Low 46F. The actual crime itself required none of Hollywood's imagination. He hired a hitman to take Ghantt out, tying up the ultimate loose end. JACKSONVILLE, Fla. This month marked 25 years since one of the biggest armored car heists in U.S. history. Unexplained Mysteries - owned by Aliens since 2011. Campbell, a mother of two, was in the process of divorcing According to Butcher, Campbells last official payment came in June 2021 when the government appears to have seized a tax refund of $81.24. So its one thing to go from up here, thought, to action, he said. Discover some of the worlds strangest ancient places. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Not all of them, but some of them are going to forgive you, theyre going to overlook it., he said. This was several years before the advent of smartphones and the post-9/11 increase in federal surveillance of electronic communications, and public knowledge about this tracking was less widespread. Restitution is a familiar part of sentencing in federal court. 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 had to be extremely careful not to tip off the group, as they could lose potential conspirators or more information important to a conviction. "I'm busy," he said. He also took various measures to change his appearance, such asshaving, after a patron at a restaurant pointed out to him that he looked like the man who robbed a bank of $20 million.. Unexplained Mysteries and Strange Things,Cool Interesting stuff has been online since early 2011. The towns booming construction industry attracts workers from around the country. Not every agent has a case like that, he said. What that says is, We will never forgive you for what youve done.. Restitution is a familiar part of sentencing in federal court. Discover the truth behind unexplained ancient mysteries, UFO mysteries, secret locations and paranormal events. Her case closes in 2025. Temptation to do something that you think you normally wouldnt do can change a lot of minds when its that kind of cash, and thats what it was., (WATCH BELOW: VIDEO: The Loomis Fargo heist: 25 years later). Growing up, David's family went to Disney World, sent him to religious school, and shopped at places he couldn't afford as a self-supporting adult. He waffled on the heist idea three or four times from late August to mid-September. To be brutally honest, it was that morning, Ghantt replied. The Charlotte area's economy was booming all around him, and he felt passed over. The figures can be astounding. Only a nickel on every dollar have been collected so far. Ghantt, his former co-worker Kelly Campbell and her friends Steve and Michelle Chambers, carried out the Loomis Fargo heist on Oct. 4, 1997. (LogOut/ LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Is this really about the needs of the poor? It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. Loomis, Fargo offered a $500,000 reward for his arrest and conviction. CHARLOTTE (AP) During one overnight shift, a bumbling conspiracy of thieves just west of Charlotte stole more than $17 million from Loomis Fargo. 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. Next month, Payne will back in the Charlotte federal courthouse, this time to be sentenced from weapons and methamphetamine trafficking charges. Working by himself, Ghantt would commit the robbery and then flee for Mexico, leaving the bulk of the cash with Chambers. Before the robber left Loomis Fargo, he made a trip to the managers office to remove two surveillance tapes in order to conceal his identity. In the parking lot, David sat in his pickup truck smoking a cigarette and waving good-bye as the trainee drove home. ", "I don't need any more friends," she'd shot back. : The .17 Million Loomis Fargo Theft [Jeff Diamant] on Amazon.com. He said at first, they were very proud of what they had been able to do. About the worst he had done as a teenager was stealing a construction company's Porta-Jon with a friend, tying it to the back of a pickup truck, and driving around for about fifteen minutes. And they hit the jackpot -- FBI video shows agents recovering most of the stolen cash. Ghantt said he believes in redemption, and that his mistake 25 years ago brought him all the things that are important in his life today. So we were able to figure out with all the denominations, it would require about 20 safe deposit boxes to store it all.. The gang made numerous mistakes. Over the next two weeks, David thought about it. David and the trainee left the warehouse. He loves his motorcycle and enjoys going fishing and, while hes sorry for the past, hes not ashamed to talk about it. 