"But I had to know.". 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. Kelly had resisted this suggestion before the heist: She and David were friends. Chambers did hire McKinney to kill Ghantt, but initially McKinney was making personal cash deliveries to Ghantt in Mexico on behalf of Chambers. Chambers never held Campbell hostage by locking her in a shed on his property. After a Gulf War stint in the Army, David got married in 1992. He worked fueling airplanes, driving a forklift, and in 1994 he got a job as a vault superintendent at Loomis. When we worked together [for Loomis], we'd joke about it. Steve tried keys on a side door. Because surprise! Its hilarious. Visit us at Loomis.us. But it wasnt. Thats one of my personality flaws. But what did that mean? That led to better jobs, like the one at Loomis. They didn't know it, but they were leaving $3.3 million behind. Working together, they got the gate open, then drove in a caravan to the Reynolds & Reynolds parking lot. Ghantt worked at Loomis Fargos regional office vault in Charlotte. He told her he wanted more of "his" cash. On Monday, October 6th, the FBI agents who were investigating the robbery located the Loomis Fargo van abandoned in the woods. David was excited, jabbering about their future together. The agents tapped the phone, and it didnt take long to locate Ghantt after that. First, in January, he tried to get someone to take some millions down to Mexico. Ghantt:Since I still owe the federal government money I can't get paid. Come for the Chumbawamba, and stay for the return of the Mack. At the party, Steve invited Michele's stepfather, truck driver Dennis Floyd, to the basement to play pool. He hated the sweet smell of the green ink, and the $8.15-an-hour salary. He had even scheduled a follow-up appointment at the dentist. Kelly Campbell, 29, a former company employee, entered guilty pleas earlier to bank larceny, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder charges. They sweated, though the night was cool. 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. ];Kelly Jane Campbell [Misc. 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. That October, the Chamberses' bank accounts ballooned. He appeared happily matched with his high-spirited wife, Michele, and the two children from her first marriage. Paying the money back has taken a lot longer, and time is running out for the U.S. government to collect. In real life: True. And after two years, you're just a file." Alert: Obviously, spoilers abound. The movie was overly silly and, based on a post-screening conversation with former Observer reporter Jeff Diamant who wrote a detailed 279-page book about the occasionally funny but mostly just-plain fascinating crime, titled Heist much of what wound up in the film is fiction. "It wasn't me, it was Steve," she says she told him. It was the first Saturday in October. I wanted to get as far away as I could. David said he realized then, for the first time, he might not see the millions he thought he had coming to him. By late November, McKinney made a third trip to Mexico, saying he'd help David move to Mexico City. Yes, Carrie Underwood adopted a dog in Charlotte. From going fishing to riding horses on the beach the whole nine yards. 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,. 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. When Chambers and the two Erics were done loading the stolen millions into barrels, they abandoned the van in the woods. David kissed his sleeping wife on the cheek on the morning of Oct. 4. He had an endearing smile, a beautiful wife and two children. 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. More than half of the amount came from the seizure of a luxury home purchased by husband-and-wife defendants during their post-heist spending spree. I'll never pay it off on my paycheck." 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. I told them, Take it, box it up, and youll be able to ship it to me in Mexico. Back in the 1990s, you couldve probably boxed up a hot pink elephant and shipped it to Mexico; no one wouldve ever noticed. Restitution is a familiar part of sentencing in federal court. 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. A version of this story originally appeared on CharlotteObserver.com. I hit the local library the thing that we used to do before Google, Ghantt says with a small laugh. David, the international fugitive, lived it up, too--for a while. Speaking of his co-defendants, Ghantt says hes not currently in contact with any of them. It wouldn't work, Kelly told him. Hes very articulate. White-collar criminals are pretty good at hiding their money, she said. Ghantt started at Loomis Fargo in 1994, and soon worked his way up from an armored car driver to a vault supervisor. Copyright 2022 TheAssociated Press. "Love" has four. Careers. I wanted to make a drastic change and I went for it," Ghantt said. I flew from Atlanta to New Orleans. If they could just sit on the money until then, he said, they'd be fine. And that's OK with Ghantt, who's just a few weeks shy of his 47th birthday, out of federal prison for more than a decade, married with a 9-year-old daughter and happy. So yeah, Im kind of proud of it.. On the radio, the "John Boy and Billy" show played the song "Take the Money and Run. "A lot of people out there had it worse than me, but . Ghantt:I've burned that bridge years ago. Question: You went to Mexico. The figures can be astounding. . Him and I still talk every now and then. She was devastated, Diamant said. They hatched the idea half-jokingly, over a game of Uno, never dreaming they were about to make Bonnie and Clyde look like bottom feeders. According to Butcher, Campbells last official payment came in June 2021 when the government appears to have seized a tax refund of $81.24. I knew that the news wouldnt break until later that morning. They bought a BMW roadster. . 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. 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. She declined to take a lie-detector test. Why fans love it. Cool, I say. Things started to go south the night of the robbery. Nah, it was always about the money, he told the agents. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist seeing a woodpecker after someone dies lectomano que significa. 