POLICE SEARCH FOR MAN WHO POSED AS NBA PLAYER TO STEAL BMW

Police in Savannah, Georgia are searching for a man who claimed to be a professional basketball player and used a valet ticket to steal a $90,000 BMW X5 from a hotel. The theft occurred just after midnight on 14 August at the Hyatt Regency, when the man handed staff a ticket for a grey 2026 BMW and drove away. The vehicle actually belonged to a local dealership and was on loan to a hotel guest. Security footage shows the same man had entered the hotel lobby earlier that evening and searched through a white Audi parked there before approaching the valet desk.

The stolen BMW was later tracked to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The Audi he had accessed was discovered to be stolen as well, though it was found unlocked in the hotel's parking garage the following morning with no visible damage. Savannah Police released four surveillance photographs on social media in an attempt to identify the suspect. Police believe the same person may be responsible for a second valet theft that occurred a week earlier, on 6 August, when a guest at a nearby Fairfield Inn had her 2019 Toyota C-HR taken from the valet stand.

The case surfaced days after federal prosecutors charged Daejon Love with posing as a San Francisco 49ers player to defraud women he met on dating applications, allegedly promoting fraudulent investments using the false identity. Love and an alleged accomplice were arrested at an airport in Boise, Idaho. Whether the two cases are connected remains unclear, though both involve individuals claiming professional athlete identities to gain access to resources.