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In the grand scheme of things, the prison sentence for stealing $20 million wouldn't be much worse than for stealing just $500,000 maybe a few extra years behind bars. In the movie: Campbell invites Ghantt to a restaurant under the auspices of a date, but then springs the idea of the heist on him, as Chambers and two associates join the conversation from an . Chambers had no intention of wiring any money to Ghantt and intended to have him killed to keep him from implicating the others. What it does is put a ball and chain on that person for the rest of their lives, they are walking around and they are basically an indentured servant, Gronquist said. Kelly Campbell - Wikipedia 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. You Save 23%. The FBI says Chambers hired a hitman to tie up the ultimate loose end -- Ghantt. October 1997 Loomis Fargo robbery - Wikipedia I dont know if Steve would have done it himself, but he definitely was capable of buying someone to do it for him and I think that was going to happen if we didnt step in and arrest Ghantt, Wydra said. [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]. "I don't have time to mess with you. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Former FBI agent John Wydra, who helped crack the case, sat down with Channel 9 Reporter Glenn Counts to talk about the clues that led to solving the crime, and how the group got caught. Once they were in custody, the overwhelming task of clearing out possessions possibly purchased with the stolen money began. Expanded two-hour true crime story about the 1997 Loomis-Fargo armored car heist in North Carolina and the serio-comic fate of its bumbling underdog perpetra. How many people have walked the red carpet at a movie premiere in a case that was yours?. They knew Steve Chambers had worked as an informant in the past, and were nervous he would smell out an undercover. Then, keeping with the plan, Ghantt took $50,000 (the maximum that could be taken across the border by law without further authorization) with him and left for Mexico, winding up at the popularYucatan Peninsularesort ofCozumel. Of course the problem was, the money belonged to someone else. Hed never really been in trouble, he wasnt a career criminal, said retired FBI agent John Wydra. These (Loomis) guys, not so much.. Spunk. David knew this was important from having followed the recent news about a Florida man who had brazenly committed the biggest heist from an armored-car company in United States history, a loner named Philip Noel Johnson, who also had worked for Loomis. The woman on the phone was Kelly Jane Campbell, and David had a mad crush on her. Since then, there have been numerous articles, books, documentaries and even a movie about this gang -- the gang that couldnt shoot straight. Spunk. I actually loved reading through this post. This station is part of Cox Media Group Television. 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.. Sure enough, she called a few days later, around September 16. If it didn't work out, he could return to the United States later with a new identity. "Don't double-cross us," the woman on the phone told David Ghantt. The Loomis defendants face no additional legal jeopardy for not paying off their debts. This website uses cookies and some data tracking to improve your experience and serve adverts, We assume you're ok with this, you can opt-out if you wish. Perry identified the other six people arrested as Steve and Michelle Chambers; Kelly Jane Campbell, a former Loomis employee; Michael L. McKinney; Thomas Nathan Grant; and Eric Haley Payne.. Kristen Wiig plays Kelly, who really wasn't that into David, but convinced him to take a fortune from Loomis Fargo in the fall of '97. Campbell used part of her share of the money to buy aToyota Siennaminivanin two cash installments. LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Remember why you were elected! David told Kelly they would have to control themselves and not spend the money too quickly, because the FBI could electronically trace a suspect's recent spending activity through bank papers, credit card records, and land transactions. Current price is $11.49, Original price is $14.99. Diamant, a journalist who reported on the case at the time, goes into meticulous detail on how the heist was pulled off and its aftermath. Its in the ether. He stayed at it until the vault was empty. Afterward, everything became comical. All of the primary players got fined millions of dollars --for example, Kelly Campbell was hit with more than $4 million, an amount that she will never come close to paying. Feet Security Officer Bo Foot's Incident In Happy Town | ipl.org He knew it would mean leaving Tammy. Enforcement of this policy is at the Ghantts spending in Mexico was extravagant at first. David Scott Ghantt, his former co-worker Kelly Campbell and her friends Steve and Michelle Chambers carried out the Loomis Fargo heist on Oct. 4, 1997. He and Tammy could have one or two meals each week that he really liked, but the rest were hot dogs or Hamburger Helper. - 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. Loomis Fargo heist: 25 years later David Scott Ghantt, his former co-worker Kelly Campbell and her friends Steve and Michelle Chambers carried out the Loomis Fargo heist on Oct. 4, 1997. That movie, Masterminds, was filmed in 2014. Driving away, he said he felt a mix of fear, confidence and excitement that he outsmarted the FBI. David Ghantt was just an average Joe with an average low-wage job. The loot would later be divided among David, Kelly, and Steve. Javascript is not enabled in your browser. 