SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - An Oceanside woman says she was left feeling violated after her car was stolen from the Porto Vista Hotel's valet in Little Italy.
"I had to leave some of my things in my car, like my work computer, some of my personal items that were expensive and personal, but I trusted they would be ok because it was a valet service at the hotel," said Ashley Holthaus, whose car was stolen.
Her friend had a room at the hotel, and their group of friends went to a concert at San Diego State that evening.
"The next morning, around 6:30 a.m. I got up and walked over to the valet and gave him my ticket and at that point, he looked for my keys and couldn't find my keys or record of my car being at the hotel."
Holthaus says the next few hours were extremely stressful as staff tried to figure out what happened. She says she was asked to wait to call police until they had a better idea of what happened.
Holthaus was eventually shown surveillance footage. She describes seeing a tall man in a hoodie walk up to the unattended valet kiosk, take her keys, walk straight to her car, and drive out of the parking garage.
"Why am I paying for a service and then have something like this happen and then there's no accountability from the hotel?" said Holthaus.
Her company's IT department was able to track the computer which was in the car; she says it was located out of the country.
Holthaus says to make matters worse, the hotel charged her for the valet and did not offer to compensate her friend for the room.
An attorney for the hotel tells 10News there hasn't been an incident like this in Porto Vista's 30 years of operation.
The attorney says they've turned over surveillance to police and are cooperating with the investigation.
He added that management is taking measure to ensure this doesn't happen again.
Holthaus estimates the total loss was over $5,000.
