real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist

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. On March 1, 1988, Mexican police arrested Ghantt at Playa del Carmen. Federal law stops government collection efforts 20 years after a defendant leaves prison. But his partners soon began to get greedy and were spending large amountswith Chambers and his wife, Michelle, even buying an exclusive mansion in cash. 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.. From there, the money was moved from the company vehicle to private vehicles. The platform is designed to engage citizens and government leaders in a discussion about what needs improvement across the country. Ask below and we'll reply! By the time the month concluded, the couple had purchased a 7,000-square-foot stone mansion in a gated country club community. 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. 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. The FBI quickly connected Ghantt to Campbell, who was a former Loomis Fargo employee. Who are the actors in the movie Masterminds? She had previously been making frequent small deposits to avert suspicion. Chambers served 11 years before being released. Her sentence was delayed until Jan. 1 so she could spend the holidays with her family. Ive never taken offense to anything like that, he tells me. One day, Campbell was speaking to an old friend named Steve Chambers. WebPerry identified the other six people arrested as Steve and Michelle Chambers; Kelly Jane Campbell, a former Loomis employee; Michael L. McKinney; Thomas Nathan Grant; Come for the Chumbawamba, and stay for the return of the Mack. Campbell was released from federal custody in 2004 after serving five years, meaning her collection case will age out in December 2024. 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. Things went from bad to worse when, in November, Michelle strolled into a bank with a briefcase filled with 200 grand and asked the manager, How much can I deposit without the bank reporting the transaction? When she showed the bank manager that she really had the money to invest, the cash was still bound in Loomis Fargo wrappers. Getting restitution, its like pulling teeth.. Another accomplice, Eric Payne, took a three week, unpaid vacation, had his wife quit her job as a receptionist and bought a new Harley Davidson, Chevy Tahoe, big-screen TV, computer and new trailer. And I knew that by that time, Id be in Cancun no matter what. David Scott Ghantt was the vault supervisor at the regional branch of Loomis, Fargo & Co. in Charlotte, North Carolina. An additional tip reached the FBI when Michelle Chambers made a large deposit at a bank. Punishment needs to be fair and realistic. Heist: The Oddball Crew behind the $17 Million Loomis Fargo Theft Jeff Diamant 12 Audio CD 9 offers from $5.86 About the Author Jeff Diamant covered the heist for the Charlotte Observer. Throughout the multi-year-long case and subsequent trials, journalists often referred to Ghantt and the others as trailer trash and hillbillies. new mexico state police vin inspection; does white vinegar lower blood pressure; prudential tcfd report This meant a bump in pay, up to $8.15 an hour. Im a very deliberate person. Ask questions; get answers. I wasnt attracted to him or anything, but he was a nice guy, Campbell said. Ghantt didnt actually meet Chambers until the night of the heist, though, according to Diamant, who would go on to write a book about it. Back in North Carolina, Ghantts former accomplices were living high on the hog. Where I was going was right there near the Cayman Islands. Former Cramerton Police Chief David Young soon got wind of the Chambers excessive spending spree and reached out to the FBI. They found Ghantts truck, and in it were his keys, some personal items and his wedding ring. While making only eight dollars an hour in his role as supervisor, Ghantt decided it was time to do something: I was unhappy with my life. WebThis real-life . 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. Theres no way to get it back, Butcher told The Charlotte Observer. Within two days, the investigators found the van with $3 million in cash and the security camera tapes inside. Florida Gov. Chambers had known enough to insist that no one blows through a ton of cash immediately after the robbery, but once he actually had his hands on the money, he couldnt follow his own advice. But before thehit could be carried out, the FBI swooped in and arrested Ghantt and the others. Join the 119,947 smart Charlotteans that receive our daily newsletter. 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). Michelle, meanwhile, purchased new breasts for herself, along with a $43,000 diamond ring and a new convertible BMW Z3. 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. The two struck up a friendship during work that would continue after Campbell left the In 97 me and my wife were just barely scraping by, Ghantt recalled in Mondays episode. The U.S. Link your TV provider to stream full episodes and live TV. Then, I started loading the van., Money, when bound in bulk and stacked in canvas bags, is heavier than you might expect. Having only brought $50,000 in cash, however, Ghantt soon found himself short on funds. 2022 marks the 25th anniversary of the year that everything happened 1997. I thought, Okay, if I get out of that bubble because the cops depend on that, even the feds my chances to get away go way up.. On Oct. 4, Ghantt sent home the employee he was training and disabled two security cameras near the vault in preparation for the heist. That was pretty awesome., It felt like a dream vacation until he started running out of money. 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. Over the next months, Ghantt, Campbell, and Chambers developed a plan. 