Ghantt was missing and no one, not even his wife, knew where he was. He's a very likable person. Two days after theyd robbed the Loomis Fargo truck the very same day the police found the abandoned van in the woods Steve and Michelle Chambers walked into a bank and deposited their cut of the stolen money into their account. Kelly called David at Loomis; he told her he'd be ready for them with the cash at 6:30 or 7 p.m. Alone in the building, David was trying to finish loading cash from the vault into an unmarked white Ford Econoline van belonging to Loomis. In December, agents got the tie-in they were looking for: Kelly Campbell had bought a $30,000 Toyota minivan with cash and registered it to one of Steve Chambers's aliases. He was signed by the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 2002. FILE - Kelly Campbell, one of the 21 people convicted for their involvement in the $17 million Loomis Fargo heist, awaits sentencing for her part in the theft at her mobile home near Mount. But as soon as he drove off, I went right back in and opened the vault. Ghantt would go on to spend six and a half years in federal prison. There was, however, one problem with his plan. Federal law stops government collection efforts 20 years after a defendant leaves prison. This time, David told McKinney the truth. Down in Jacksonville, a Loomis Fargo employee took $18 million from an armored van he was driving. The robbery of some $17 million quickly became one of the wildest bank heists of the last quarter century. His collection case, which closes in November 2026, got credit for the couples $540,000 house on Cramer Mountain in Gaston County, Butcher says. He couldn't even bear to stick around for the final tally--though when he left he didn't forget to take $6,000, the first cut of his expected $100,000 share. But few could have guessed how spectacularly the heist would go wrong after the criminals initially got away with it. All were convicted. The plan called for David to leave the vault door ajar, then maneuver a few minutes alone at the end of his shift, long enough to loot the cash, then pass it to Kelly and Steve. He was also a former FBI informant who had tipped the bureau off to a planned robbery of a Loomis Fargo armored truck that never came to fruition. At one point, the hoodlum shows up and Ghantt is wearing a Jerome Bettis Pittsburgh Steelers jersey; the hoodlums favorite team is the Steelers, and he caves and tells Ghantt that McKinney wants him dead. Come for the Chumbawamba, and stay for the return of the Mack. At 6 that morning, FBI supervisor Rick Shaffer led 12 agents and several Gaston County police officers up a winding road on Cramer Mountain to Steve's home. So it was weird when during the middle of the week, there were these very clean-cut, very Midwestern looking, obviously American guys in the town. About the same time, Kelly and McKinney received phone calls from agents who told them to open their doors. David kissed his sleeping wife on the cheek on the morning of Oct. 4. "I wanted to be more like my mom and dad were.". I mean, it was dark, Ghantt explains. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist. It's one of the biggest jokes at the place. There were times when I drank really heavily.". But McKinney never stopped trying to kill Ghantt although, initally, McKinney thought Chambers had paid for the hit over a drug deal gone bad, Diamant said. He pocketed the money and told Chambers and Campbell to send him his cut in Mexico. He had an endearing smile, a beautiful wife and two children. . Twelve hours later, at 6 that evening, Eric Payne drove a rented Budget van to his workplace, a graphics company on Performance Road in western Mecklenburg County called Reynolds & Reynolds, which was closed for the night and had a secluded parking lot where they intended to transfer the cash. 2500 City West Blvd., Suite 2300 Houston, TX 77042. Kelly told the FBI she had done drugs with David but denied knowing about the theft. In Campbells case, Gronquist says his client was buried in court-ordered debt despite the fact that she took responsibility for what she had done and cooperated with prosecutors and the FBI. Hes very articulate. Things started to go south the night of the robbery. ];David Scott Ghanntt [Misc.] . I pay (restitution to) thousands of people, but its in drips and drabs.. It was his goodbye. I wanted to get as far away as I could. That day, FBI agents also would arrest Scott Grant and Eric Payne, who had spent his share of the money on a motorcycle and breast implants for his wife and two sisters. Chambers, now 32, didn't grant an interview for this article, but last year, in response to written questions, he said the biggest lesson he learned was: "Family is more important and valuable than money. To say nothing of their art purchases like the aforementioned velvet Elvis portrait and a painting of a bulldog dressed as General George S. Patton. They sweated, though the night was cool. Theres some things I want to do., Ghantt planned on traveling from Mexico to the Cayman