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.. Have a youtube channel or website similar? Who all wanted a Rambo movie which explored his time training as a green beret and his time serving in Vietnam as a prequel to first blood WATCH Antebellum 2020 FULL MOVIE. Kelly had approached David with the idea in the summer, knowing he had a crush on her and winning him over with the promise that a shady friend of hers with Mafia ties would help them. Ms. Campbell worked at Loomis for 11 months, leaving in November 1996, according to court papers. Twenty people were convicted of roles big and small in the massive 1997 armored-car warehouse heist in west Charlotte. The bizarre true story of the criminals behind the second-largest bank heist in American history. Asked the purpose of his visit, Johnson had replied, "To visit friends. 'Masterminds' Review: Loomis Fargo Robbery Where Are They Now? - Pajiba Getting that off his chest calmed him some, and the conversation returned to the plan. (John D. Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP). The unsolved crime mystery of Marilyn Sheppard. In 2017, for example, Paul Burks of Lexington was ordered to pay $244 million to the victims of his worldwide Ponzi scheme, Zeek Rewards. One day, Campbell was speaking to an old friend named Steve Chambers. According to Butcher, Campbells last official payment came in June 2021 when the government appears to have seized a tax refund of $81.24. WOMAN GETS TIME IN LOOMIS HEIST - Greensboro News and Record But on Oct. 4, 1997, that no longer mattered and Ghantt took off with $17.3 million. 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. "Don't back out on us. TWO TO ENTER GUILTY PLEAS IN ARMORED-CAR ROBBERY - Greensboro News and His collection case closes in two years. [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]. Its said the current owner now has it in storage in Phoenix, Arizona. Its a once-in-a-lifetime thing, and I went down and talked to them, got to meet Zach Galifianakis and the director, Ghantt said. The Loomis Fargo Heist Over the next months, Ghantt, Campbell, and Chambers developed a plan. Oh were not going to talk to anybody, theyre not going to be able to convict us, that bravado happens in the beginning and then it often gets worn down by the reality, Gronquist said. When Ghantt called Campbell however, the FBI was able to track his location, and arrested him with the help of the Mexican police onMarch 1, 1998. But if you did, youll never forget it. The participants in the heist also spent lavishly on fancy jewelry, fancy cars and breast enhancement surgeries. For a better shopping experience, please upgrade now. Twenty years ago this Wednesday, a small group of people stole $17 million in cash from the main vault of a Loomis Fargo & Co. armored-car warehouse in west Charlotte. Thirty years! LeVaughn Kelly Campbell (born July 23, 1980 in Atlanta, Georgia) is a former football wide receiver. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. What purpose does that serve other than to denigrate that person into abject poverty?. Many of the lesser players in the conspiracy have been the most effective in paying their debts. It all went down in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the man at the center of that heist, David Scott Ghantt, now lives in Jacksonville. The strange story of Mary Reeser Spontaneous Human Combustion. For the defendants in the Loomis Fargo heist, its allure was irresistible. The robbery was committed by David Scott Ghantt who was the vault supervisor and accomplices Kelly Campbell, Steve Chambers, Michelle Chambers, Michael Gobies, and other four members. 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. Some of that money is just gone. It, too, has changed hands several times. of violence, racism, anti-Semitism, or 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. Notifications from this discussion will be disabled. Another time, the day after a Christmas in the late 1980s, David and some friends planted all the discarded Christmas trees from the area in one neighbor's front yard. You should definitely start your own blog, I highly recommend it. One night in a small North Carolina town, a down-on-his-luck guard at Loomis Fargo manages to steal $17 millionliterally more than one ton of cash. The only other employee with him on this day was a trainee. Its in the ether. Their only intimate physical contact had been kissing on a mid-September night when they had driven her pickup truck to a field behind a shooting range in Gaston County to discuss their plans and the theft's chance of success. I gotta go.". A few of the Loomis restitution cases have already been closed either because the amount was paid in full or because the 20-year clock wound down. The plan was still on, but David remained steamed. First, they tapped the Chambers phone, and began listening in on February 11th, 1998. David Ghantt (Zach Galifianakis), an employee of Loomis Fargo, robbed his own vault, left the $17.3 million in cash with his co-conspirators, Kelly Campbell (Kristen Wiig) and Steve Chambers (Owen Wilson) and fled the country to Mexico. Was the temptation too much? document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ). 