You see, theres a reason Loomis Fargo used armored cars to move large amounts of cash. Steve bought a truck, a Rolex and a motorboat. He was the only employee unaccounted for the next morning, and videotapes recovered at the Loomis Fargo Charlotte office showed Ghantt removing "cubes of cash" and loading it into a Loomis Fargo armored van for over an hour. You might as well take it all, Ghantt tells me. First, in January, he tried to get someone to take some millions down to Mexico. They also purchased tanning beds, a pool table, a Harley-Davidson Road King motorcycle and all kinds of expensive furniture. I knew that if I did something like that, I would take a huge amount of money, Ghantt said of the brash robbery on an upcoming episode of, To find out more about how the thieves got caught and how long they landed behind bars, tune in the. WebTwo days after the heist, the FBI found the missing van with $3.3 million of cash left in it. Her sentence was delayed until Jan. 1 so she could spend the holidays with her family. I started just chucking it as fast as I could, he said, adding the sweat was pouring off of me.. This was in the 1990s the Columbia Airport back then was closed at around 9:30, 10 oclock. He didnt even really question me. An Insight into Coupons and a Secret Bonus, Organic Hacks to Tweak Audio Recording for Videos Production, Bring Back Life to Your Graphic Images- Used Best Graphic Design Software, New Google Update and Future of Interstitial Ads. He became the target of a nationwide FBI manhunt and was arrested five months later near the Mexican resort of Cozumel. On September 12, 1997, six men robbed the Dunbar Armored facility on Mateo St. in Downtown Los Angeles, California of US$18.9 million (equivalent to $30.5 million in 2020). Dont worry, its not drug money.. Stay informed daily on the latest news and advice on COVID-19 from the editors at U.S. News & World Report. Thatd be the time to do it, Ghantt recalls. Best States is an interactive platform developed by U.S. News for ranking the 50 U.S. states, alongside news analysis and daily reporting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LCR9zyGkbo. Together, they drove in a convoy to an industrial warehouse eight miles away, where Eric Payne, a fourth accomplice was. Ill never pay it off on my paycheck, Ghantt said. They loaded the wine cellar with Pabst Blue Ribbon, and Steve hung a velvet portrait of Elvis Presley in the basement. Ghantt and Campbell couldnt get to Mexico from Columbia, as there were no international flights being offered out of the hub, which they would have known, had they called ahead. The whole town I was staying in was 98.9 percent Mexican, except for when the cruise ships were in, Ghantt recalls. 6 Is Kelly Campbell married to ghantt? After a couple of weeks, Ghantt and the rest of the heist team were ready to strike. Or as he tells me, How many people in the United States havent thought about robbing a bank? He pocketed the money and told Chambers and Campbell to send him his cut in Mexico. Kelly Campbell, 29, a former company employee, entered guilty pleas earlier to bank larceny, money laundering and Once the heat was off, Ghantt would return and they would split the haul evenly. Soon, the couple would be paying for something else, too: a hitman. Chambers and his wife also made some cash payments on a few cars. WebWho was involved in the Loomis Fargo robbery? The thieves had simply abandoned whatever they couldnt carry away. 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. Zach always plays that bumbling kind of lunatic, but hes not, Ghantt says. 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. For a time, it was nicknamed "the hillbilly heist" because nearly all of the major players in the case came from small towns around Charlotte. Zaron Burnett is an investigative journalist and longform features writer based in Los Angeles. Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! Jump to navigation Jump to search. Axios Charlotte is a local news initiative. Campbell made her way back to Charlotte (Ghantt was told by Chambers to head to Atlanta and catch a flight from there), where the money had since been moved into barrels and into another van. Only a nickel on every dollar have been collected so far. From there, the money was moved from the company vehicle to private vehicles. If you want me to leave, Ill leave. Then, Ghantt went into another room. David Ghantt was a technical consultant for the film, but due to outstanding court-ordered restitution for his part in the heist he was not paid. So he got in a cab and went to a mall. The FBI quickly connected Ghantt to Campbell, who was a former Loomis Fargo employee. On his way out, he grabbed the surveillance video, hoping to cover his tracks. The plan went off with few problems, but after Ghantt was safely in Mexico, his partners were left storing large amounts of cash. On Oct. 4, Ghantt sent home the employee he was training and disabled two security cameras near the vault in preparation for the heist. Twenty-five years ago, a small group of rural North Carolinian amateur bank robbers pulled off the second-largest heist in American history. Web12) Loomis Fargo heist- The aftermath Ultimately, eight co-conspirators were indicted for the Loomis Fargo bank heist. Michele Chambers 1998 BMW for sale following the prosecutions of the Loomis Fargo heist conspirators. SAT is a registered trademark of the College Entrance Examination BoardTM. WebCampbell 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 The platform is designed to engage citizens and government leaders in a discussion about what needs improvement across the country. An additional tip reached the FBI when Michelle Chambers made a large deposit at a bank. According to an Observer report, this was seven times larger than their trailer. Working by himself, Ghantt would commit the robbery and then flee for Mexico, leaving the bulk of the cash with Chambers. There was a third person with them, too, a man named Eric Grant. 