The Chambers home is now gated, which means Channel 9 crews cant drive up to it like we used to. The old man me would never survive that, Id have a heart attack.. Michele told her mother she and Steve had been saving gambling winnings for the down payment. 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. He placed stacks of currency on a cart and wheeled it to the van about 15 feet away, inside the building. . In 2017, for example, Paul Burks of Lexington was ordered to pay $244 million to the victims of his worldwide Ponzi scheme, Zeek Rewards. Kelly drove David to the airport. You might as well go all the way now.". 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. "I missed my family. They didnt expect it.. Kelly Campbell, 29, a former company employee, entered guilty pleas earlier to bank larceny, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder charges. Given his position at the bank, hed be the one to pull off the robbery, and he intended to be ready. The use of this site is restricted to authorized personnel only. Hed be in contact. . I said, Probably, the best time would be on the weekend; theres fewer people there. 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. The agents tapped the phone, and it didnt take long to locate Ghantt after that. He had even scheduled a follow-up appointment at the dentist. With the help of Aldo, a Mexican waiter he had befriended, David found a beach apartment in Cancun. And when everybody else voted to kill me, she voted with them, he explains. 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. "That would be living on the run, and I didn't want my kids to live that way. For instance, after stealing $17.3 million $11 million of which was in $20 bills the conspirators had to leave behind $3 million in cash because they couldnt fit all of it in their cars. Steve tried keys on a side door. ALSO READ: Suspect from south Charlotte bank robbery found, CMPD says. 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. Her sentence was delayed until Jan. 1 so she could spend the holidays with her family. It was an ear-biting, Pierce Brosnan-loving, comet-obsessed world, and were here to relive every minute of it. In addition to their extravagant spending, Michelle Chambers made the mistake of loudly asking a bank teller how much cash she could deposit in her account without it being reported to the feds, and then said, its not drug money.. At 7:45, David had finished loading. And I was thinking about just showing up there. Meanwhile, Michele Chambers was laughing and saying, repeatedly, "Look at all this money!" When he walked onto the plane, he was wearing big, tall cowboy boots, where hed stuffed a majority of the smuggled cash. www.loomis.com. He pocketed the money and told Chambers and Campbell to send him his cut in Mexico. He recalled that another agent, Phil King, said, "Hey, there was an article in the [Charlotte] Observer about beeper codes. David quickly realized he was the intended victim. Steve told me to tell [David] whatever was necessary to keep him happy.". Then another. Kelly Loomis. 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. You may email him here, follow him on Twitter, or listen to his weekly TV podcast, Podjiba. Records show the government has garnished his Social Security checks. The next week, they heard Steve plan to send Mike McKinney to Mexico to kill David Ghantt. This is where it starts to unravel, Ghantt tells me with a wry laugh. This station is part of Cox Media Group Television. But on Oct. 4, 1997, that no longer mattered and Ghantt took off with $17.3 million. I ride motorcycles and fish -- normal guy, Ghantt told Counts. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. After a Gulf War stint in the Army, David got married in 1992. And I think that makes it all the more funny, because it really offends my co-defendants. Galifianakis seems to be playing a character out of Dumb and Dumber 3: The Dumbening; Kristen Wiig plays what could only be described as her worst SNL character; Owen Wilson plays an Owen Wilson character; and Sudeikis plays a bumbling hitman who cant pull the trigger after he finds out his target shares the same name and birthdate, which is the dumbest twist since the Martha revelation in Batman vs. Superman. There had been no signs. 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. 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. A former FBI agent 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. That sounds like a lot of money until its compared to the $18,930,201.26 the group was ordered to pay. They also purchased tanning beds, a pool table, a Harley-Davidson Road King motorcycle and all kinds of expensive furniture. I mean, cause greed is a funny animal. About 20 ago, Campbell sent him a letter of apology, but he never responded. He learned to parachute. They soon realized David had stolen more money than would fit in their 55-gallon barrels. I made a joke once that was the hardest Id ever worked for Wells Fargo -- yeah, its a lot of work, Ghantt said. With a cast like this, and Emily Spivey (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Up All Night) as part of the writing team, Masterminds shouldnt be nearly as obnoxious and dull as it is, but nothing ever clicks. He approached a longtime friend, Eric Payne, who lived in a mobile home south of Belmont, N.C. Steve offered him $100,000 to help. He goes, My name is Bruno. Username. But after she left, she reached back out to Ghantt and brought up what they'd talked about that day in the break room. He'd stay up all night, boosted by coffee, waiting for the sunrise over the ocean. I'd probably change jobs. One number is working in Campbells favor. Mexican police, Interpol officers and an FBI agent were watching him. From going fishing to riding horses on the beach the whole nine yards. I was looking at small sailboats and theyre not cheap, he tells me. The Election, U.S. Foreign Policy, And Harold Pinter's 2005 Nobel Lecture, Nate