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. I missed my wife. Not a documentary. Steve Chambers has told agents the missing cash was stolen from a shed in Lincoln County. In real life: False. In real life: False. . Its everything thats coming north.. As he and Kelly met in a field behind a shooting range to refine the plan, she allowed him to believe she was falling for him. He para-sailed, power-skied and scuba-dived. Steve had another conversation with Kelly about killing David. (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. Loomis employees drive the very core of our business. As for his new wife, when the two just started dating, he was nervous about letting her know about his past, but he wanted to be honest. . He learned to parachute. That was the most painful truth to come to. 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. Kelly was lying. Going south, nobody really looks at what youre shipping. On Oct. 5, the Loomis heist celebrates its 25th birthday. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. The cart held about $2 million, and the thief made multiple trips. "We kept going, '1-4-3, 1-4-3,' " recalled Vic O'Korn, assistant special agent in charge of Charlotte's FBI office. 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. I had to go in there and tell her the whole story, and she was real cool about it. They placed a bust of Caesar in the dining room. Soon thereafter, he met Kelly Campbell, a co-worker at Loomis Fargo. Kelly said she had reason to believe Steve might be able to pull off a heist. 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. 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. They found Ghantts truck, and in it were his keys, some personal items and his wedding ring. 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. 27 febrero, 2023 . Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand. All the while, Ghantt prepared himself for the task at hand. Or as he tells me, How many people in the United States havent thought about robbing a bank? It wasn't known whether anyone would receive it. 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. Only a nickel on every dollar have been collected so far. His assignment was to deliver the cash to David and keep him happy until they could find a way to kill him, McKinney said. So I was glad it was over. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist. Chambers went from a mobile home in Lincoln County to a mansion in Cramerton. 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. What purpose does that serve other than to denigrate that person into abject poverty?. Time passed, and Campbell eventually quit her job at Loomis Fargo. That's the kind of movie they wanted to make. A couple weeks pass, and I call again, Hey, Id like to get some more money. She was like, Well, at least you had guts, he says. That was great. I didn't think I had the guts. 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. He'd stay up all night, boosted by coffee, waiting for the sunrise over the ocean. 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 didn't want to abandon his parents. All rights reserved. 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. How Bridgerton restarted buzz about her ancestry. [Kelly] told me, 'Just think about it.' Charlotte Magazine even ran a feature story about the Loomis Fargo heist with the title, White Trash Crime. The headlines, however, never bothered Ghantt. So he got in a cab and went to a mall. Kelly was no criminal. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist. Filming in the Asheville area starting in early July, and is. Everybody seemed stunned. Or is the loot buried in somebody's yard? I just had to call you., Today, Ghantt cant look back on the whole ordeal without some degree of pride. Our Benefits. The bash had a Cinderella theme, with a three-tiered cake that looked like a castle. I don't blame him.". The Loomis defendants face no additional legal jeopardy for not paying off their debts. 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. As soon as Corey left, I pretended like I was leaving. Field Operations; Corporate; Why Loomis. Get to me. Its that kind of excitement.. Ghantt was in fact hiding out in Mexico using McKinneys I.D., which had been sold to Chambers months earlier. If you want me to leave, Ill leave. Then, Ghantt went into another room. "He was in tears. For her part, Kelly Campbell spent six years in federal prison. We spoke to the FBI agents who investigated the case who say the real-life. More agents waited outside to arrest them. Ghantt:We're both North Carolina boys so we had a lot to talk about from the very beginning. At the time, it was the largest cash heist in history. It was unclear whether anyone will get that money, authorities said. Some amateur thieves might turn to movies and TV shows for lessons on criminal behavior. Hes well thought-out. kellis@gastongazette.com 0:04 0:57 On Oct. 4, 1997, former Kings Mountain resident David Scott Ghantt finished his shift as a vault supervisor for Loomis Fargo in Charlotte. Twice a week over the next 12 months, we will take you back to the winter of sheep cloning and the summer of Con Air. In real life: False. Gaston County residents remember how that worked out. I had a four-hour layover there, and then from New Orleans to Cancun.. . . "I've moved on with my life," he said Tuesday. When October 1997 began, Steve and Michelle Chambers lived in a double-wide trailer. ". "I" has one letter. Though David had said earlier he thought there was $15 million in the vault, the sight of that much cash held them spellbound. Theres no way to get it back, Butcher told The Charlotte Observer. The pager entry was 1-4-3. "I thought he was goofing around.". So the last third of the movie is almost entirely fiction. 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. Each week, Michele deposited thousands of dollars in cash. Scary. Money'll turn your head, I don't care who you are. Chambers, who still lives in Gaston County and operates a gym, declined to comment. Then another. The authorities didn't know yet how much was missing from the armored-car company, but Steve did. About the same time, Kelly and McKinney received phone calls from agents who told them to open their doors. You're an idiot.'". . He took bus tours of Mayan ruins. Once I start something, Im going to the end., As for how he felt in the moment, he says, Imagine me and you went on an airplane. 