About 5:30 the next morning, McKinney knocked on David's door and dropped $8,500 on the bed. It was unclear whether anyone will get that money, authorities said. She also assured the teller her cash wasn't drug money. On Monday, October 6th, the FBI agents who were investigating the robbery located the Loomis Fargo van abandoned in the woods. Theres some things I want to do., Ghantt planned on traveling from Mexico to the Cayman Islands, bypassing customs along the way. No hard feelings. Sweat soaked David's uniform. Campbell, a mother of two, was in the process of divorcing her. I wanted to make a drastic change and I went for it," Ghantt said. They put up mauve wallpaper. Back then, it was one of the hotspots for hiding money. Ghantt planned to live off the interest for the rest of his life. Besides her prison sentence, Campbell must undergo mental health and drug treatment and spend two years in a supervised release program. I didnt pick the heist team. Cool, I say. Kelly Campbell, 29, a former company employee, entered guilty pleas earlier to bank larceny, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder charges. I wanted to get as far away as I could. >> PHOTOS: The Loomis Fargo heist, 25 years later Ghantt, his former co-worker Kelly Campbell and her friends Steve and Michelle Chambers, carried out the Loomis Fargo heist on Oct. 4,. 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. In real life: False. (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. The van door opened. He told her he wanted more of "his" cash. The next day, he was sitting next to FBI agent Mark Rozzi on a US Airways flight to Charlotte. "I said, 'I don't want him killed.' After a Gulf War stint in the Army, David got married in 1992. It was his goodbye. They also purchased tanning beds, a pool table, a Harley-Davidson Road King motorcycle and all kinds of expensive furniture. Question: Any contact with Steve Chambers or any of the others involved with the heist? 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. I'll never pay it off on my paycheck." Time passed, and Campbell eventually quit her job at Loomis Fargo. He's a very likable person. Get to me. Its that kind of excitement.. While the agents initiated their investigation, the Chambers spent money as quickly as they could. He had stolen $17 million from Loomis Fargo. Many of the lesser players in the conspiracy have been the most effective in paying their debts. Things were spiraling fast. What made her do it? 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. She will never get beyond the debt. Inside the Mazda, Steve told Scott Grant to get out and help David. The government does not run debtors prisons, says U.S. Or that hed gotten lucky gambling. He partied, met women, drank, skied and hung out at the beach. Why did this Charlotte engineer leave her job? There was a third person with them, too, a man named Eric Grant. In real life: False. 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. Inside were, along with other personal items, his keys and wedding ring. 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. That day, FBI agents also would arrest Scott Grant and Eric Payne, who had spent his share of the money on a motorcycle and breast implants for his wife and two sisters. Is he telling the truth? 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. He went deep-sea fishing. Kelly was lying. 1997 Harley-Davidson Road King motorcycle for sale at auction of items bought after Loomis, Fargo armored car facility heist by Steven Chambers, wife Michele, Kelly Jane Campbell & David Scott Ghanntt (Photo by Will And Deni McIntyre/Getty Images) These (Loomis) guys, not so much.. 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.". They tried to break the van's bulletproof windows. They planned to kill a man named David Ghantt, the guy who had made their extravagant new lifestyle a reality. Dependent care account. When he said, 'I'll give you $20,000 to hold a million,' I said, 'Sure.' I hear her typing. Our Benefits. 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. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. Kelly said she had reason to believe Steve might be able to pull off a heist. . Everything came crashing down on an early March morning in 1998. I knew that the news wouldnt break until later that morning. Question: Do you ever think you could have been killed? 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. As with Kelly, the worst blotch on 29-year-old Eric's record until now was a driving-while-intoxicated conviction. David trusted her. In the two days after the robbery, agents interviewed more than 100 people, most connected with David. Then another. Steve and Michele invited everyone back for a Christmas party, where they gave Michele's stepfather a special gift--the pickup truck he'd always wanted. "But, I hate to admit it, it doesn't faze me one bit. And when everybody else voted to kill me, she voted with them, he explains. Eric Payne got out of prison in 2006 for his role in the heist and has since paid $11,357 on his $292,000 debt. The Loomis defendants face no additional legal jeopardy for not paying off their debts. It's one of the biggest jokes at the place. 