As soon as Corey left, I pretended like I was leaving. "I thought he was goofing around.". Anybody who gets caught up in the system is getting chewed up by it, the now-retired Gronquist told the Observer. Now worried about both the FBI and McKinney, he spent even more time alone in his room. 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.. An officer rang the doorbell. The government does not run debtors prisons, says U.S. Throughout the multi-year-long case and subsequent trials, journalists often referred to Ghantt and the others as trailer trash and hillbillies. One of them tapped him on the back. Besides her prison sentence . "It wasn't me, it was Steve," she says she told him. 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. Chambers never held Campbell hostage by locking her in a shed on his property. Many of the lesser players in the conspiracy have been the most effective in paying their debts. The money was heavy. About 20 ago, Campbell sent him a letter of apology, but he never responded. Sweat soaked David's uniform. "I missed my family. Figure in Loomis Heist Gets Prison | AP News It was one of those things everyone (at Loomis Fargo) joked about, but in time, it became serious. Steve told Scott to ignore the remaining stacks, which were mostly ones and fives. They Had 17 Million Dollars and No Sense at All - AMW Magazine "I'd been told all my life, money will not make you happy," Kelly said. We got to the end of the day, and he was acting like he wanted to linger. No dry runs, no rehearsals. Its in the ether. This real-life crime is the core of "Untitled Armored Car Project," which stars Zach Galifianakis, Owen Wilson and Kristen Wiig. Or does it sit in an offshore account, waiting for a prison sentence to end? The next week, they heard Steve plan to send Mike McKinney to Mexico to kill David Ghantt. He partied, met women, drank, skied and hung out at the beach. Back then, it was one of the hotspots for hiding money. Ghantt planned to live off the interest for the rest of his life. It wasnt a big hit, but Ghantt, who was played by Galifianakis, gives it a rave review. Though he never found the right moment to carry out the hit, McKinney did find time to make a friend--a shady character named Robert, to whom he revealed more than was prudent. "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. Loomis Armored Shreveport, LA, 1124 Forum Dr, Shreveport, LA, USA Shreveport, LA, USA Req #1990. Even still, he was 27, married and struggling to provide for his family. Were others involved? "I've learned that I'm a fortunate man," he said. They decorated their 6,000-square-foot stucco house with antiques, paintings and statues, including a six-foot wooden Indian that Michele had bought for $600. So I guess I have no regrets. 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. Getting restitution, its like pulling teeth.. They obviously werent trying to get it right they were putting together what they believe is a better story, said Diamant. What made her do it? "I said, 'I don't want him killed.' So much so that one suspicious neighbor called the FBI. He pocketed the money and told Chambers and Campbell to send him his cut in Mexico. In real life: False. 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. Heist: The Oddball Crew Behind the $17 Million Loomis Fargo Theft by From Mexico, David usually spoke with Kelly on the phone once a week, paying with calling cards. David was sentenced to 7 1/2 years. David quickly realized he was the intended victim. Chambers went from a mobile home in Lincoln County to a mansion in Cramerton. Kelly was lying. Next month, Payne will back in the Charlotte federal courthouse, this time to be sentenced from weapons and methamphetamine trafficking charges. "We kept going, '1-4-3, 1-4-3,' " recalled Vic O'Korn, assistant special agent in charge of Charlotte's FBI office. One day, Campbell was speaking to an old friend named Steve Chambers. "Think of how many women would have stood by. He and co-worker Kelly Campbell, 27, had developed a close relationship and were spending time together outside of work. I said, Listen, You all need to get your shit together, or Im just going to walk over here to the government building and tell them who the fuck I am. That lit a little fire under her ass, for a bit.. The plan to rob Loomis Fargo was spawned by Campbell and her friend Steve Chambers, during a casual bonfire at Chambers' home. When he finished, the van was filled with $17 million. You might as well go all the way now.". Note: No quotes were altered, although in some cases additional quotes were added to the questions as Ghantt expanded on his thoughts. . Agents noticed it two months later when it flowed to them through official channels, along with hundreds of similar reports involving other people. Not a documentary. Chambers and Campbell were waiting for him in the Loomis Fargo parking lot, both in separate vehicles. And I was thinking about just showing up there. 