Celebrity photographer Prince Williams is the latest victim in a string of car thefts from valets in Atlanta. Williams’s custom Mercedes Benz S63 AMG was stolen from the valet at Follies gentleman’s club in Atlanta last night.
Williams is a well-known celebrity photographer who provides celebrity photos to blogs such as Sandrarose.com and major wire photo services. He also owns Atlpics.net.
Follies is a popular strip club on Buford Highway that is frequented by celebrities such as Drake and T.I. and Tameka Harris.
Williams said he thought the valet attendant was joking when he said he gave someone else the keys to Williams’ vehicle on Wednesday night.
The valet attendant handed over the car keys without a claim ticket after the thief walked up and said he lost his ticket.
After Williams reported the car theft to police, Valet 4 Life’s owner, Mike, handed him $200 cash.
Club security provided him with a copy of surveillance footage.
Surveillance footage shows the suspect receiving the keys from the valet and casually getting into the Mercedes and attempting to drive away.
Two valet attendants approach the driver’s side window and speak with the thief before he quickly maneuvered the vehicle around them and fled. The hapless valet chased after the fleeing vehicle.
The car thief was long gone by the time Williams exited the club just before midnight Wednesday.
The $100K vehicle was equipped with LoJack, a GPS tracking device that assists local law enforcement to recover stolen vehicles.
The Georgia Highway Patrol located William’s abandoned vehicle within hours. The car doors were locked and the interior had been ransacked. Williams’ cameras and lenses worth well over $15,000 were stolen. Williams’ Ruger .38 pistol was also missing. The empty holster was found on the front passenger seat.
Car thefts from valet services in Atlanta are a common occurrence.
Between 2015 and 2017, over 100 vehicles were stolen from valets across Atlanta.
In 2012 a restaurant valet attendant gave away the keys to an Audi 7. The thief crashed the vehicle into a utility pole knocking out power to over 4,800 homes in Atlanta.
In another infamous incident, rapper Fabolous was implicated in the theft of a rare Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder from the InterContinental Buckhead hotel after the valet attendant gave the car keys to a member of the rapper’s entourage.
Surveillance video shows Fabolous leaving in another vehicle while members of his entourage drove the Lambo behind him.
No charges were filed after Fabolous made a deal with Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard to return the vehicle.
The car’s owner could not sue Fabolous, thanks to the deal the rapper made with police.
Most valet attendants in Atlanta earn less than minimum wage and the employee turnover rate is high.
Follies management did not respond to a blogger’s request for a comment about the car theft.
