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Some of the biggest numbers remaining on the Loomis collection board, as is the case with Campbell, belong to those who played the biggest role in the crime: David Ghantt, the Loomis employee who loaded all that money 2,800 pounds in all into the back of a company van before escaping to Mexico, has paid just under $50,000 of the $3.81 million he was assessed. Michelle Chambers paid off only $27,000. Steve also offered $100,000 to his 26-year-old cousin. Twenty-five years ago, a small group of rural North Carolinian amateur bank robbers pulled off the second-largest heist in American history. On Oct. 7, 1997, two FBI agents arrived at Kelly Campbell's home after two Loomis employees had told agents she and David had once dated. So he got in a cab and went to a mall. Given the presence of the surveillance tapes and a gun belonging to Ghantt, they started with Ghantts phone and pager records and discovered a pattern they attributed to an accomplice. Paying the money back has taken a lot longer, and time is running out for the U.S. government to collect. Get to me. Its that kind of excitement.. Kelly Jane Campbell, a former Loomis employee; Michael L. McKinney . It was his goodbye. 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. 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. The bizarre true story of the criminals behind the second-largest bank heist in American history. 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. It was an ear-biting, Pierce Brosnan-loving, comet-obsessed world, and were here to relive every minute of it. It was late in 1996. Steve now needed a hit man. When Ghantt was on the plane home from Mexico with the FBI, he admitted to the agents that while Campbell had been integral to why hed done it and that he did indeed have a crush on her it was never his true motivation. The Chambers, however, didnt fit in with the other members of the gated community. Theres no way to get it back, Butcher told The Charlotte Observer. He appeared happily matched with his high-spirited wife, Michele, and the two children from her first marriage. Ghantt was the vault manager and was surrounded. From going fishing to riding horses on the beach the whole nine yards. CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS FROM 1998 and ACTORS IN MOVIE. and "I love money!" They discussed it further, and Campbell asked him when they should do it. What made her do it? The platform is designed to engage citizens and government leaders in a discussion about what needs improvement across the country. Tickle Me Kaczynski: How the Inventor of the Ultimate Elmo Toy Became a Unabomber Suspect, A Highly Questionable Cultural History of Richard Geres Ass Gerbil. Seven Charged In $17M Heist - CBS News Hed be in contact. How Did David Ghantt, Kelly Campbell, Steve Chambers Steal More Than They also left behind a life-changing fortune in small bills $3.3 million in fives and ones that they overlooked and the two videotapes that Ghantt had pulled from the security cameras at the bank. There was a little voice in my head that said, 'Don't do it. "For the first year, they're all over you. By late November, McKinney made a third trip to Mexico, saying he'd help David move to Mexico City. Now he offered to pay him to carry cash to David--Steve said he was a friend hiding out after a bad drug deal, McKinney recalled. For reasons that remain obscure, Robert spilled the beans to David. The number of people involved had ballooned after Steve started asking friends and family to help him launder the stolen cash. In real life: True. Instead of lobster, the man who stole $17 million survived on home-cooked pasta and grilled cheese sandwiches. Jim Gronquist, Campbells defense attorney during the Loomis case, says the financial penalties levied against his client and her co-defendants are grossly excessive and unjust, particularly since most of the stolen Loomis money was actually recovered. Yes, Carrie Underwood adopted a dog in Charlotte. Now that Kelly believes she has found Jesus, she has become more analytical about her past. At the Halloween party, though, Kelly gave in to Steve, and agreed it had to be done. Loomis Fargo Defendants Owe as Much as They Stole in 1997, 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 Holly, N.C. on Aug 16, 1999. Campbell and her husband had always been just scraping by, however in the weeks following the robbery, the two seemed to have more money than they've ever had. Where I was going was right there near the Cayman Islands. She also must . He rewarded Robert with $3,000 and vowed never to meet McKinney alone. But as soon as he drove off, I went right back in and opened the vault. Many of the lesser players in the conspiracy have been the most effective in paying their debts. It's one of the biggest jokes at the place. Stay informed daily on the latest news and advice on COVID-19 from the editors at U.S. News & World Report. Ghantt spent a solid hour moving what ended up being 2,700 pounds of cash more than an actual ton into an unmarked company van. Thats where they feel comfortable., This piece of information would become critical to his getaway plan. Should David be killed after he gave them the money? This time, David told McKinney the truth. I pay (restitution to) thousands of people, but its in drips and drabs.. Masterminds (2016 film) - Wikipedia There used to be a consulate in Cancun. Question: What made you, Chambers and the others think you could get away with this? . Dental plans . 