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 placed stacks of currency on a cart and wheeled it to the van about 15 feet away, inside the building. Kelly drove her pickup to a lot across the street from the Loomis building, on Suttle Avenue in Charlotte. He covers culture, politics, race, and other perplexing mysteries for MEL. . Ghantt:I don't think he ever really meant to harm me. David was living under the name Mike McKinney on a phony ID. 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. It wouldn't work, Kelly told him. ];Kelly Jane Campbell [Misc. The van door opened. Steve Chambers has told agents the missing cash was stolen from a shed in Lincoln County. . The first weekday after the heist, Michele Chambers, co-conspirator Steve's wife, walked into a NationsBank branch with a briefcase containing $5,000. Twenty-five years ago, a small group of rural North Carolinian amateur bank robbers pulled off the second-largest heist in American history. and "I'm rich!". 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. I don't blame him.". 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. In real life: True. But first they wanted to know if it was a robbery or a robbery-homicide. Ghantt worked at Loomis Fargos regional office vault in Charlotte. Thats one of my personality flaws. 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. "For the first year, they're all over you. 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. Loomis officials--forced to break into their own vault because David had taken the keys with him--calculated that he had stolen $17,044,000, making the second biggest heist in U.S. history, following the $18.8 million theft of an armored car by another Loomis Fargo employee just six months earlier. Channel 9 speaks with the man at the center of Loomis Fargo heist 25 Not many people can say they stole $17 million from their employer and had Zach Galifianakis play them in a movie. His name was Corey. And I knew that by that time, Id be in Cancun no matter what. . I did a little research into crime statistics and the local cops. It was unclear whether anyone will get that money, authorities said. The only person not to plead guilty in the case, former Gastonia attorney Jeff Guller, ended up doing eight years for money laundering. ". Eric watched. (John D. Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP), Police: Officer Who Shot Black Man Retired 'In Bad Standing', 3 Kansas City Officers Who Were Shot Released From Hospital, 1 Killed When Business Jet Encounters Severe Turbulence. ". "I've moved on with my life," he said Tuesday. Scott didn't want to, but then he remembered the hundred-grand payday. She declined to take a lie-detector test. He wouldn't give me the opportunity to say anything else. It didnt take the local police long to put the pieces together. Not Ghantt. Where I was going was right there near the Cayman Islands. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist - molecularrecipes.com She could visit friends. And with Loomis, were looking at only one case. 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. On the radio, the "John Boy and Billy" show played the song "Take the Money and Run. I loved it. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist - molecularrecipes.com Truth be told, Ghantt had something of a crush on Campbell, and so, he told her exactly how hed pull off such a heist. The biggest restitution numbers for victims of financial crimes generally involve Ponzi schemes or sweepstakes fraud, not cash thefts. And after two years, you're just a file." As you probably know, it's loosely based on the Loomis Fargo heist in Charlotte back in the late nineties. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist seeing a woodpecker after someone dies lectomano que significa. Cool, I say. They soon realized David had stolen more money than would fit in their 55-gallon barrels. They agreed that after the heist, David would immediately move to Mexico, alone, but Kelly would soon join him there, with her two children. It had been drilled into my head that if you give me a team of five good people, I can go anywhere, do anything," David explained. 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. They stocked a wine cellar. ", "I said, 'If you drive a truck, you're always in a financial bind. They paid for all of it in cash. 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. So I was glad it was over. She also assured the teller her cash wasn't drug money. The Chambers, however, didnt fit in with the other members of the gated community. Here's what Floyd recalls: After two games of pool, Steve told him, "You know, we do a lot of gambling. White-collar criminals are pretty good at hiding their money, she said. By March, Steve Chambers decided he needed to do something more drastic about Ghantt, making plans to send a hitman to Mexico to silence him for good. 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. Based on a true story, the premise itself is fascinating, which makes Masterminds all the more a waste. 