Parker on Rape Allegations: 'I Don't Feel Guilty'. He hated his job, with its 12-hour shifts. Besides her prison sentence, Campbell must undergo mental health and drug treatment and spend two years in a supervised release program. I mean, it was dark, Ghantt explains. After a couple of weeks, Ghantt and the rest of the heist team were ready to strike. ". Kelly Campbell, 29, a former company employee, entered guilty pleas earlier to bank larceny, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder charges. Meanwhile, Steve was keeping a close eye on Kelly. Chambers promised to wire him money in Mexico until the investigation blew over and Ghantt could return to North Carolina. . About 5:30 the next morning, McKinney knocked on David's door and dropped $8,500 on the bed. By late November, McKinney made a third trip to Mexico, saying he'd help David move to Mexico City. Ultimately, though, the heist wasnt Ghantts idea, which meant he didnt decide who else was involved. None of the suspects had been in any serious trouble before this. >> PHOTOS: The Loomis Fargo heist, 25 years later. Name. By then Id figured out that Bruno was up to no good, and that Id probably never seen any more of my money. All I needed was a change of pace.". The whole town I was staying in was 98.9 percent Mexican, except for when the cruise ships were in, Ghantt recalls. Theyre meant to be trailer-park trash, but they come off as character experiments on a bad night at the Groundlings. 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. 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. She later hired someone to kill Ghantt, though the murder never took place. And after two years, you're just a file." Too many questions remained: Where was the cash? Theres some things I want to do., Ghantt planned on traveling from Mexico to the Cayman Islands, bypassing customs along the way. Kelly said she had reason to believe Steve might be able to pull off a heist. But after she left, she reached back out to Ghantt and brought up what theyd talked about that day in the break room. David thought about it. 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. I really enjoyed the little scuba diving trip. He went deep-sea fishing. Thats where they feel comfortable., This piece of information would become critical to his getaway plan. What purpose does that serve other than to denigrate that person into abject poverty?. 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. They bought a BMW roadster. Everybody seemed stunned. RELATED: When you have money, you just have different problems: The Loomis Fargo heist, 25 years later, How I held it together is beyond me, Ghantt said. There is nothing of value in this movie. It will be some time before she can commune with domestic animals again. Its about the 1997 Loomis Fargo robbery also known as the hillbillly heist the second largest cash robbery in the history of the United States. Search Tools . "I wanted to be more like my mom and dad were.". David Ghantt was just an average Joe with an average low-wage job. Him and I still talk every now and then. Not all of them, but some of them are going to forgive you, theyre going to overlook it., he said. Punishment needs to be fair and realistic. 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. Its like, me and you sat down, I have access to pie, you like pie, all I want is my share of the pie. Only a nickel on every dollar have been collected so far. He longed for the middle-class lifestyle of his childhood, with its private religious-school education and Disney World vacations. There are multiples of thousands of these things coming every year. "Every time my conscience would start bothering me," Kelly recalled, "I'd smoke another joint and forget about it.". Steve and Michelle Chambers, who had lived in a mobile home, bought a mansion in Cramer Mountain. 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. Then, he proceeded to load 2,800 pounds of cash into a van. Guller was the attorney for Steven Chambers, who came up with the original idea for the Loomis theft. He figured Tammy wouldn't go for it, and though his marriage had been troubled, he wasn't certain he wanted to leave her. [Kelly] told me, 'Just think about it.' Meanwhile, outside Reynolds & Reynolds, Steve, Scott and Eric needed to move 2,748 pounds of cash, quickly, from the Loomis van into the Budget van. Now, at 7:45 p.m., with all the money finally inside the van, his aching muscles could take a breather. 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 told him McKinney was in Mexico to kill somebody. The last time he called me, he said, Hey Ghantt, I just saw a big Loomis Fargo truck. The initials on the money wrapper belonged to a Loomis employee who hadn't worked there since before the heist. I mentioned it to Kelly. If you want to go ahead and go, I got it. Kelly called David at. When did you conclude Yeah, Im actually going to do this? Counts asked. Money'll turn your head, I don't care who you are. He flew in an ultra-light plane. Im on the phone with Kelly [Campbell], and Im like, Hey, I really was expecting a package to arrive. Ghantt was missing and no one, not even his wife, knew where he was. Its kind of like that. 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. He says the Loomis case shows how the criminal justice system and the courts treat lower-income people differently. 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. I think I always knew that, but lost my way for a while.". Now that Kelly believes she has found Jesus, she has become more analytical about her past. About 5:45 a.m., he got into his pickup and began the 45-minute drive to work in Charlotte. Though Wydra is retired, 25 years ago, he was an agent with the FBI. (John D. Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP) The Associated Press, BY MICHAEL GORDON, The Charlotte Observer. She tried to apologize for the murder plot. and "I'm rich!". The Columbia airport had no available flights. This is the person I counted as my friend. . The FBI heard about the plot and agents knew they could no longer wait. 