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. His wife, Tammy, was as shocked as Loomis officials. At that same time, Steve was growing sick of the calls to send more money to Ghantt, and was looking for a way to end that issue. The bigger the amount, however, the bigger the damages to victims that likely will never be repaid: Amy Paynes collection account was closed in 2020 with her having paid $53,000 of the $274,000 she owed. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. 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. Truth be told, Ghantt had something of a crush on Campbell, and so, he told her exactly how hed pull off such a heist. Mine did. All the while, Ghantt prepared himself for the task at hand. Question: How much of 'Masterminds' is true? Scott Grant said he hesitated, but agreed if no guns would be involved. You can seize property. Scott was so nervous, he said, that he couldn't help. The robbery was committed by Loomis vault supervisor David Scott Ghantt, his married girlfriend Kelly Campbell (a former Loomis co-worker), Steven Eugene Chambers (a one-time FBI informant), his wife Michelle Chambers, Michael Gobbies, and four other co-conspirators. Ghantt was working as a vault supervisor for Loomis Fargo in Charlotte in 1997, earning about $8 an hour and tired of his humdrum life. The government does not run debtors prisons, says U.S. The Loomis Fargo Bank Robbery was the $17.3 million cash robbery of the Charlotte, North Carolina, regional office vault of Loomis Fargo & Company on the evening of October 4, 1997, by armored car driver and vault supervisor David Scott Ghantt. And youre like, Come on parachute. She asked about the limit for a cash deposit before "paperwork" was required. That was the most painful truth to come to. 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. He told her he wanted more of "his" cash. "I was thinking, 'They aren't paying me enough,' " McKinney recalled. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist - phnxathletica.com Then Steve pushed Scott inside, and he began throwing plastic-wrapped bundles of tens, twenties, fifties and hundreds to Eric and Steve, who placed them in three blue 55-gallon barrels. I didnt pick the heist team. And though she had been made night shift supervisor at Allied Security, she still felt she would never make the money she needed. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist seeing a woodpecker after someone dies lectomano que significa. It's about the 1997 Loomis Fargo robbery also known as the "hillbillly heist" the second largest cash robbery in the history of the United States. One number is working in Campbells favor. I mentioned it to Kelly. The FBI, in fact, obtained the evidence they needed to bring down the major players, including Chambers, after catching them talking about the murder plot on the telephone via wiretap. He and his wife, Tammy, lived in a mobile home in Kings Mountain, N.C. Money was always tight. He hadnt checked ahead of time if the airport had any available flights, let alone if it would even be open. When I call Ghantt to discuss his involvement in the Loomis Fargo heist, he confesses that hes feeling a bit tired from a day of honest labor. Contact Us | Loomis US Ghantt worked at Loomis Fargos regional office vault in Charlotte. By then Id figured out that Bruno was up to no good, and that Id probably never seen any more of my money. ". The FBI now knew Chambers had Loomis cash. Thats one of my personality flaws. Hes well thought-out. Were others involved? David said he realized then, for the first time, he might not see the millions he thought he had coming to him. Question: Are you surprised that Hollywood took this on as a movie? According to Butcher, Campbells last official payment came in June 2021 when the government appears to have seized a tax refund of $81.24. The name she gave the pup is apropos. . There are multiples of thousands of these things coming every year. . He took bus tours of Mayan ruins. Ghantt:I don't think he ever really meant to harm me. In the meantime, the FBI was closing in looking to bust a total of 21 suspected accomplices. I missed my wife. Ghantt:It baffles me to this day. The Loomis defendants face no additional legal jeopardy for not paying off their debts. "I was trying to figure out a way to [leave my husband] and take care of my kids without having to depend on him or any other man," Kelly said. The audacity of the act was breathtaking. In the dark, Scott inserted one key into the back door slot. I hit the local library the thing that we used to do before Google, Ghantt says with a small laugh. First, they loaded the cash into blue 55-gallon barrels, and then they moved the barrels into a rental van. There it was, "The Heist." And when everybody else voted to kill me, she voted with them, he explains. He placed stacks of currency on a cart and wheeled it to the van about 15 feet away, inside the building. After a couple of weeks, Ghantt and the rest of the heist team were ready to strike. They Had 17 Million Dollars and No Sense at All - AMW Magazine "I missed my family. His collection case, which closes in November 2026, got credit for the couples $540,000 house on Cramer Mountain in Gaston County, Butcher says. My love for my family is by far the most important thing in my life. how to match 8 hypercubes in bejeweled. About 200 keys dangled from it. David, the international fugitive, lived it up, too--for a while. Agents began picking up signs that David definitely had help: The abandoned Loomis van with $3.3 million in small bills still inside, and phone records showing that somebody beeped him while he stole the money, using David's own cell phone. 