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. Called Masterminds, the 2016 film stars Zach Galifianakis, Kristen Wiig and Owen Wilson. When Ghantt called Chambers to have the latter wire him more money, Chambers sent just a few thousand dollars. The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 4+ ACT Points, How to Get a Perfect 36 ACT, by a Perfect Scorer. Once the hitman Chambers had hired arrived in Mexico, he found that he couldnt bring himself to kill Ghantt. Most high schools offer a variety of history classes, so make sure youre taking the right ones for you. Or that hed gotten lucky gambling. But few could have guessed how spectacularly the heist would go wrong after the criminals initially got away with it. I did every touristy thing you could possibly do while I was down there. Ghantt's spending in Mexico was extravagant at first. Web>> 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 An inept hitman was sent to kill David Ghantt. Youre supposed to get less time for cooperating, a lesser penalty, and instead, you see what she got hit with. Gronquist said. As he later recalled about his life before the 1997 heist that changed his life forever: Prior to, I would have never even considered it but one day life kinda slapped me in the face. So Chambers decided to solve the problem by putting a hit on Ghantt. The next day, Steve and Michelle Chambers, Kelly Campbell, and four others were arrested.[6]. Things started to go south the night of the robbery. Chambers, his wife, and several of their accomplices were arrested the next day. So yeah, Ghantt continues, I took a bus from there to Atlanta, and then I hopped a cab from the bus station to the airport in Atlanta., Back in North Carolina, his accomplices were working as fast as they could to hide the $17 million. 6 Is Kelly Campbell married to ghantt? Some of the friends and family members received parole, while Ghantt was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison. 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. When October 1997 began, Steve and Michelle Chambers lived in a double-wide trailer. They discussed it further, and Campbell asked him when they should do it. Eventually, Ghantt called in from Mexico, seeking more money, and the FBI officially recognized Chambers as a co-conspirator. ACT Writing: 15 Tips to Raise Your Essay Score, How to Get Into Harvard and the Ivy League, Is the ACT easier than the SAT? Best States is an interactive platform developed by U.S. News for ranking the 50 U.S. states, alongside news analysis and daily reporting. In February 2009 the Associated Press reported that Chambers had chosen to describe himself as "changed". Some of that money is just gone. No dry runs, no rehearsals. The plan went off with few problems, but after Ghantt was safely in Mexico, his partners were left storing large amounts of cash. Get to me. Its that kind of excitement.. Fourteen defendants were ordered to make restitution payments to Loomis Fargo totaling almost $19 million. And to me, if it pisses them off, Im all for it.. 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. 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. The next morning, Loomis Fargo employees were unable to open the vault. You know Loomis because of their armored cash vehicles, and when they acquired Wells Fargo Armored, turned into Loomis, Fargo & Co. Ghantt, who had been with the bank since 1994, was promoted from driver to vault supervisor in 1997, where he earned $360 a week and befriended Kelly Campbell (Wiig), who got Ghantt mixed up in the plans for the heist after she left Loomis. If I could get far enough away in a very short amount of time, my odds of getting away with it were pretty high, Ghantt said. Either way, intothe picture walks Steve Chambers and a group of friends that would set the plan in motion. Thats pretty standard in restitution matters. Although the FBI investigation was able to quickly connect Ghantt to Campbell, connecting Ghantt to Chambers was a more difficult task. Michelle Chambers received a harsher sentence than Ghantt seven years and eight months because she had violated several bond conditions. While listening in, they uncovered another more sinister alleged plan to kill Ghantt. He and his wife, Michelle, moved from their mobile home in Lincoln County to a luxury house in the wealthy Cramer Mountain section of Cramerton. A comedy film called Masterminds, based on the Loomis Fargo heist and starring Zach Galifianakis, Kristen Wiig, Owen Wilson, and Jason Sudeikis, was released in 2016. Once Ghantt loaded the large haul from the vaultwhich could have been close to $20 millioninto a truck, he planned to drive to a second location, then head straight to the airport and fly to Mexico. Chambers had broached the possibility of a robbery to Campbell earlier in the summer. Was that really what it was about? Meanwhile, Ghantt would take $50,000, as much as could legally be carried across the border without questions, and flee to Mexico. Speaking of his co-defendants, Ghantt says hes not currently in contact with any of them. Hes going to start bringing you money. Alright. Get all your true crime news from Oxygen. I didnt even have a real home life because I was never there. But because he still owes millions to the IRS, he couldnt be paid. This robbery was the second-largest cash robbery on U.S. soil at the time, as only seven months earlier, on March 29, 1997 in Jacksonville, Florida, Phillip Noel Johnson stole $18.8 million from the Loomis Fargo armored vehicle he was driving.October 1997 Loomis Fargo robbery. Ghantt, meanwhile, was losing his patience and starting to make threats. But as soon as he drove off, I went right back in and opened the vault. In one case, the restitution for a Loomis defendant may be a moving target. The best states in the U.S. come from coast to coast. I mentioned it to Kelly. Pocketing $50,000 for himself, that man, named David Ghantt, hopped into a car of his own and headed towards Mexico. While the agents initiated their investigation, the Chambers spent money as quickly as they could. Until, that is, he decided to hell with it he was going to pull-off the second largest heist in U.S. history. Where did the masterminds live after the heist? The robbers went on a huge spending spree, buying a massive home, artworks, big-screen TVs, expensive cars, pickup trucks, minivans, two boats, six motorcycles and several tanning beds. More than 2 million dollars is still missing to this day. Some family members hid money in bank deposit boxes, other friends were asked to mule cash to the Cayman Islands. Chambers would hold on to most of the remaining cash and wire it to Ghantt as needed. On the night of October 4, the plan went into action. 