{"id":87207,"date":"2026-09-08T13:27:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T13:27:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/87207\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T13:27:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T13:27:18","slug":"90000-bmw-x5-vanishes-after-suspect-allegedly-poses-as-pro-basketball-player-to-fool-hotel-valet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/87207\/","title":{"rendered":"$90,000 BMW X5 Vanishes After Suspect Allegedly Poses as Pro Basketball Player to Fool Hotel Valet"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A car thief allegedly posed as a professional basketball player to obtain the keys to a gray 2026 BMW X5 reportedly worth $90,000. The SUV was later tracked to a location about 200 miles away, prompting police to ask the public to come forward with any information about the suspect.<\/p>\n<p>The bizarre incident, reported by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dexerto.com\/entertainment\/car-thief-steals-90000-bmw-pretending-to-be-basketball-star-3406362\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dexerto<\/a>, highlights how someone can get past the valet by pretending to be a famous personality and drive away in whatever car they want. The incident occurred at the Hyatt Regency Savannah in Georgia on August 14. Investigators said that the suspect told valet workers he was a pro basketball player and that multiple cars of his were parked at the hotel.<\/p>\n<p>According to a police report, the man presented a valet ticket for the X5 and drove off in the SUV shortly after midnight. However, the ticket was assigned to a different vehicle, as the BMW belonged to a dealership and had been loaned to a hotel guest. Authorities later traced the SUV to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" data-dominant-color=\"3f3d39\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #3f3d39;\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1915671 not-transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/BMW-MY26-X5-DI25_000247023-retouched-v3_16to7.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1120\"  \/>Image Credit: BMW<br \/>\nSuspect Allegedly Stole an Audi A5 Before<\/p>\n<p>Authorities found out through security camera footage that the suspect removed his belongings from a white Audi A5 before taking the BMW X5. Investigators later determined that the Audi A5 had been stolen the previous day. The police found the A5 in the hotel\u2019s parking garage.<\/p>\n<p>Police also believe the suspect may have been involved in another valet-related theft at a different Savannah hotel nine days earlier. On August 5, a woman left her Toyota C-HR with the valet at a Fairfield Inn, but the vehicle was gone when she returned for it the next morning.<\/p>\n<p>Records indicated that her retrieval code had been used shortly after midnight, several hours before she said she had asked for the car. The vehicle\u2019s key was also missing from the lockbox, even though the system still listed it as being checked in.<\/p>\n<p>The Savannah Police Department has posted a statement on X and shared the suspect\u2019s photos, asking people to contact CrimeStoppers if they have information about the suspect. It read:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSPD is seeking the public\u2019s assistance in identifying the individual below in connection to several auto thefts. Anyone with information should call CrimeStoppers at 912-234-2020 or use the SPD mobile app to remain anonymous.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">SPD is seeking the public\u2019s assistance in identifying the individual below in connection to several auto thefts. Anyone with information should call CrimeStoppers at 912-234-2020 or use the SPD mobile app to remain anonymous. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/6tyJ16aANT\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/6tyJ16aANT<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Savannah Police Department (@SavPolice) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SavPolice\/status\/2095592904836239490?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">September 3, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A car thief allegedly posed as a professional basketball player to obtain the keys to a gray 2026&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":87208,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20955],"tags":[6213,29070,20203],"class_list":["post-87207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bmw","tag-bmw","tag-bmw-x5","tag-georgia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}