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. David was sentenced to 7 1/2 years. Its a yes: Clover teen shakes off nerves to earn American Idol golden ticket, Mail carrier cant believe his eyes after seeing NC lottery win. Steve told Scott to ignore the remaining stacks, which were mostly ones and fives. Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Zaron Burnett is an investigative journalist and longform features writer based in Los Angeles. Ghantt was never in Chamberss presence until he actually handed off the money to him. Some of that money is just gone. The agents tapped the phone, and it didnt take long to locate Ghantt after that. 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. Kelly Campbell, 29, a former company employee, entered guilty pleas earlier to bank larceny, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder charges. He para-sailed, power-skied and scuba-dived. 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. 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. Scott Grant and Steve pulled up next to her in a Mazda. Although David was in on most of the planning, one discussion between Steve and Kelly was kept a secret. 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. Before David left for the airport, he had handed Scott an eight-inch key ring. I was expecting her to kick me out of the house., Years later, after they married and had a child together, they watched a movie based on the whole ordeal. The cash was covered with dog food. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist (No Ratings Yet) . Why did this Charlotte engineer leave her job? The bash had a Cinderella theme, with a three-tiered cake that looked like a castle. October was "a blast," he said. "But, I hate to admit it, it doesn't faze me one bit. Key benefit components include: Health insurance plans. The real story behind the second largest bank heist in history, which So Im like, Can you get a move on with my money? After a couple of weeks passed, I get a phone call from Kelly: Okay, Brunos coming to you, blah, blah, blah. So I get a phone call from this guy, and I tell him where to meet me. 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. All were convicted. He was signed by the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 2002. Ghantt ended up doing more than five years in prison, Chambers did more than 11 years. They bought a BMW roadster. I was burned out and just didn't know it. They found Ghantts truck, and in it were his keys, some personal items and his wedding ring. David told her he'd need help moving the money, getting a new ID and leaving the country. Kelly says she underestimated the value of her life before the heist. The initials on the money wrapper belonged to a Loomis employee who hadn't worked there since before the heist. Things started to go south the night of the robbery. About 20 ago, Campbell sent him a letter of apology, but he never responded. . Her marriage--at which she was making another ambivalent effort after multiple separations--and even the jobs she'd been able to get with a diploma couldn't come close to providing the kind of life she dreamed about, the life she felt she deserved: a house in the country, a swimming pool, and enough cash so she didn't need to rely on men. No hard feelings. David was excited, jabbering about their future together. If I hadn't done what I did the, the life I have now with my wife and child, I wouldn't have. ", "I said, 'If you drive a truck, you're always in a financial bind. Working together, they got the gate open, then drove in a caravan to the Reynolds & Reynolds parking lot. At the time of the real robbery, Chambers was facing criminal charges hed written 30K worth of bad checks and was facing jail time for it. Soon thereafter, he met Kelly Campbell, a co-worker at Loomis Fargo. "I said, 'I don't want him killed.' She was devastated, Diamant said. Ghantt started at Loomis Fargo in 1994, and soon worked his way up from an armored car driver to a vault supervisor. He was doing what the rest of us were doing making bad decisions. "We had David Ghantt and Kelly Campbell tied together, and we had Steven Chambers and Eric Payne with unexplained wealth, but we didn't have a tie between them," Agent John Wydra said. In March 1997, after Loomis Fargo & Company has been robbed of $18.8 million in Jacksonville by company security guard Philip Noel Johnson, Steve Eugene Chambers and Kelly Campbell, a former employee of Loomis, decides to rob the company. So he convinced a local hoodlum in Mexico to try to kill Ghantt. He flew in an ultra-light plane. She never really worried about the moral end of it--she was focused only on getting what she wanted out of life, what so many others seemed to have in this booming part of the South. David had grabbed $50,000 cash, but could figure out only how to carry $25,000 with him on the plane. A third tape he didn't know about kept recording. SEVEN NABBED IN CHARLOTTE HEIST\ - Greensboro News and Record Youre supposed to get less time for cooperating, a lesser penalty, and instead, you see what she got hit with. Gronquist said. 'Can I Keep the Velvet Elvis?': The Great Hillbilly Heist of 1997