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. The figures can be astounding. By then, the FBI had become greatly concerned for Ghantt's personal safety; they had learned that Chambers had plotted to have Ghantt killed in a murder for hire scheme using a "hit man" named Michael McKinney. Chambers was a small-time crook who suggested to Campbell that they rob Loomis Fargo. I said, It comes down to picking the right day, and the right time of the month, and all that good stuff. I even told her, It wouldnt be all that difficult. David Ghantt And The Loomis Fargo Heist: The Outrageous True Story. And to me, if it pisses them off, Im all for it.. CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) _ A woman who helped plan the $17 million robbery of armored car company Loomis, Fargo & Co. They discussed it further, and Campbell asked him when they should do it. The next morning, Loomis Fargo employees were unable to open the vault. The College Entrance Examination BoardTM does not endorse, nor is it affiliated in any way with the owner or any content of this site. Todd Williamson/Getty ImagesDavid Ghantt attends the 2016 after party for the Hollywood premiere of Masterminds, based on the Loomis Fargo heist that he helped carry out. There are multiples of thousands of these things coming every year. The two struck up a friendship during work that would continue after Campbell left the Said Ghantt, one day life kinda slapped me in the face. Ghantt reported to Chambers that his supply of money was running low, but Chambers sent Ghantt just $8,000. They paid for all of it in cash. Fed up, exhausted, and seeing a way out, Ghantt agreed. 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. The plan to rob Loomis Fargo was spawned by Campbell and her friend Steve Chambers, during a casual bonfire at Chambers home. When he walked onto the plane, he was wearing big, tall cowboy boots, where hed stuffed a majority of the smuggled cash. He was released in 2006. Exciting. 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. Websacramento drug bust; montage los cabos wedding cost. As it turned out, Ghantt was zipping up his scuba suit in Mexico. In 97 me and my wife were just barely scraping by, Ghantt recalled in Mondays episode. Ghantt, his former co-worker Kelly Campbell and her friends Steve and Michelle Chambers carried out the Loomis Fargo heist on Oct. 4, 1997. Campbell was released from federal custody in 2004 after serving five years, meaning her collection case will age out They kept several furnishings from the previous owners, including a painting of Elvis Presley on black velvet. The connection to Chambers took more time. 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.. Hayley Milliman is a former teacher turned writer who blogs about education, history, and technology. Is the movie Masterminds based on a true story? 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 conversations werent made up of much more than daydreams that took the vague shape of plansuntilCampbell mentioned that she had a high school friend with connections that could actually get it done. While Ghantt waited for the heat from the robbery to die down, Chambers would send Ghantt small amounts of money. They would then load as much cash as they could carry into a van. On Oct. 5, the Loomis heist celebrates its 25th birthday. Soon everyone would know about the arrests in the $17 million Loomis Fargo heist. WebFigure in Loomis Heist Gets Prison. 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 agents tapped the phone, and it didnt take long to locate Ghantt after that. 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. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! While Ghantt moved to Mexico to let things cool down after the heist, his robbery cohorts stayed in North Carolina with the bulk of the money. speedway of nations manchester 2021. rossignol skis experience 88 Wyatt Redd is a freelance writer from Nashville, Tennessee. At first, I just blended in with the tourists and picked up a few translation books, Ghantt explains. That suspicion was immediately confirmed by a quick glance at the security camera footage that showed Ghantt doing a little dance after loading all the cash into the van. Together with his wife, Chambers bought a new luxury home (upgrading from his mobile home), a BMW Z3, and some extravagant furnishings. So Chambers decided to solve the problem by putting a hit on Ghantt. The pair began to daydream about whether they could really pull off the heist. As you probably know, its loosely based on the Loomis Fargo heist in Charlotte back in the late nineties. Also charged were several innocent relatives that the robbers had enlisted to help get safety deposit boxes in various banks. The number of people involved had ballooned after Steve started asking friends and family to help him launder the stolen cash. Its in the ether. What purpose does that serve other than to denigrate that person into abject poverty?. Getting restitution, its like pulling teeth.. He stayed at a luxury hotel and took scuba diving lesson. So much so that one suspicious neighbor called the FBI. Authorities said they hired a man named Michael McKinney to meet up with Ghantt and kill him, under the guise that he was planning to give Ghantt more of the money he was owed. I hit the local library the thing that we used to do before Google, Ghantt says with a