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. 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. 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. How Did A Model Employee Manage To Steal More Than $17 Million - Yahoo! The $17 million was stolen last Oct. 4 from the armored-car company's vault in Charlotte. Ghantt didnt know the full extent of what was happening back home -- how that lay low plan turned into a flurry of extravagant spending. "So he stays behind and moving over two thousand pounds of . In his youth, his mother had taken him to Sears and JCPenney, but as a man he shopped at Walmart, and while he knew there was nothing wrong with that, he wished he could afford more. The friend was Steve Chambers, and Kelly said he knew his way around the world of crime. To visit friends.". Loomis Fargo, the nation's largest privately held armored- car company, used vans to transport hundreds of millions of dollars a day belonging to banks and other businesses, stocking automated teller machines and storing money in the Loomis vault between deliveries. Anybody who gets caught up in the system is getting chewed up by it, the now-retired Gronquist told the Observer. On Oct. 5, the Loomis heist celebrates its 25th birthday. By using this website, you accept the terms of our Visitor Agreement and Privacy Policy, and understand your options regarding Ad Choices. That was taking the long view. Booklist "Librariesshould consider purchasing this entertaining and lightly edited version, which reads like a fast-paced novel." The government does not run debtors prisons, says U.S. The affidavit described Chambers as a former FBI informant who had provided information on another Loomis armored car robbery that never materialized. Although the FBI investigation was able to quickly connect Ghantt to Campbell, connecting Ghantt to Chambers was a more difficult task. Also charged with money laundering were innocent relatives and friends who had co-signed safe deposit boxes. So the original gang was all totally shocked, Wydra said. In one case, the restitution for a Loomis defendant may be a moving target. But things didnt quite work out that way. OWLS director fired in wake of new board taking over, New rules will require flood history disclosure in real estate, North Carolina recreational spring flounder season canceled for 2023, Supreme Court seems ready to sink student loan forgiveness, Beach commission gets update on search for new sources of sand for beach nourishment. And with Loomis, were looking at only one case. He had since served time in prison for the crime and told our sister station WSOC-TV Channel 9s Glenn Counts he learned a valuable lesson while behind bars. The investigation ultimately resulted in the conviction of eight people directly involved, as well as sixteen others who had indirectly helped them. In August 1997, Campbell informed Ghantt about an old high school friend of hers named Steve Chambers, who could assist Ghantt to execute a massive cash robbery of the Loomis Fargo vault in one night. Heist! She will never get beyond the debt. Prosecutors say a vault. It was David who was hours away from committing the most daring act of his life, and she was going off about Steve being a serious guy? There are multiples of thousands of these things coming every year. Agents raided safe deposit boxes, where they recovered more than $11 million. Campbell was released from federal custody in 2004 after serving five years, meaning her collection case will age out in December 2024. What kind of surprised me is how much the car smelled like money, like if you ever hold money up to your nose it has a distinct smell, Wydra said. It's been 20 years since the Loomis Fargo heist. - Charlotte Observer "What would it take to make you do it?". There are many robberies registered in the history of America, but the Loomis Fargo Robbery is known to be the second largest robbery in the United States. "I was unhappy with my life. The biggest restitution numbers for victims of financial crimes generally involve Ponzi schemes or sweepstakes fraud, not cash thefts. The government does not run debtors prisons, says U.S. All of the co-defendants were arrested the next day, about six months after the heist. He added that he would be able to send the trainee home at about 6:00 p.m. and would then need about an hour to load the money from carts, shelves, and the floor into a Loomis company van. Masterminds (2016 film) - Wikipedia A third surveillance tape was carelessly left behind, and the company was able to identify the man who robbed the vault as David