Islands, bypassing customs along the way. Chambers did hire McKinney to kill Ghantt, but initially McKinney was making personal cash deliveries to Ghantt in Mexico on behalf of Chambers. They picked me, he says with a rueful tone. Question: Do you ever think you could have been killed? On Monday, October 6th, the FBI agents who were investigating the robbery located the Loomis Fargo van abandoned in the woods. All the while, Ghantt prepared himself for the task at hand. It wouldn't work, Kelly told him. He was doing what the rest of us were doing making bad decisions. So he got in a cab and went to a mall. Butcher says the federal courts in the Western District of North Carolina have never handled a case quite like Loomis. David Ghantt, who pulled off the Loomis, Fargo & Co. vault robbery in 1997 and was sentenced to seven years in prison for the crime, served as a consultant for the film (in theaters Friday). Ghantt fled to Mexico. Cool, I say. Called Masterminds, the 2016 film stars Zach Galifianakis, Kristen Wiig and Owen Wilson. She will never get beyond the debt. When McKinney realized Ghantt was wanted for the Loomis Fargo robbery, he backed off personally because he didnt want to be anywhere near a federal investigation. A week later, another informant told the FBI that Eric Payne had quit his job at a printing company soon after the heist and was spending money he probably hadn't earned legally. You see, there's a reason Loomis Fargo used armored cars to move large amounts of cash. Kelly's company. But it didnt really hit me until later., On March 2nd, when the FBI agents walked up to Ghantt in Playa del Carmen and told him he was under arrest, Ghantt was relieved. As with many recent historic events, this one had been caught on videotape, a fact that a few dozen Charlotte FBI agents would learn in a hastily organized Sunday morning meeting. Hed be in contact. She also assured the teller her cash wasn't drug money. Looking for Kelly Loomis? They heard Michele brag about her $43,000 ring. Getting restitution, its like pulling teeth.. When we worked together [for Loomis], we'd joke about it. There had been no signs. Besides her prison sentence . "I was unhappy with my life. The others, though, went no farther than Cramer Mountain. If you want me to leave, Ill leave. Then, Ghantt went into another room. . Actor Owen Wilson plays him in the movie, which includes the real names of all the major players. Question: What made you, Chambers and the others think you could get away with this? His new life in Mexico had begun. He hadnt checked ahead of time if the airport had any available flights, let alone if it would even be open. Question: Are you happy that Wilkesboro-nativeZach Galifianakis plays you in the movie? But after she left, she reached back out to Ghantt and brought up what theyd talked about that day in the break room. Loomis employees drive the very core of our business. I wish them all a happy life and that's about it. I thought, Okay, if I get out of that bubble because the cops depend on that, even the feds my chances to get away go way up.. In a word, "Teamwork. He went deep-sea fishing. But as he later recalled to the media, as soon as he stepped through those big-box doors, he realized he was flush with cash, and he didnt need to shop at Walmart ever again. They set the date, Oct. 4, a Saturday when David knew he could be alone in the building after his shift. You have to remember that it's Hollywood and they'll take what was a minor event and they'll blow it up and make it as funny as they can.". The audacity of the act was breathtaking. Back in North Carolina, Ghantts former accomplices were living high on the hog. Ghantt didn't actually meet Chambers until the night of the heist, though, according to Diamant, who would go on to write a book about it.The . Before long, the tales of high living by Chambers and his now former wife, Michelle, led the thieves to be labeled either the "Cramer Mountain Hillbillies" or "The gang that couldn't steal straight." And I said, Hey, man, I got this. Everybody seemed stunned. In early September 1997, Kelly found herself chatting on the phone with a friend who still worked at Loomis, a 27-year-old man who, despite being married, had made no secret of the fact that he had a crush on her. From Mexico, David usually spoke with Kelly on the phone once a week, paying with calling cards. . When neighbors asked where they got their money, Steve said hed played in the NFL. Why did this Charlotte engineer leave her job? Ghantt went on to explain that he left for his flight to Mexico with about $25,000, and that two or three deliveries of extra money was made to him by the man Chambers would pay to kill him. Steve Chambers and Kelly Campbell, who had been friends on and off since growing up together in the mid-1980s, were at a cookout, playing cards and drinking Budweiser at Steve's Lincoln County, N.C., mobile home, Kelly recalled. On Feb. 27, agents listened in on a call from David to Kelly and learned David's location in Mexico. Now two NC men face prison. Now worried