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. Ghantt was the vault manager and was surrounded. Steve now needed a hit man. The True Story of David Ghantt and the Loomis Fargo Heist - PrepScholar real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist - phnxathletica.com He was signed by the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 2002. To protect themselves, David and Steve didn't meet or talk. The name she gave the pup is apropos. All the while, Ghantt prepared himself for the task at hand. Hed be in contact. Just head on out. And so, he did. Question: How much of 'Masterminds' is true? Two more defendants in the $17 million Loomis Fargo & Co. robbery last year have agreed to plead guilty, and a third person entered a formal plea in court. Kelly told the FBI she had done drugs with David but denied knowing about the theft. But Ghantt, who served as an unpaid consultant to the movie and attended the big Los Angeles premiere earlier in the week, has no such reservations. They cursed. 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." But after a year, they'll cut it down to two agents. Scott, 26, had a larceny conviction as a teenager, but he'd since cleaned up his act and now had a steady job, a daughter and a girlfriend. Michelle Chambers paid off only $27,000. Some received probation for money laundering, many others did hard time. 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). real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist. In real life: True. The last time he called me, he said, Hey Ghantt, I just saw a big Loomis Fargo truck. At the party, Steve invited Michele's stepfather, truck driver Dennis Floyd, to the basement to play pool. Alert: Obviously, spoilers abound. The Evergreen State takes the top spot again in the U.S. News Best States ranking on the strength of its tech sector and other industries. Then he was driving in the darkness with a van full of cash. "She said, 'What would it take to convince you to do it?' "You" has three. But what did that mean? There was a third person with them, too, a man named Eric Grant. "He was in tears. And robbing a truck was dangerous. Instead of lobster, the man who stole $17 million survived on home-cooked pasta and grilled cheese sandwiches. Yes, Carrie Underwood adopted a dog in Charlotte. She was a wife and mother with two children. The next day, he was sitting next to FBI agent Mark Rozzi on a US Airways flight to Charlotte. 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.". I was looking at small sailboats and theyre not cheap, he tells me. Where was Ghantt? On the evening of October 4, 1997, one man loaded $17.3 million in cash from the vaults of Loomis, Fargo & Co. into the back of a van. And then I could hear her laughing. What purpose does that serve other than to denigrate that person into abject poverty?. Loomis Fargo Heist of 1997 - History and Other Things But former Kings Mountain resident David Scott Ghantt can. Ghantt knew Chambers as Steve, but didnt find out that his last name was Chambers until the arrests were made. 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. They heard Michele brag about her $43,000 ring. This story was originally published October 3, 2016, 9:12 PM. and "I love money!" One thing about teammates, in David's view: You could always trust them. Mexican police, Interpol officers and an FBI agent were watching him. There used to be a consulate in Cancun. This is where it starts to unravel, Ghantt tells me with a wry laugh. ];David Scott Ghanntt [Misc.] Before David left for the airport, he had handed Scott an eight-inch key ring. She didn't plan to move to Mexico. I really enjoyed the little scuba diving trip. That was great. . Kelly drove David to the airport. And I said, Hey, man, I got this. Did you get paid? Zach always plays that bumbling kind of lunatic, but hes not, Ghantt says. They planned to kill a man named David Ghantt, the guy who had made their extravagant new lifestyle a reality. According to Butcher, Campbells last official payment came in June 2021 when the government appears to have seized a tax refund of $81.24. While the agents initiated their investigation, the Chambers spent money as quickly as they could. It was late in 1996. 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. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. Question: You went to Mexico. 2022 marks the 25th anniversary of the year that everything happened 1997. The others, though, went no farther than Cramer Mountain. When he said, 'I'll give you $20,000 to hold a million,' I said, 'Sure.' As it turned out, Ghantt was zipping up his scuba suit in Mexico. Guller was the attorney for Steven Chambers, who came up with the original idea for the Loomis theft. We spoke with the inside man, David Ghantt, to get the real story. About 5:45 a.m., he got into his pickup and began the 45-minute drive to work in Charlotte. 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. On Feb. 27, agents listened in on a call from David to Kelly and learned David's location in Mexico. Ghantt pulled out $50,000 from the back of the unmarked Loomis Fargo van. 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. 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. 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.
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