ORLANDO, Fla. – Five vehicles were reported stolen in July from a privately-owned parking lot near Orlando International Airport that requires its customers to leave their keys on dashboards, Orange County Sheriff’s Office records show.
Orange MCO Parking, which is not affiliated with the airport, has an “F” rating with the Better Business Bureau due to consumer complaints alleging vehicle damage, thefts, and unexplained electronic toll account charges that suggest customers’ vehicles may have been driven off-property.
One of vehicles stolen in July, a burgundy pickup owned by Gracie Lightcap, was later recovered more than a thousand miles away in Texas after someone repainted the truck white.
Lightcap’s E-Pass account indicated her truck passed an electronic toll reader on an I-4 Express Lane about 13 hours after she left it at Orange MCO Parking, law enforcement records show.
“It makes me angry,” said Lightcap, who discovered her truck was missing when she and her husband returned home from a trip to Las Vegas where they celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary.
Lightcap reported the vehicle theft to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
According to the deputy who responded to Orange MCO Parking, the front gate employee did not want to give her name and said she would have no access to the surveillance camera footage.
The deputy made two attempts to contact the parking lot manager by phone but there was no answer, he wrote in the theft report.
A spokesperson for Orange County Sheriff John Mina did not respond to multiple emails from News 6 inquiring whether the agency was ever able to obtain surveillance videos from the business.
Likewise, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office did not disclose whether Lightcap’s vehicle theft was still under investigation, or if anyone had been arrested for it. Lightcap is unaware of any arrests.
BMI Smart Parking Lots LLC, the owner of Orange MCO Parking, recently filed for bankruptcy protection as it faces eviction from its property at Seminole Avenue and Patch Road for allegedly failing to pay in rent, court records show. The landlord claims its owed more than $500,000.
Fabian Pourrain, the owner of BMI Smart Parking Lots, did not respond to phone calls, emails, and a message left with an Orange MCO Parking employee seeking comment for this story.
After Lightcap expressed concern about security procedures at Orange MCO Parking, News 6 Investigator Mike DeForest paid $12.75 to park a vehicle at the budget lot for two days so he could document the customer experience.
A Google advertisement for Orange MCO Parking directed DeForest to airportsparking.com, a third-party website that processes reservations and payments for numerous off-site airport parking lots across the country.
“With our reliable service, you can park your vehicle with confidence knowing your car is in safe hands,” a description for Orange MCO Parking states.
The reservation website notes that customers who leave their cars without the keys will be subject to a $150 penalty. It does not mention that those keys will be left inside unlocked vehicles.
When DeForest entered Orange MCO Parking driving an unmarked News 6 sedan, an attendant at the front gate asked to see a copy of the online reservation.
The attendant then handed DeForest a piece of paper that stated “Valet Parking Only. Leave keys on the dashboard or your vehicle will be towed and a $100 fee will be charged at exit”.
The paper included a QR code that reportedly directed customers to the company’s rules.
“When you park, you accept the terms and conditions,” the paper stated.
However, when News 6 attempted to scan the QR code, a website appeared stating, “This QR code has been deactivated for some reason”.
DeForest asked the front gate attendant if his key would be locked up.
“A driver is going to park the car. And lock the car. And keep the key safe,” the employee told DeForest.
The attendant instructed DeForest to park his car behind a line of other vehicles and leave the key on the dashboard before boarding the shuttle van to the airport.
As DeForest and a News 6 videographer walked from the car to the shuttle waiting area, they captured photos and videos of keys lying on dashboards of other customers’ vehicles, which were presumably unlocked.
As customers spoke with each other while riding the shuttle to the airport, several expressed concern that their vehicles might be left unlocked while they were away on trips.
One customer claimed the front gate attendant told him his key would be “locked up.”
DeForest and the News 6 videographer returned to Orange MCO Parking later that night by riding the company’s shuttle from the airport terminal back to the parking lot.
Before boarding the shuttle, the shuttle driver took a photo of DeForest’s parking reservation confirmation.
It is unclear whether the driver sent that photo to employees at Orange MCO Parking to inform them that DeForest was about to pick up his car.
When the shuttle returned to Orange MCO Parking, the driver told DeForest his car could be found at the far end of the parking lot, in a different location from where it was originally left a few hours earlier.
As DeForest and the News 6 videographer walked past dozens of other customers’ vehicles, they noticed most had keys on the dashboards in plain view.
Some of the vehicles with visible keys were blocked in by other cars in the crowded parking lot, suggesting they had not been moved recently.
Although some vehicles did not have keys on dashboards, News 6 could not immediately confirm if those keys had been moved to a more secure location or simply left in another area of the vehicles’ interior.
When DeForest found his car with unlocked doors, the key was on the console rather than the dashboard where he originally left it.
As DeForest drove off the property of Orange MCO Parking, the front gate attendant remained inside a booth on the passenger side of the car while looking at his phone. He did not take any obvious measures to ensure the vehicle belonged to DeForest, nor did he try to stop DeForest from leaving.
A court hearing is scheduled for Sept. 24 to determine whether the bankruptcy case will delay the landlord from pursuing an eviction against BMI Smart Parking Lots and immediately taking possession of the property.
Orange MCO Parking is still accepting online reservations for dates in October and beyond, the website shows.
Pourrain did not respond to questions from News 6 inquiring whether customers with future pre-paid reservations will be refunded if his company is evicted from the property, nor did he explain what would happen to vehicles left in the parking lot should his company be forced to vacate it.