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. In mid-November, McKinney carried $10,000 to Cancun but wound up spending most of it on himself. This real-life crime is the core of "Untitled Armored Car Project," which stars Zach Galifianakis, Owen Wilson and Kristen Wiig. He and co-worker Kelly Campbell, 27, had developed a close relationship and were spending time together outside of work. Steve Chambers has told agents the missing cash was stolen from a shed in Lincoln County. We got to the end of the day, and he was acting like he wanted to linger. Not a documentary. Down in Jacksonville, a Loomis Fargo employee took $18 million from an armored van he was driving. Even still, he was 27, married and struggling to provide for his family. Or does it sit in an offshore account, waiting for a prison sentence to end? So I guess I have no regrets. 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. In real life: True. In hindsight, it doesnt surprise me a bit, Ghantt says, a bitter laugh catching in his throat. I knew it was just a matter of time. Ghantt says he operates a bulldozer for a small company. Yes, happy. Question: You were a consultant? . And I knew that by that time, Id be in Cancun no matter what. Field Operations; Corporate; Why Loomis. 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. You might as well take it all, Ghantt tells me. When he walked onto the plane, he was wearing big, tall cowboy boots, where hed stuffed a majority of the smuggled cash. The mystery 1-4-3 caller had been Kelly, though agents didn't know it yet. "He showed me a lot of money," McKinney said. Almost 19 years after Ghantt and a group of friends from Gaston County pulled off one of the largest cash heists in U.S. history, the movie "Masterminds" will play up the caper for laughs. Thats pretty standard in restitution matters. Michelle, meanwhile, purchased new breasts for herself, along with a $43,000 diamond ring and a new convertible BMW Z3. In early December, Steve and Michele invited relatives to their daughter's sixth birthday party. Him and I still talk every now and then. After years of reflection and time in prison to work on himself, Ghantt was able to find a way to a better version of himself. What concerned her was the chance of getting caught. Then, I started loading the van., Money, when bound in bulk and stacked in canvas bags, is heavier than you might expect. Money'll turn your head, I don't care who you are. Here's what Floyd recalls: After two games of pool, Steve told him, "You know, we do a lot of gambling. The name she gave the pup is apropos. 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. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Its everything thats coming north.. It wouldn't work, Kelly told him. The Unexpectedly Sweet Story Behind Those Viral Semi-Truck Pregnancy Photos. I didn't think I had the guts. On his second trip, Steve gave McKinney David's hotel address. If you want to go ahead and go, I got it. In real life: Yes and no. 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. My love for my family is by far the most important thing in my life. That sounds like a lot of money until its compared to the $18,930,201.26 the group was ordered to pay. In 2017, for example, Paul Burks of Lexington was ordered to pay $244 million to the victims of his worldwide Ponzi scheme, Zeek Rewards. To celebrate Halloween, about seven of Steve's friends, including Eric Payne and Kelly, gathered for a party at Steve's house. "I said, 'That's all they gave me,' " McKinney recalled. The teller, who hadn't asked, filed a "suspicious activity report." If you were one of the much-smaller-than-expected group of people who caught Masterminds at the theater this weekend, and are looking for a fact-check of the events depicted on screen, here are some of the highlights of our chat with Diamant. The plan to rob Loomis Fargo was spawned by Campbell and her friend Steve Chambers, during a casual bonfire at Chambers' home. They soon realized David had stolen more money than would fit in their 55-gallon barrels. 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. And youre like, Come on parachute. He couldn't even bear to stick around for the final tally--though when he left he didn't forget to take $6,000, the first cut of his expected $100,000 share. Tags: Associated Press, courts, crime, North Carolina. 27 febrero, 2023 . You're an idiot.'". 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. Though David had no criminal experience, he felt he could offer expert advice: He'd just finished reading a book on the FBI. Military + Veterans. In real life: False. Thats where they feel comfortable., This piece of information would become critical to his getaway plan. ', "He asked me if I'd mind holding some money for him. Though David had said earlier he thought there was $15 million in the vault, the sight of that much cash held them spellbound. 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,. "I work construction. He hated the sweet smell of the green ink, and the $8.15-an-hour salary. . Basic and voluntary life insurance plan. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist (No Ratings Yet) . 