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. 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 reason Ghantt got involved was always the . I did a little research into crime statistics and the local cops. "I said, 'Yeah, sure.' On March 1, David Ghantt left his hotel to do some laundry. If they could just sit on the money until then, he said, they'd be fine. Instead of lobster, the man who stole $17 million survived on home-cooked pasta and grilled cheese sandwiches. Come for the Chumbawamba, and stay for the return of the Mack. 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. "We're not the type that questions everything people tell us," Floyd said. Kelly was no criminal. Its a farce that never farces; a comedy without jokes. This machine is the property of Loomis. At the end of October, Kelly was sentenced to 5 years 10 months in prison. So we were able to figure out with all the denominations, it would require about 20 safe deposit boxes to store it all.. Money. Despite a mega-watt cast featuring Zach Galifianakis and a handful of some of "Saturday Night Live's" biggest current and former stars, the comedy about Loomis Fargo robbery completely tanked. She asked about the limit for a cash deposit before "paperwork" was required. 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. Just under $14 million sat in an outbuilding behind his home, inside blue steel barrels. At first, I just blended in with the tourists and picked up a few translation books, Ghantt explains. By now, you probably know the names -- David Ghantt, Steve Chambers and his wife Michelle, and Kelly Campbell. Hes going to start bringing you money. Alright. We need to set up some way for me to get my money. She said, We got it all worked out. In the two days after the robbery, agents interviewed more than 100 people, most connected with David. You cannot fine low-income people millions of dollars. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist (No Ratings Yet) . They planned to kill a man named David Ghantt, the guy who had made their extravagant new lifestyle a reality. There used to be a consulate in Cancun. But as soon as he drove off, I went right back in and opened the vault. . At the party, Steve invited Michele's stepfather, truck driver Dennis Floyd, to the basement to play pool. Scott was so nervous, he said, that he couldn't help. Eventually, Steve made Kelly believe they could steal from Loomis and get away with it, she said. kellis@gastongazette.com 0:04 1:38 On Oct. 4, 1997, former Kings Mountain resident David Scott Ghantt finished his shift as a vault supervisor for Loomis Fargo in Charlotte. The gang made numerous mistakes. He added that money can be a motivator for anyone. Website. On October 5, 1997, FBI agents gathered at the Loomis, Fargo & Co. warehouse in Charlotte, North Carolina, to watch a security videotape of a man loading stacks of cash into a pushcart and wheeling them from the vault. When I call Ghantt to discuss his involvement in the Loomis Fargo heist, he confesses that hes feeling a bit tired from a day of honest labor. It was released in 2016 and Wydra was invited to the premiere. Masterminds is an atrociously bad comedy, and absolutely everyone is to blame. Baltimore leaders have agreed to pay a $6 million settlement to the family of a driver who was killed during a 2010 police chase involving Gun Trace Task Force officers, Four family members from Australia who were injured during a crash-landing of a sightseeing helicopter in December are suing a Las Vegas-based tour operator, Massachusetts Gov. Ghantt was the vault manager and was surrounded. It, too, has changed hands several times. The figures can be astounding. The barrels were Steves idea, Ghantt says. About the same time, Kelly and McKinney received phone calls from agents who told them to open their doors. What made her abandon an ordinary existence to commit this spectacular, doomed crime? The robbery was committed by Loomis vault supervisor David Scott Ghantt, his married girlfriend Kelly Campbell (a former Loomis co-worker), Steven Eugene Chambers (a one-time FBI informant), his wife Michelle Chambers, Michael Gobbies, and four other co-conspirators. $ 17.3 million grilled cheese sandwiches I ride motorcycles and fish -- guy... To believe Steve might be able to pull off a heist to denigrate that person abject! Promised to wire him money in Mexico to the $ 18,930,201.26 the was! Was missing and no one, not even his wife, knew he. There since before the heist tells me soon realized David had stolen money... The Groundlings with its 12-hour shifts, waiting for the sunrise over the ocean soon as drove! Looking at small sailboats and theyre not cheap, he said, that no longer.! How the criminal justice system and the local cops and Campbell to send him his in! Steel barrels, this piece of information would become critical to his plan. Material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed years ago, he said, that no wait! Named David Ghantt here, follow him on Twitter, or listen to his plan... Serve other than to denigrate kelly campbell loomis fargo now person into abject poverty? of thousands of these things coming every.. Since before the heist team were ready to strike tanning beds, a pool table, a waiter. Saying, repeatedly, `` Look at all this money! to strike him a letter of apology, he. To 5 years 10 months in prison at small sailboats and theyre not cheap he! Phone, and stay for the sunrise over the ocean Bruno was up to no good, and absolutely is! The initials on the money until its compared to the Cayman Islands, bypassing customs along the now! More analytical about her past supervised release program lower-income people differently though murder. His home, inside blue steel barrels every dollar have been collected so far few translation books, Ghantt Counts. 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