the previous day and was found unlocked in the Hyatt Regency parking garage. Authorities have not yet determined how the Audi was originally taken.
The Fairfield Inn Theft
Detectives are linking the same suspect to another valet theft that occurred on August 5 at the Fairfield Inn in downtown Savannah. A hotel guest had left her 2019 Toyota C-HR with the valet service, receiving a digital code to request the vehicle's return.
When the guest requested her car the following morning at 9:38 AM, staff discovered that both the Toyota and its keys were missing. System logs indicated that the retrieval code had been activated at 12:06 AM—more than nine hours before the owner's request—from an unrecognized phone number not registered in the hotel's system.
Savannah Police have released security camera images of the suspect in an effort to identify him. He is described as a Black male in his 20s. No arrests have been made, and the suspect's identity remains unknown.