about both the FBI and McKinney, he spent even more time alone in his room. 27 febrero, 2023 . I hear her typing. In the wee hours of the morning, Chambers and the Erics drove back to the town of Vale, North Carolina, and holed up in a double-wide trailer while counting their cash. And to me, if it pisses them off, Im all for it.. That week, the FBI designated the theft its 142nd "major case," putting it on a list--begun in the 1970s--that includes such other infamous crimes as the World Trade Center bombing. This was in the 1990s the Columbia Airport back then was closed at around 9:30, 10 oclock. His wife, Tammy, was as shocked as Loomis officials. The others sat in their cars across the street and watched him struggle to open the heavy gate. Except the person he offered $150,000 to mule $2.5 million down to Ghantt in Mexico turned him down and instead went to the FBI. Things went from bad to worse when, in November, Michelle strolled into a bank with a briefcase filled with 200 grand and asked the manager, How much can I deposit without the bank reporting the transaction? When she showed the bank manager that she really had the money to invest, the cash was still bound in Loomis Fargo wrappers. As it turned out, Ghantt was zipping up his scuba suit in Mexico. That October, the Chamberses' bank accounts ballooned. You can reach Kevin Ellis at 704-869-1823 or Twitter.com/TheGazetteKevin. On Oct. 5, the Loomis heist celebrates its 25th birthday. Just head on out. And so, he did. A report by the General Accounting Office found that as of budget year 2016, $110 billion in restitution ordered by the federal courts was outstanding and that more than 90% of the amount had been classified as uncollectible.. The mystery 1-4-3 caller had been Kelly, though agents didn't know it yet. Scott Grant and Steve pulled up next to her in a Mazda. Ghantt, his former co-worker Kelly Campbell and her friends Steve and Michelle Chambers carried out the Loomis Fargo heist on Oct. 4, 1997. An officer rang the doorbell. According to Butcher, Campbells last official payment came in June 2021 when the government appears to have seized a tax refund of $81.24. He told her he wanted more of "his" cash. Loomis has received $978,983.79, according to Sally Butcher, an assistant clerk in the federal courts of the Western District of North Carolina who specializes in criminal debt. One day, the two employees were in the break room and got to talking about the news of the day a massive bank heist that just occurred in Florida by someone at their company. He grabbed the tapes from two VCRs that connected to 16 security cameras. The authorities didn't know yet how much was missing from the armored-car company, but Steve did. 1-4-3 is 'I love you.' The figures can be astounding. Only a nickel on every dollar have been collected so far. The case resurfaced in the federal courts on Thursday, Sept. 1, when the U.S. Attorneys Office in Charlotte posted a public reminder in the case file of Loomis defendant Kelly Campbell that she had fallen behind in her restitution. There was a little voice in my head that said, 'Don't do it. That was pretty awesome., It felt like a dream vacation until he started running out of money. Loomis, Fargo offered a $500,000 reward after the theft. I mentioned it to Kelly. By late November, McKinney made a third trip to Mexico, saying he'd help David move to Mexico City. He kept looking over his shoulder. "I work construction. No regrets. But the idea of all that money pulled at her. Zaron Burnett is an investigative journalist and longform features writer based in Los Angeles. Campbell was released from federal custody in 2004 after serving five years, meaning her collection case will age out in December 2024. "I said, 'That's all they gave me,' " McKinney recalled. ', "He asked me if I'd mind holding some money for him. Kelly drove David to the airport. Before David left for the airport, he had handed Scott an eight-inch key ring. "Things I always wanted to do, but never had the time or the money," he said. I just want people to go to the movies and have a good laugh, even if it's at my expense. There, Scott and Eric paced the floor as Steve tried to calm them down. Campbell, a former Loomis employee and one of the original masterminds of the caper, has paid off less than $21,000 of the $4,701,694.18 she was docked. Sandra Floyd, Michele Chambers's mother, remembers the first time she saw the house. Campbell, 29, had pleaded guilty to charges of bank larceny, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder. Given his position at the bank, hed be the one to pull off the robbery, and he intended to be ready. The next day, he was sitting next to FBI agent Mark Rozzi on a US Airways flight to Charlotte. Then he and Campbell drove 90 miles to Columbia, South Carolina, where Ghantt planned to purchase a ticket to Mexico so he could be out of the country before news of the robbery broke the next morning. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist (No Ratings Yet) . Meanwhile, Michele Chambers was laughing and saying, repeatedly, "Look at all this money!" Scary. He then began loading $17 million in unmarked bills inside a company van before driving away. Ghantt started at Loomis Fargo in 1994, and soon worked his way up from an armored car driver to a vault supervisor. Purchases included a pool table, jewelry (including a $43,000 diamond ring), a minivan, $20,000 worth of cigars, and the 7,000-square-foot home on the side of Cramer Mountain. Heres your money. Then he turns around and leaves., The problem was, it was nowhere near the amount Ghantt had expected: Im looking at it, and theres maybe $8,000. When he finished, the van was filled with $17 million. This meant a bump in pay, up to $8.15 an hour. Jeffrey Guller, who at 81 is by far the oldest of the Loomis defendants, still owes almost $1.1 million on his original court debt of $1.14 million and will remain on the governments books for another four years. Steve told me to tell [David] whatever was necessary to keep him happy.". Starting Pay Rate: $15.50 per hour Shift: Monday - Friday from 1:00pm to 9:00pm Job Description As a Coin Processor, you work with your team to maintain inventory in our cash vaults for our Loomis customers. Thats pretty standard in restitution matters. Chambers never held Campbell hostage by locking her in a shed on his property. He and his wife, Tammy, lived in a mobile home in Kings Mountain, N.C. Money was always tight. Visit us at Loomis.us. Back then, it was one of the hotspots for hiding money. Ghantt planned to live off the interest for the rest of his life. Note: No quotes were altered, although in some cases additional quotes were added to the questions as Ghantt expanded on his thoughts. The only person not to plead guilty in the case, former Gastonia attorney Jeff Guller, ended up doing eight years for money laundering. Kelly Jane Campbell, a former Loomis employee; Michael L. McKinney . Basic and voluntary life insurance plan. Anybody who gets caught up in the system is getting chewed up by it, the now-retired Gronquist told the Observer. Despite a mega-watt cast featuring Zach Galifianakis and a handful of some of Saturday Night Lives biggest current and former stars, Masterminds, the comedy about Loomis Fargo robbery completely tanked at the box office in its opening weekend, bowing in sixth place with just $6.6 million. . I had to go in there and tell her the whole story, and she was real cool about it. They planned to kill a man named David Ghantt, the guy who had made their extravagant new lifestyle a reality. I did a little research into crime statistics and the local cops. "We're not the type that questions everything people tell us," Floyd said. "But I had to know.". I missed my wife. CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS FROM 1998 and ACTORS IN MOVIE. . I'd probably change jobs. Thats nearly $11 million less than former Kings Mountain resident David Ghantt (played by Galifianakis in the film) helped steal from the vault where he worked in Charlotte back in October 1997. The Columbia airport had no available flights. David didn't even know Steve's name. And going to see the Mayan ruins. Its really just a matter of timing, more than anything. And she says, How much do you think wed get out of there? I said, Ten to 15 million. But I didnt really know.. He frequently entertained there, buying steaks for his guests. Find 145 people named Kelly Loomis along with free Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok profiles on PeekYou - true people search. In that time, I realized most of my problems were because of me. He took bus tours of Mayan ruins. They discussed it further, and Campbell asked him when they should do it. He had even scheduled a follow-up appointment at the dentist. Here's what Floyd recalls: After two games of pool, Steve told him, "You know, we do a lot of gambling. . About 5:30 the next morning, McKinney knocked on David's door and dropped $8,500 on the bed. Speaking of his co-defendants, Ghantt says hes not currently in contact with any of them. Ive never taken offense to anything like that, he tells me. Few who were living in the area at the time can forget the "Velvet Elvis" painting Chambers had hanging in his mansion or the tales of cosmetic surgery, BMW convertibles and other signs of excess. Ghantt:It's kid-friendly, it's family-friendly (the movie is rated PG-13). About 20 ago, Campbell sent him a letter of apology, but he never responded. The money was heavy. That was great. David thought about it. I loved it. But it wasnt. Almost 19 years after Ghantt and a group of friends from Gaston County pulled off one of the largest cash heists in U.S. history, the movie "Masterminds" will play up the caper for laughs. Money'll turn your head, I don't care who you are. Steve and Michele invited everyone back for a Christmas party, where they gave Michele's stepfather a special gift--the pickup truck he'd always wanted. Without really intending to, Kelly recalls, she turned the conversation to the possibility of a heist. He was an old friend from East Gaston High School, tough