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. They called the police, who brought in the FBI, classifying the heist as a bank robbery. The robbery of some $17 million quickly became one of the wildest bank heists of the last quarter century. I studied up on the FBI. When Chambers and the two Erics were done loading the stolen millions into barrels, they abandoned the van in the woods. Ghantt and his compatriots, it turns out, had underestimated how bulky money is. 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. 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. Even still, he was 27, married and struggling to provide for his family. After a couple of weeks, Ghantt and the rest of the heist team were ready to strike. The plan was to split the money three ways: Chambers, Campbell and Ghantt would each walk away with what Ghantt estimated to be $5 million a piece the kind of money that changes lives forever. They picked me, he says with a rueful tone. WebLoomis Fargo Robbery There is a vault reserved for only the most outrageous, preposterous, and far-fetched real life stories. 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. Axios Charlotte is a local news initiative. Ill never pay it off on my paycheck, Ghantt said. 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.. Many of the lesser players in the conspiracy have been the most effective in paying their debts. You can garnish wages. Theres less security. Authorities began to hone in on the group and put a wire tap on Campbell's phones. Its everything thats coming north.. And with that, David Ghantt took off for Mexico. speedway of nations manchester 2021. rossignol skis experience 88 It didnt take the local police long to put the pieces together. 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. 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. Also charged were several innocent relatives that the robbers had enlisted to help get safety deposit boxes in various banks. The Chambers, however, didnt fit in with the other members of the gated community. The thieves had simply abandoned whatever they couldnt carry away. FBI security footage of David Ghantt in the midst of the Loomis Fargo heist. There was also no dramatic showdown between Chambers and Ghantt as the movie suggests. Basically, he needed a score to make his problems go away. How to Market Your Business with Webinars? These (Loomis) guys, not so much.. To make a successful getaway, Ghantt had to lift nearly 2,800 pounds of currency. In 1997, six men pulled off what remains the biggest cash heist in the history of the United States. Chambers had no intention of following those rules, believing the FBI would never connect him to Ghantt. Webbird adoption adelaide real life kelly campbell loomis fargo. The two struck up a friendship during work that would continue after Campbell left the company. We spoke to the FBI agents who investigated the case who say the real-life masterminds couldnt contain their spending-spree. The barrels were Steves idea, Ghantt says. 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. Ghantt would go on to spend six and a half years in federal prison. Investigators also found Ghantt's pickup truck, abandoned at the warehouse. 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. The film was produced by Brent Almond. Campbell used part of her share of the money to buy a Toyota Sienna minivan in two cash installments. Chambers also promised to join Ghantt in Mexico as soon as she could, but she admitted to Super Heists she never had any intention of actually making the trip. The Antwerp diamond heist, dubbed the heist of the century, was by far the largest diamond heist.Antwerp diamond heist. October 26, 1999. We got this guy named Bruno. The biggest restitution numbers for victims of financial crimes generally involve Ponzi schemes or sweepstakes fraud, not cash thefts. Two days later, when the FBI found the Loomis Fargo armored van, they discovered almost $3.3 million in cash left in the back of the van; it was later discovered that the thieves had miscalculated the sheer bulk of the small denomination currency, and that they simply left the cash that they could not take with them in the back of the van. Stay informed daily on the latest news and advice on COVID-19 from the editors at U.S. News & World Report. 9 Where did the masterminds live after the heist? Ghantt sent home a new employee and quickly loaded the money into the back of a bank van. In the meantime, Ghantts wife reported him missing and the CMPD had found his truck in the parking lot of Loomis Fargo. After loading the massive cache of loot into the armored truck, Ghantt set the time lock on the vault, which locked the door for days unless the employees drilled through the lock. Guller was the attorney for Steven Chambers, who came up with the original idea for the Loomis theft. There used to be a consulate in Cancun. But you cant get blood from a stone, Johns said. Chambers and two accomplices, making their way to Vale in order to put the barrels in his home, left behind the staggering $3.3 million that didnt fit and the two security tapes in the Loomis Fargo van that Ghantt had driven.

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