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. Health savings account and flexible spending account. The bash had a Cinderella theme, with a three-tiered cake that looked like a castle. His mobile home was nicely furnished, on eight acres with a stream in the back. and "I'm rich!". "I'm glad I've grown out of that.". Its in the ether. He had just returned to his home in Jacksonville, Fla., when he agreed to talk about the heist, his life now and what went wrong when a group of friends who thought they could get away with stealing $17 million cash. "For the first year, they're all over you. She could spend time with her children and parents. At the end of one session, they wound up kissing outside the pickup. Given his position at the bank, hed be the one to pull off the robbery, and he intended to be ready. Kelly drove David to the airport. 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. This was in the 1990s the Columbia Airport back then was closed at around 9:30, 10 oclock. Industry leading Training and Development. Scott didn't want to, but then he remembered the hundred-grand payday. 2022 marks the 25th anniversary of the year that everything happened 1997. Why do we feel its so necessary to treat people like this, to say, OK, well just ruin the rest of your life because you made a bad decision., Punishment should not last a lifetime. ", "I said, 'If you drive a truck, you're always in a financial bind. He said every year he files his taxes and the IRS takes all of his tax return. . These days, the 52-year-old husband and father lives in Jacksonville, Florida, where he works at a heavy equipment rental agency. 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. You can seize property. Kelly Campbell, 29, a former company employee, entered guilty pleas earlier to bank larceny, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder charges. You can reach Kevin Ellis at 704-869-1823 or Twitter.com/TheGazetteKevin. He pocketed the money and told Chambers and Campbell to send him his cut in Mexico. "That would be living on the run, and I didn't want my kids to live that way. What made her abandon an ordinary existence to commit this spectacular, doomed crime? When he was done, the man drove off to a nearby printing press, where the money was distributed into private vehicles amongst a handful of people. He didn't want to abandon his parents. And going to see the Mayan ruins. 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. Michelle Chambers paid off only $27,000. Steve was sentenced to 11 years 3 months in prison. . She could visit friends. Reach our Customer Contact Center by calling 877.877.0560 from 6:30 AM to 11:30 PM CT every day or by completing the provided form. All I needed was a change of pace.". Meanwhile, Steve was keeping a close eye on Kelly. It was an ear-biting, Pierce Brosnan-loving, comet-obsessed world, and were here to relive every minute of it. He learned to parachute. One day, the two employees were in the break room and got to talking about the news of the day a massive bank heist that just occurred in Florida by someone at their company. Campbell 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 otherwise, and one that continued after she left the company. The Loomis case is another example where the amount of restitution ordered vs. what is actually paid are two dramatically different numbers. Scott was so nervous, he said, that he couldn't help. Guller was the attorney for Steven Chambers, who came up with the original idea for the Loomis theft. He hated his job, with its 12-hour shifts. Ghantt fled to Mexico. Kelly had no problem fanning the flames of their old flirtation. And though she had been made night shift supervisor at Allied Security, she still felt she would never make the money she needed. One day, the two employees were in the break room and got to talking about the news of the day a massive bank heist that just occurred in Florida by someone at their company. I threw you out, and then threw the parachute after you. 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. 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. Soon thereafter, he met Kelly Campbell, a co-worker at Loomis Fargo. "It probably should bother me," he said. Mexican police, Interpol officers and an FBI agent were watching him. Before David left for the airport, he had handed Scott an eight-inch key ring. Thats nearly $11 million less than former Kings Mountain resident David Ghantt (played by Galifianakis in the film) helped steal from the vault where he worked in Charlotte back in October 1997. The plan called for David to leave the vault door ajar, then maneuver a few minutes alone at the end of his shift, long enough to loot the cash, then pass it to Kelly and Steve. When he finished, the van was filled with $17 million. Some amateur thieves might turn to movies and TV shows for lessons on criminal behavior. Some received probation for money laundering, many others did hard time. Three weeks later, the couple purchased, in cash, a $635,000 stone mansion. ", "Even then . Twenty-five years ago, a small group of rural North Carolinian amateur bank robbers pulled off the second-largest heist in American history. . What that says is, We will never forgive you for what youve done.. Ghantt worked at Loomis Fargos regional office vault in Charlotte. This is where it starts to unravel, Ghantt tells me with a wry laugh. Gaston County residents remember how that worked out. We spoke to the FBI agents who investigated the case who say the real-life. 