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. They entered their dogs in fights and watched them die. I'd probably change jobs. Instead of lobster, the man who stole $17 million survived on home-cooked pasta and grilled cheese sandwiches. These days, the 52-year-old husband and father lives in Jacksonville, Florida, where he works at a heavy equipment rental agency. Loomis, Fargo offered a $500,000 reward for his arrest and conviction. Its in the ether. ', "He asked me if I'd mind holding some money for him. The FBI now knew Chambers had Loomis cash. At the sight of all that money, Scott and Eric had the same thought: They'd made the worst mistake of their lives. I loved it. 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. You might as well take it all, Ghantt tells me. He told him McKinney was in Mexico to kill somebody. Ghantt ended up doing more than five years in prison, Chambers did more than 11 years. He went deep-sea fishing. Explain? Basic and voluntary life insurance plan. Then another. Her case closes in 2025. Like David, Kelly was frustrated with her marriage. There used to be a consulate in Cancun. When he walked onto the plane, he was wearing big, tall cowboy boots, where hed stuffed a majority of the smuggled cash. David had grabbed $50,000 cash, but could figure out only how to carry $25,000 with him on the plane. An officer rang the doorbell. 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. CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) During one overnight shift, a bumbling conspiracy of thieves just west of Charlotte stole more than $17 million from Loomis Fargo. Health savings account and flexible spending account. I mean, cause greed is a funny animal. But agents weren't ready to arrest Kelly and Steve. Why did this Charlotte engineer leave her job? She was a wife and mother with two children. 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. 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. 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. Some received probation for money laundering, many others did hard time. "I said, 'Yeah, sure.' Soon, the couple would be paying for something else, too: a hitman. Or that hed gotten lucky gambling. And I said, Hey, man, I got this. The first weekday after the heist, Michele Chambers, co-conspirator Steve's wife, walked into a NationsBank branch with a briefcase containing $5,000. Steven Chambers [Misc. 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. Ghantt:It started out as a mental exercise and somewhere between the mental exercise and the actual event, it became serious. Exhibit A was that Steve had no steady job but plenty of cash. And so, he told her, Google my name. So I guess I have no regrets. (John D. Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP) The Associated Press, BY MICHAEL GORDON, The Charlotte Observer. Mine did. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist. In real life: True. Twenty people were convicted of roles big and small in the massive 1997 armored-car warehouse heist in west Charlotte. David quickly realized he was the intended victim. Basically, he needed a score to make his problems go away. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist (No Ratings Yet) . Just head on out. And so, he did. I was burned out and just didn't know it. Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. By . Loomis, Fargo offered a $500,000 reward after the theft. On his second trip, Steve gave McKinney David's hotel address. For reasons that remain obscure, Robert spilled the beans to David. The audacity of the act was breathtaking. Ghantt:It's kid-friendly, it's family-friendly (the movie is rated PG-13). Steve now needed a hit man. Though David had no criminal experience, he felt he could offer expert advice: He'd just finished reading a book on the FBI. He was signed by the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 2002. There it was, "The Heist." At first, I just blended in with the tourists and picked up a few translation books, Ghantt explains. And youre like, Come on parachute. The Unexpectedly Sweet Story Behind Those Viral Semi-Truck Pregnancy Photos. 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. Everything came crashing down on an early March morning in 1998. The initials on the money wrapper belonged to a Loomis employee who hadn't worked there since before the heist. Kelly, using David's cell phone, kept beeping him. Sandra Floyd, Michele Chambers's mother, remembers the first time she saw the house. The government does not run debtors prisons, says U.S. 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. 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. His wife, Tammy, was as shocked as Loomis officials. I couldn't understand why I hadn't been more successful," David said. . Kelly had recently left a job driving an armored-car for Loomis, Fargo & Co. "He's the one who brought it up first," said Kelly, a year after her arrest. Some of that money is just gone. On March 1, David Ghantt left his hotel to do some laundry. It changes you. His name was Corey. CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Kelly Campbell, the woman who helped plan the $17 million robbery of armored-car company Loomis, Fargo was sentenced yesterday to nearly six years in prison and ordered to pay back more than $4 million. She tried to apologize for the murder plot. As it turned out, Ghantt was zipping up his scuba suit in Mexico. Husband and wife Steven and Michelle Chambers, whose conspicuous consumption of a luxury home, a BMW convertible, breast implants and a $600 wooden Indian, among other purchases, helped the FBI solve the crime, were assessed $3.81 million and $4.8 million, respectively. Getting restitution, its like pulling teeth.. "I was unhappy with my life. Ghantt:I don't think he ever really meant to harm me. 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. One day, Campbell was speaking to an old friend named Steve Chambers.

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