Wedding photographer says items in his car went missing while using valet service

By Briana Whitney

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    PHOENIX (KPHO) — Phoenix police are investigating a possible theft after a wedding photographer reported someone had gone through his car that was parked at the Arizona Biltmore resort.

Wedding photographer Ethan Beazley photographed a wedding on Saturday at the Arizona Biltmore resort. He said it appeared someone rummaged through his car after he used the valet service. Beazley’s house key was also found on the ground by the resort a day later.

Now he’s warning other vendors who may have events coming up. “I handed off the keys to the valet and then immediately went to unpack my car. So, I pulled out tons and tons and tons of photography equipment,” Beazley said. He was there all day and got his car back from the resort’s valet late at night to head home.

“Drove home, went to go inside, and noticed my house key was missing,” Beazley said. He knew his house key was secure on his keychain, and the rest of his keys were there, so he said someone had to take it off the chain.

Beazley checked his car to see if anything else was missing. Nothing was missing, but there was something odd. “When I opened up the glove compartment, that had clearly been rummaged through. The booklet that usually carried all my paperwork, my registration, insurance stuff had been opened and my registration card with my home address was just loose in the glove compartment,” he said.

Beazley said he immediately called the resort and talked to a security officer working, who said he reviewed the security footage, but that didn’t help due to where the valet parked his car. “It appears the car had been parked in a spot out of view of any of the security cameras,” Beazley said.

The next day, with his house key still missing, he got a call from the resort security manager that they found the key on the ground in the parking garage. Beazley said he mentioned the security camera issue. “He actually blamed me and said, ‘Well, you didn’t request for your car to be in view of the security cameras.’ As if that’s something that’s a normal request,” Beazley said.

Beazley was concerned that his home and belongings, especially the expensive photography equipment, could be compromised by anybody who had their hands on his house key and glove compartment documents. “Take a key, copy the key, look through any information that might have an address, then while you’re at an event or at the resort somebody goes and robs your house,” he said.

Beazley says that it doesn’t appear his home was broken into, but he still went ahead and changed his locks. Phoenix Police have confirmed they’re investigating the entire incident. “You certainly don’t expect to have anything like this happen at the resort the caliber of the Biltmore, let alone just anywhere, to be honest with you,” Beazley said.

Arizona’s Family reached out to the Arizona Biltmore communications team Monday to ask if they’ve started an internal investigation and how they can guarantee guests and event vendors that their cars and belongings are safe with their valet. The Biltmore sent us the following response:

What I can share is that our team is aware of the allegations, and upon finding the key on the ground of the parking lot, we attempted to return it to the individual.

Please rest assured that the well-being, safety and security of all who visit our hotel is a top priority and we continue to make every effort to ensure all practices adhere to our strict safety and security standards.

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