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. They paid for all of it in cash. The pager entry was 1-4-3. 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. Ive never taken offense to anything like that, he tells me. ];Kelly Jane Campbell [Misc. David, the international fugitive, lived it up, too--for a while. Thatd probably been the best thing for me to do, really. Before long, the FBI had wiretaps on the ringleader, Steve Chambers, and then they waited for the right time to make their arrests. Getting restitution, its like pulling teeth.. David kissed his sleeping wife on the cheek on the morning of Oct. 4. There it was, "The Heist." A third tape he didn't know about kept recording. On his way out, he grabbed the surveillance video, hoping to cover his tracks. 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. The first weekday after the heist, Michele Chambers, co-conspirator Steve's wife, walked into a NationsBank branch with a briefcase containing $5,000. Chambers and Campbell were waiting for him in the Loomis Fargo parking lot, both in separate vehicles. "I thought he was goofing around.". It was the first Saturday in October. Criminals dont usually get high-paying jobs after leaving prison. You've violated that trust. Until, that is, he decided to hell with it he was going to pull-off the second largest heist in U.S. history. 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. Ghantt didn't actually meet Chambers until the night of the heist, though, according to Diamant, who would go on to write a book about it.The . Alert: Obviously, spoilers abound. He rewarded Robert with $3,000 and vowed never to meet McKinney alone. Once in a lifetime, Murdaugh verdict sends a Lowcountry message: No one is above the law | Opinion, Charlotte Waffle House found with live roach, unclean equipment during health inspection. 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. Kelly, using David's cell phone, kept beeping him. Ghantt ended up doing more than five years in prison, Chambers did more than 11 years. Scott Grant and Steve pulled up next to her in a Mazda. About 5:45 a.m., he got into his pickup and began the 45-minute drive to work in Charlotte. But I thought this is me being hard-headed Im going to ride this thing to the ground. And so thats what I did.. Not many people can say they stole $17 million from their employer and had Zach Galifianakis play them in a movie. And so, he told her, Google my name. Three weeks after the theft, Steve and Michele moved from their Lincoln County mobile home to a $635,000 house in a gated Cramerton, N.C., neighborhood. He appeared happily matched with his high-spirited wife, Michele, and the two children from her first marriage. Now worried about both the FBI and McKinney, he spent even more time alone in his room. "He was speechless," said Sandra Floyd. Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. I just want people to go to the movies and have a good laugh, even if it's at my expense. Ghantt:I don't think he ever really meant to harm me. Records show the government has garnished his Social Security checks. [Kelly] told me, 'Just think about it.' Was that really what it was about? At first, David Ghantt said, "I didn't take her seriously. So yeah, Im kind of proud of it.. Campbell was released from federal custody in 2004 after serving five years, meaning her collection case will age out in December 2024. Ghantt, meanwhile, was losing his patience and starting to make threats. She could walk under the trees, with the chickens and goats and dogs that live around her mobile home. Ghantt:It baffles me to this day. Ghantt was apprehended in Mexico and returned to the United States in custody. 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.. They bought a BMW roadster. . There was, however, one problem with his plan. The agents tapped the phone, and it didnt take long to locate Ghantt after that. Kelly had resisted this suggestion before the heist: She and David were friends. "But I had to know.". They placed a bust of Caesar in the dining room. Question: Are you surprised that Hollywood took this on as a movie? At 7:45, David had finished loading. The money was heavy. Thanksgiving and Christmas were difficult. Chambers, who still lives in Gaston County and operates a gym, declined to comment. But what did that mean? 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. He had an endearing smile, a beautiful wife and two children. 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. They loaded the wine cellar with Pabst Blue Ribbon, and Steve hung a velvet portrait of Elvis Presley in the basement. His collection case closes in two years. They obviously werent trying to get it right they were putting together what they believe is a better story, said Diamant. Michelle Chambers received seven years and eight months, while Steve Chambers was handed an 11-year sentence. Were others involved? He would pay McKinney $250,000, half upfront. Scott Grant said he hesitated, but agreed if no guns would be involved.