Ghantt. Paying the money back has taken a lot longer, and time is running out for the U.S. government to collect. But you cant get blood from a stone,, Criminals dont usually get high-paying jobs after leaving prison. The unsolved mystery of the Van Meter Visitor a winged creature! All but one took plea deals, including Ghantt, who was sentenced to seven years in prison. Loomis Fargo defendants owe as much as they stole in 1997 But that only tells part of the story. The bag held his mobile phone and handgun. What purpose does that serve other than to denigrate that person into abject poverty?. FBI video shows agents searching the Cramer Mountain home and finding stacks of cash. In Florida, a Loomis Fargo employee had pulled a gun on his coworkers and gotten away with $18 million, a move that FBI agents theorize Ghantt, Campbell and other employees all sat around talking about - and what they would do with that amount of money - for a while. Uh-oh, it looks like your Internet Explorer is out of date. As beads of sweat formed under his red hair, he loaded up another cart and repeated the process. Four-wheeling. Yet their lives seemed far easier and better than his. FBI agents recall surreal story of heist that inspired - WLOS Despite being caught on camera wheeling the money from the vault to the getaway van, David Ghantt makes off to Mexico before the FBI can blink. The movie was called Masterminds and stars Zach Galifianakis, Kristen Wiig and Owen Wilson. When they hung up, she called his pager and left the code 1-4-3, beeper-speak for "I love you," based on the number of letters in each word. Learning from this error, David planned to leave the stolen money behind with his coconspirators while he fled to Mexico. He says the Loomis case shows how the criminal justice system and the courts treat lower-income people differently. Each cart, holding about $2 million, was taking David seven or eight minutes to stack, push, and empty into the van, and there were about eight cartloads' worth in the vault. Butcher says the federal courts in the Western District of North Carolina have never handled a case quite like Loomis. Loomis Fargo Heist of 1997 - History and Other Things White-collar criminals are pretty good at hiding their money, she said. The plan to. Many of the lesser players in the conspiracy have been the most effective in paying their debts. Growing up, David had been a nice kid, a decent student who was at worst a minor troublemaker and prankster. But what the bank didnt tell Michelle, and Michelle didnt know, was that one of those forms get filled out if you ask about it, or if its close to $10,000 or if they suspect that any part of that transaction is suspicious, Wydra said. In the end, the FBI was able to capture the original gang in five months, snaring 21 individuals for their participation in the crime. The trainee didn't yet know how the place worked, a fact David planned to use to his advantage. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.. Clear skies. Campbell used to work for Loomis and continued the friendship with Ghantt, eventually hooking him up with Chambers. "Are you serious?" sole discretion of the site administrators and repeat offenders may Theres no way to get it back, Butcher told The Charlotte Observer. The inspiration behind the major motion picture Masterminds starring Zach Galifianakis, Owen Wilson, Kristen Wiig, and Jason Sudeikis! A parrot tattoo on her right ankle. He had joined the army and earned an honorable discharge, but because of defense-industry cutbacks he hadn't been able to find a good job for himself. David and Kelly had driven to Rock Hill, South Carolina, and used the documents to obtain a fake ID that David would also rely on after the theft. He tried again to make the back gate rise, to no avail. Stealing from Loomis Fargo could make him rich, if he got away with it. She sounded incredulous. uncanny, eerie, unnatural, preternatural, supernatural, unearthly, other-worldly, unreal, ghostly, mysterious, mystifying, strange, abnormal, unusual. Anybody who gets caught up in the system is getting chewed up by it, the now-retired Gronquist told the Observer. Winds light and variable. A more immediate need was securing help to move the stolen money to safety the night of the crime. David was supposed to be showing him the ropes of the job, which included cash pickups and deliveries. Down in Jacksonville, a Loomis Fargo employee took $18 million from an armored van he was driving. Getting restitution, its like pulling teeth.. The hillbilly outfit did more that just drop a few breadcrumbs. Steve decided to send his cousin, Nathan with money down to Mexico as a ruse, while Mike the bodyguard would follow behind to take care of Ghantt. Meanwhile, Ghantt's gang spent wildly and paid their family members and friends to hide money. Ghantt had struck up a relationship with a fellow Loomis Fargo employee, Kelly Campbell; they continued to maintain contact even after Campbell left the company.

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