small laugh. Michelle, meanwhile, purchased new breasts for herself, along with a $43,000 diamond ring and a new convertible BMW Z3. The move bought him a little extra time to make his escape. The FBI quickly connected Ghantt to Campbell, who was a former Loomis Fargo employee. We spoke with the inside man, David Ghantt, to get the real story. David Ghantt had been a model employee for an armored car company before pulling off the second biggest cash heist in U.S. history, fleeing with more than $17 million in untraceable bills in 1997. This is where it starts to unravel, Ghantt tells me with a wry laugh. After his release, Ghantt took a job as a construction worker and was eventually brought on as a consultant for the 2016 movie Masterminds, based on the Loomis Fargo Heist. Youre better at planning bank heists than David Ghantt. In the meantime, Ghantts wife reported him missing and the CMPD had found his truck in the parking lot of Loomis Fargo. Although the FBI investigation was able to quickly connect Ghantt to Campbell, connecting Ghantt to Chambers was a more difficult task. FBI security footage of David Ghantt in the midst of the Loomis Fargo heist. Ghantt has never explained where that money went. It was an open-and-shut case and all authorities had to do now was to find the culprit and identify Ghantts accomplices. Come for the Chumbawamba, and stay for the return of the Mack. When Chambers and the two Erics were done loading the stolen millions into barrels, they abandoned the van in the woods. Less than a month later, the family moved from a double-wide to a 7,000-square-foot, $635,000 home in a gated country club community in Gaston County. The leader was Allen Pace, who turned out to be the worst safety inspector the Dunbar Armored trucking company ever employed. But because he still owes millions to the IRS, he couldnt be paid. Michelle Chambers paid off only $27,000. His collection case closes in two years. 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. the Loomis heist celebrates its 25th birthday. In February 2009 the Associated Press reported that Chambers had chosen to describe himself as "changed". As the FBI listened in to Chambers calls, they discovered that he was also planning to have Ghantt assassinated, hoping to keep all the money for himself. Just head on out. And so, he did. Now, I kind of know something is fishy., Alone in Mexico with limited cash, Ghantt thought about turning himself in. But as soon as he drove off, I went right back in and opened the vault. WebHolding her hands behind her back, Michele Chambers was sentenced Tuesday to seven years and eight months in prison for her role in the $17 million heist from Loomis, Fargo All rights reserved. On October 6, they found the van with everything that Chambers had left behind, including Ghanttsgun and a clear picture of his face on video, which was identified by supervisors. Join the 119,947 smart Charlotteans that receive our daily newsletter. But as Ghantt admitted, the film took some liberties with specific details and characters to make the film funnier. There was, however, one problem with his plan. Ghantt, in order to conserve this money, curtailed his spending. Webbird adoption adelaide real life kelly campbell loomis fargo. What are the principles on which our Constitution is based? Ghantt and one other employee were the last to leave. The Antwerp diamond heist, dubbed the heist of the century, was by far the largest diamond heist.Antwerp diamond heist. Two more defendants in the $17 million Loomis Fargo & Co. robbery last year have agreed to plead guilty, Steven Chambers and Kelly Jane Campbell, also are charged with plotting to kill Ghantt. 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. Inside without a hiccup, he placedthe $17 million cash, in bags that altogether weighed more than 2,700 pounds, onto carts and into a van. Chambers would then occasionally wire Ghantt money and see to his basic financial needs; when "the heat was off," Ghantt was to re-enter the U.S. and the money would be split up among all of the co-conspirators. ", After successfully tracing Ghantt's phone call, FBI agents coordinated with Mexican police to arrest Ghantt on March 1, 1998, at Playa del Carmen, a city near Cancun. Thats where they feel comfortable., This piece of information would become critical to his getaway plan. [citation needed], It was later confirmed by the FBI that more than 88% of the stolen cash had been located or otherwise accounted for. Before he decided to steal $17 million from the bank, Ghantt had worked for years as a relatively taciturn and compliant employee. Investigators also found Ghantt's pickup truck, abandoned at the warehouse. After this look at David Ghantt and the Loomis Fargo heist, read about a more successful robbery, the Antwerp diamond heist. Our new student and parent forum, at ExpertHub.PrepScholar.com, allow you to interact with your peers and the PrepScholar staff. The FBI was also surveilling Kelly Campbell and followed her to a pay phone that she used to place calls to Mexico. The jokes between Ghantt and Campbell about their disgruntlement with their jobs took on a more serious note when Campbell introduced Ghantt to an old high school classmate of hers named Steve Chambers. The two struck up a friendship during work that would continue after Campbell left the And then I could hear her laughing. See all of the stories here. In 2017, for example, Paul Burks of Lexington was ordered to pay $244 million to the victims of his worldwide Ponzi scheme, Zeek Rewards. Because lets be brutally honest: Theyre not wrong, okay? Fourteen defendants were ordered to make restitution payments to Loomis Fargo totaling almost $19 million.