Mercedes joyride part of audacious luxury con

The longtime fraudster impersonated the sales manager of the Hilton hotel on Auckland's Princes Wharf. Photo / Supplied

Armed with only a business card, a conman impersonated a manager from a top Auckland hotel, ordered staff around and got his hands on a $165,000 Mercedes car.

Heston Williamson, 43, then went on a joyride to Rotorua, where he checked into another hotel under a false name and ran up a bill of hundreds of dollars.

This week, he was jailed for 14 months.

A longtime fraudster, Williamson sought a meeting with the sales manager of the Auckland Hilton last December and asked for a business card.

Using the card as proof of identity, he later phoned a Newmarket Mercedes car dealer - pretending to be the sales manager - and asked for a $165,000 Mercedes Benz to be taken to the hotel for a guest.

Thinking he was dealing with a senior manager from one of Auckland's most exclusive hotels, the car salesman met Williamson at the hotel entrance.

Williamson took him around the hotel and then into the restaurant, where he ordered staff around and went behind the bar to get drinks for them both.

The audacity of his actions meant the car dealer was convinced Williamson was who he pretended to be.

He gave him an insurance form to sign and left the Mercedes at the hotel for a hotel guest who was supposedly arriving at 10pm that night.

After the salesman left and with possession of the car keys, Williamson triedto disable the car's tracking system by pulling a number of wires from the computer system.

Thinking the system was ruined he drove south to Rotorua and checked into Rydges hotel under another assumed name.

He told the hotel he worked for Owens Global Logistics and ran up bills of $335 on room service and $229 for his room.

His luck finally ran out when he was arrested by police near the Rotorua lakefront. When officers searched the car, they found towels and a bathrobe from the hotel in the boot.

When Williamson was interviewed by police, he insisted he had been recruited to uplift the car to take to a pre-planned destination for a third party.

The plan, he told officers, was to strip the car and sell the parts overseas.

The lies didn't stop there. While he was being sentenced in the Auckland District Court, Williamson tried to persuade Judge Jan Doogue that he had money to pay reparation - but the documents he provided were written by himself and there was no evidence of any money.

The manager of the hotel, Chris Partridge, said Williamson was a "confident trickster".

Mr Partridge said staff would give business cards to bona fide clients seeking to use the hotel.

"He's used that to his advantage obviously."

He told the Herald the man was in the hotel for a "short time" and denied he was ever behind the bar.

Staff took security seriously.

"They're always conscious who is coming in and try and be as vigilant as we can," Mr Partridge said. "I guess the nature of this situation is he got use of a business card that's he asked for and used it not for the purpose it was intended for."

Williamson has several convictions for dishonesty offences including shoplifting, theft and several counts of using a document for pecuniary advantage.

WHAT HE DID

* Impersonated a manager of the Auckland Hilton Hotel.

* Ordered staff around in front of a car salesman.

* Poured his own drinks.

* Acquired a $165,000 Mercedes.

* Checked into another hotel in Rotorua, running up a bill of more than $500.