and sure of himself. . Filming in the Asheville area starting in early July, and is. Now, I kind of know something is fishy., Alone in Mexico with limited cash, Ghantt thought about turning himself in. All rights reserved. I mean, cause greed is a funny animal. The phone rang: Kelly had a problem. Turns out, most of the thieves and their accomplices have been about as effective coming up with their court-ordered restitution as they were hiding their original crimes. He'd even bragged that he'd killed people. She was devastated, Diamant said. About 5:45 a.m., he got into his pickup and began the 45-minute drive to work in Charlotte. Some received probation for money laundering, many others did hard time. While the agents initiated their investigation, the Chambers spent money as quickly as they could. So he convinced a local hoodlum in Mexico to try to kill Ghantt. His name was Corey. Updated: 11:31 AM EDT October 4, 2022 CHARLOTTE, N.C. Tuesday is the 25th anniversary of the infamous Loomis Fargo heist in Charlotte, where a bank worker, with the help of two accomplices,. And I was thinking about just showing up there. Ghantt says he operates a bulldozer for a small company. Kelly would only discover later that leading up to the heist, Steve had been writing bad checks, $17,000 worth, for which he would later be convicted. He partied, met women, drank, skied and hung out at the beach. From going fishing to riding horses on the beach the whole nine yards. Ghantt was working a late shift, and just after 6:30 p.m., his coworkers were packing up and heading for home. This real-life crime is the core of "Untitled Armored Car Project," which stars Zach Galifianakis, Owen Wilson and Kristen Wiig. He couldn't talk.". how to match 8 hypercubes in bejeweled. Our success depends on our team members, and that's why it's important for us to offer an employee benefits program that is not only extremely comprehensive but also one of the best in the industry. I really enjoyed the little scuba diving trip. Kelly drove her pickup to a lot across the street from the Loomis building, on Suttle Avenue in Charlotte. "I said, 'I don't want him killed.' Ghantt ultimately agreed to the plan, largely, due to a mountain of credit-card debt and in hopes of changing his life for the better. Scott was so nervous, he said, that he couldn't help. Why do we feel its so necessary to treat people like this, to say, OK, well just ruin the rest of your life because you made a bad decision., Punishment should not last a lifetime. It will be some time before she can commune with domestic animals again. It was the first Saturday in October. The teller, who hadn't asked, filed a "suspicious activity report." shaka wear graphic tees is candy digital publicly traded ellen lawson wife of ted lawson real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist 25 Feb/23 (No Ratings Yet) I couldn't understand why I hadn't been more successful," David said. He hated his job, with its 12-hour shifts. Thomas Grant, who served three years in prison for bank larceny, paid off restitution of $70,000; brother Eric Grant paid all of his $26,000; as did David Craig, $40,000; and Dennis and Sandra Floyd; $27,000. She came from a blue-collar background, a high school dropout who had grown tired of working in a mill and gotten an equivalency diploma. What concerned her was the chance of getting caught. He approached a longtime friend, Eric Payne, who lived in a mobile home south of Belmont, N.C. Steve offered him $100,000 to help. That led to better jobs, like the one at Loomis. Ghantt was already married when he took part in the heist, to a woman named Tammy who author Diamant described as very nice. It is true, however, that she had no idea about the plot and that he fled to Mexico without telling her. Question: You were a consultant? It was one of those things everyone (at Loomis Fargo) joked about, but in time, it became serious. Ghantt:I've burned that bridge years ago. Its hilarious. CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) _ A woman who helped plan the $17 million robbery of armored car company Loomis, Fargo & Co. was sentenced Tuesday to nearly six years in prison and ordered to pay back more than $4 million. He has no contact with any of those convicted with him in the crime, including his former wife, and doesn't plan to see the movie, he said. Steven Chambers [Misc. Campbell was another employee at Loomis Fargo and she and Ghantt quickly struck up a relationship, one that Campbell denies was ever romantic though FBI evidence says otherwise, and one that continued after she left the company. I flew from Atlanta to New Orleans. and "I love money!" Kelly said she had reason to believe Steve might be able to pull off a heist. Was that really what it was about? But because David's relationship with his Loomis bosses had been rocky, he says, he doesn't feel sorry about what he did to the company. Chambers and Campbell were waiting for him in the Loomis Fargo parking lot, both in separate vehicles.
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