JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 An Audi was allegedly taken from the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront by a man posing as a fake professional basketball player in a valet transaction before it was found at the Hyatt Regency Savannah, where a BMW was later reported stolen, according to Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office and Savannah Police Department reports.<\/p>\n
The incidents happened Aug. 6 at Savannah\u2019s Fairfield Inn, Aug. 13 at the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront and Aug. 14 at the Hyatt Regency Savannah, according to JSO and SPD reports.<\/p>\n
Police have not publicly confirmed that the cases are connected.<\/p>\n
BMW stolen from Hyatt Regency Savannah<\/p>\n
According to an Aug. 14 Savannah Police Department report, a woman told officers she was preparing to return to South Carolina when she went to the lobby of the Hyatt Regency Savannah to retrieve a loaner vehicle from a dealership.<\/p>\n
The vehicle, identified in the Savannah report as a gray 2026 BMW X5, had not been at the Hyatt Regency Savannah since about 12:30 a.m., hotel security told police.<\/p>\n
Security personnel told Savannah police that a man arrived at the Hyatt Regency Savannah around 12:30 a.m. and later returned to a white Audi to collect his belongings. The man then allegedly gave a valet employee a ticket for the BMW, claiming he had multiple vehicles at the hotel and that he played professional basketball.<\/p>\n
The Savannah report states valet tickets are assigned to specific vehicles.<\/p>\n
Hotel security told Savannah police they had video showing the man giving the ticket to valet staff and taking the BMW from the Hyatt Regency Savannah. The vehicle\u2019s tracking system placed it at 2108 North Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, at about 12:58 p.m. Aug. 14, according to the Savannah report.<\/p>\n
An officer notified Myrtle Beach police and requested that the BMW be entered into state and national stolen-vehicle databases.<\/p>\n
JSO said that a white Audi A5 had been reported stolen in Jacksonville and was later found unlocked in the parking garage at the Hyatt Regency Savannah.<\/p>\n
Audi reported stolen from Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront<\/p>\n
An unidentified person took the Audi from the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront after arriving in a stolen Mercedes and telling valet workers he needed to \u201cswap out his cars.\u201d<\/p>\n
The JSO report says the Audi was valued at $30,000 and was listed as stolen in the National Crime Information Center. The report lists the suspect as unknown, and the case was not cleared.<\/p>\n
The JSO report also says the Mercedes had been stolen from an Embassy Suites hotel in St. Augustine Beach. The Mercedes was later found at the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront, according to the report.<\/p>\n
The Audi was found the following day at the Hyatt Regency Savannah, according to a Savannah police vehicle-recovery report.<\/p>\n
Savannah police said the white Audi was parked in the Hyatt Regency Savannah\u2019s garage, unlocked and without obvious exterior damage. The vehicle was recovered at about 11 a.m. Aug. 14 and later towed, according to the Savannah report.<\/p>\n
Toyota stolen from Savannah\u2019s Fairfield Inn<\/p>\n
In a separate Savannah Police Department report dated Aug. 6, a woman told Savannah police she had checked into the Fairfield Inn in Savannah the previous afternoon and turned her vehicle and keys over to the valet service.<\/p>\n
The valet service gave her a code to text when she wanted her vehicle brought to the front of the Fairfield Inn, according to the Savannah report.<\/p>\n
At about 9:38 a.m. Aug. 6, she texted the code to request her vehicle. She received a response saying no valet attendants were available. When she went downstairs, valet staff told her that neither her vehicle nor its keys could be found.<\/p>\n
The valet manager told Savannah police the key was still listed in the valet system as checked in but was missing from the lockbox where the keys were stored.<\/p>\n
The Savannah report states the valet messaging system received a text using the woman\u2019s retrieval code at 12:06 a.m. Aug. 6. The woman told police she had not sent a message using the code until 9:38 a.m.<\/p>\n
The vehicle was last captured by a Flock camera on Dean Forest Road at about 7 p.m. Aug. 5, according to the Savannah report. Police searched the Fairfield Inn\u2019s parking garage but did not find it.<\/p>\n
Investigators were unable to review surveillance footage because the garage cameras were not working. The hotel\u2019s general manager and staff at a neighboring hotel also said they were locked out of their camera systems and were waiting for IT assistance, according to the report.<\/p>\n
Police said it remained unclear how someone obtained access to the vehicle.<\/p>\n
Officials said the stolen vehicle was a Toyota and described the Fairfield Inn theft as another valet-related case less than a mile from the Hyatt Regency Savannah.<\/p>\n
Savannah police have not publicly stated whether the Fairfield Inn theft, the Hyatt Regency Savannah BMW theft and the Jacksonville Audi theft involved the same person or were part of a larger crime operation.<\/p>\n