Ghantt:It baffles me to this day. 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. When he said, 'I'll give you $20,000 to hold a million,' I said, 'Sure.' She came from a blue-collar background, a high school dropout who had grown tired of working in a mill and gotten an equivalency diploma. She also assured the teller her cash wasn't drug money. On the radio, the "John Boy and Billy" show played the song "Take the Money and Run. I learned something that was valuable at the time: Most criminals never leave a 250, maybe 300-mile circle from their home base. Meanwhile, Michele Chambers was laughing and saying, repeatedly, "Look at all this money!" 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. I said, Listen, You all need to get your shit together, or Im just going to walk over here to the government building and tell them who the fuck I am. That lit a little fire under her ass, for a bit.. Now he offered to pay him to carry cash to David--Steve said he was a friend hiding out after a bad drug deal, McKinney recalled. Field Operations; Corporate; Why Loomis. [Kelly] told me, 'Just think about it.' Looking for Kelly Loomis? Basically, he needed a score to make his problems go away. There was a little voice in my head that said, 'Don't do it. No hard feelings. On his way out, he grabbed the surveillance video, hoping to cover his tracks. Charlotte Magazine even ran a feature story about the Loomis Fargo heist with the title, White Trash Crime. The headlines, however, never bothered Ghantt. The biggest restitution numbers for victims of financial crimes generally involve Ponzi schemes or sweepstakes fraud, not cash thefts. CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS FROM 1998 and ACTORS IN MOVIE. Masterminds (2016 film) - Wikipedia Exciting. Basic and voluntary life insurance plan. Some of that money is just gone. About the same time, Kelly and McKinney received phone calls from agents who told them to open their doors. Some amateur thieves might turn to movies and TV shows for lessons on criminal behavior. "We kept going, '1-4-3, 1-4-3,' " recalled Vic O'Korn, assistant special agent in charge of Charlotte's FBI office. 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. Steve Chambers and Kelly Campbell, who had been friends on and off since growing up together in the mid-1980s, were at a cookout, playing cards and drinking Budweiser at Steve's Lincoln County, N.C., mobile home, Kelly recalled. There it was, "The Heist." Back then, it was one of the hotspots for hiding money. Ghantt planned to live off the interest for the rest of his life. David Ghantt And The Loomis Fargo Heist: The Outrageous True Story Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. Anybody who gets caught up in the system is getting chewed up by it, the now-retired Gronquist told the Observer. He had even scheduled a follow-up appointment at the dentist. To that end, Campbell brought in her childhood friend Steve Chambers, who was characterized in the local press as a small-time drug dealer and a local fence for stolen goods, to lead the team. SEVEN NABBED IN CHARLOTTE HEIST\ - Greensboro News and Record The authorities didn't know yet how much was missing from the armored-car company, but Steve did. "I work construction. Or does it sit in an offshore account, waiting for a prison sentence to end? By the time the month concluded, the couple had purchased a 7,000-square-foot stone mansion in a gated country club community. When Chambers and the two Erics were done loading the stolen millions into barrels, they abandoned the van in the woods. I mean, cause greed is a funny animal. Question: You were a consultant? He recalled that another agent, Phil King, said, "Hey, there was an article in the [Charlotte] Observer about beeper codes. What made her do it? You see, there's a reason Loomis Fargo used armored cars to move large amounts of cash. . Ghantt:It's kid-friendly, it's family-friendly (the movie is rated PG-13). The True Story of David Ghantt and the Loomis Fargo Heist - PrepScholar David said he realized then, for the first time, he might not see the millions he thought he had coming to him. David Ghantt, who pulled off the Loomis, Fargo & Co. vault robbery in 1997 and was sentenced to seven years in prison for the crime, served as a consultant for the film (in theaters Friday). Not until David was gone did Scott realize he didn't know which key to use. ", "Even then . Some received probation for money laundering, many others did hard time. Fact check: Is there much truth to the new 'Masterminds' movie? But agents weren't ready to arrest Kelly and Steve. They planned to kill a man named David Ghantt, the guy who had made their extravagant new lifestyle a reality. Will Vin Sant Leave You Jacked or Scammed? Were others involved? As with many recent historic events, this one had been caught on videotape, a fact that a few dozen Charlotte FBI agents would learn in a hastily organized Sunday morning meeting. Ultimately, though, the heist wasnt Ghantts idea, which meant he didnt decide who else was involved. In February 1998, the FBI tapped their phones and listened to Steve discuss depositing $2.5 million in the Cayman Islands. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist. "For the first year, they're all over you. Key benefit components include: Health insurance plans. . Sandra Floyd, Michele Chambers's mother, remembers the first time she saw the house. Stay informed daily on the latest news and advice on COVID-19 from the editors at U.S. News & World Report. Hes very articulate. Kelly, she says now, was thinking about how happy she would be to send this man far away from her. But you cant get blood from a stone, Johns said. Before David left for the airport, he had handed Scott an eight-inch key ring. His mobile home was nicely furnished, on eight acres with a stream in the back. The Unexpectedly Sweet Story Behind Those Viral Semi-Truck Pregnancy Photos. Ghantt:I don't think he ever really meant to harm me. Channel 9 speaks with the man at the center of Loomis Fargo heist 25 They discussed it further, and Campbell asked him when they should do it. 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. At the end of October, Kelly was sentenced to 5 years 10 months in prison. Depression had led to smoking a lot of marijuana and taking Prozac, a combination she figures affected her judgment. Why had he ever believed he'd get it? By . The FBI now knew Chambers had Loomis cash. Loomis Fargo Heist of 1997 - History and Other Things Steve, who had sworn Kelly, Eric and Scott to secrecy the night of the theft, named them all to the FBI. 1997 Loomis Fargo Robbery - Strange Unexplained Mysteries . She could spend time with her children and parents. So much so that one suspicious neighbor called the FBI. Campbell was released from federal custody in 2004 after serving five years, meaning her collection case will age out in December 2024. He had an endearing smile, a beautiful wife and two children. There was in fact a basically similar conversation involving Chambers and Campbell that took place during a barbecue the Campbells were hosting. Filming in the Asheville area starting in early July, and is. "He was speechless," said Sandra Floyd. 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. I was burned out and just didn't know it. She'd heard his stories of other successful schemes, like getting refunds on phony tax returns, or operating a loan shark business. Careers | Loomis US 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. Fourteen defendants were ordered to make restitution payments to Loomis Fargo totaling almost $19 million. 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 . When McKinney arrived in North Carolina, the plan had changed. They tried to break the van's bulletproof windows. "Every time my conscience would start bothering me," Kelly recalled, "I'd smoke another joint and forget about it.". The van door opened. Her husband gave her a brown teddy bear. For his part, Ghantt was now officially on his way to Mexico, his future stretched out before him. We need to set up some way for me to get my money. She said, We got it all worked out. David didn't even know Steve's name. They also purchased tanning beds, a pool table, a Harley-Davidson Road King motorcycle and all kinds of expensive furniture. If you want me to leave, Ill leave. Then, Ghantt went into another room. "I wanted to be more like my mom and dad were.". 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. Guller was the attorney for Steven Chambers, who came up with the original idea for the Loomis theft. So I was glad it was over. 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. At 7:45, David had finished loading. Thatd be the time to do it, Ghantt recalls. 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. In early November, Steve lured the real Mike McKinney, an ex-Marine, to North Carolina from his Illinois home. The others, though, went no farther than Cramer Mountain. I told the lead investigator I was glad to see him.. The FBI's final challenge is finding the remaining $2 million. Ghantt ended up doing more than five years in prison, Chambers did more than 11 years. Kelly was lying. He said every year he files his taxes and the IRS takes all of his tax return. In real life: False. And so, he told her, Google my name. "Love" has four. One day, Campbell was speaking to an old friend named Steve Chambers. 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. One number is working in Campbells favor. She was the group's only contact with David, and she was smoking marijuana "like other people smoke cigarettes," she said. Meanwhile, back in North Carolina, Ghantts wife woke up to find her husband missing. The top-ranked pie in North Carolina doesnt look like pie at all. Down in Jacksonville, a Loomis Fargo employee took $18 million from an armored van he was driving. She asked about the limit for a cash deposit before "paperwork" was required. Job Search - Career Portal - Dayforce HCM 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. In the two days after the robbery, agents interviewed more than 100 people, most connected with David. Few who were living in the area at the time can forget the "Velvet Elvis" painting Chambers had hanging in his mansion or the tales of cosmetic surgery, BMW convertibles and other signs of excess. Not many people can say they stole $17 million from their employer and had Zach Galifianakis play them in a movie. (The conversation was depicted as 100 percent private on screen). On Nov. 12, a confidential informant told the FBI about Steve Chambers's move from mobile home to mansion. The plan to rob Loomis Fargo was spawned by Campbell and her friend Steve Chambers, during a casual bonfire at Chambers' home. . I'll never pay it off on my paycheck." In real life: Mostly true. . Kelly Campbell, 29, a former company employee, entered guilty pleas earlier to bank larceny, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder charges. 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. That sounds like a lot of money until its compared to the $18,930,201.26 the group was ordered to pay.
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