A 24-year-old Jamaican woman who once worked as a security guard at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport’s car rental centre is facing 13 felony charges after detectives accused her of conspiring with three men to steal a dozen vehicles from Hertz.
According to Local 10 News, Savannah Harsha Phillips, born in Kingston, Jamaica, and now living in Sunrise, Florida, appeared Wednesday before Broward County Circuit Judge Thomas J. Coleman for arraignment. Prosecutors say she played a central role in a theft ring that allowed cars to leave the Hertz parking garage without authorisation on May 16 and 17.
A Broward Sheriff’s Office detective alleged that Phillips used her position to let drivers “exit the Hertz parking garage without showing a driver’s licence and pretending to scan the vehicles as they exited.”
The stolen vehicles included multiple Kia K4 sedans, Nissan Altimas, a Hyundai Sonata, a Toyota Corolla, and a Nissan Sentra. Investigators later linked some of the cars to crimes in other states, including a black Kia K4 tied to incidents in Texas and a white Toyota Corolla connected to crimes in Virginia.
Detectives said Phillips had “access to all Hertz company vehicles, knew the keys would be inside them, and was aware of the slowest times of business to commit the crime.”
She was arrested at her Sunrise home on August 26 and booked into the Paul Rein Detention Facility. Phillips faces charges including first-degree organised fraud, five counts of second-degree grand theft, and seven counts of third-degree grand theft.
A bond court judge set bail at US$62,000 but ordered that she prove the funds do not come from criminal proceeds.
