From Mexico, David usually spoke with Kelly on the phone once a week, paying with calling cards. . Back then, it was one of the hotspots for hiding money. Ghantt planned to live off the interest for the rest of his life. Question: What made you, Chambers and the others think you could get away with this? He's a very likable person. That was pretty awesome., It felt like a dream vacation until he started running out of money. This is the person I counted as my friend. David had grabbed $50,000 cash, but could figure out only how to carry $25,000 with him on the plane. 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. I was burned out and just didn't know it. With the help of Aldo, a Mexican waiter he had befriended, David found a beach apartment in Cancun. Ghantt ended up doing more than five years in prison, Chambers did more than 11 years. But he tried to keep his face averted, so David wouldn't be able to ID him. And with Loomis, were looking at only one case. But it didnt really hit me until later., On March 2nd, when the FBI agents walked up to Ghantt in Playa del Carmen and told him he was under arrest, Ghantt was relieved. 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. Steve Chambers has told agents the missing cash was stolen from a shed in Lincoln County. Ghantt would go on to spend six and a half years in federal prison. Ghantt:I've always known that story had potential to be a comedy or a drama. It had been drilled into my head that if you give me a team of five good people, I can go anywhere, do anything," David explained. Federal prosecutors would ultimately charge 21 defendants in the case, including the Floyds, who were charged with (and pleaded guilty to) money laundering. He grabbed the tapes from two VCRs that connected to 16 security cameras. We need to set up some way for me to get my money. She said, We got it all worked out. So he and some friends decided at the end of his Oct. 4 shift he would load a company van with more than 2,000 pounds of cash and just drive away. He told Steve he hadn't been able to find David. She just called me up on the phone and said, Hey, lets meet one day after work. And then, we were talking and she says, How do you feel about robbing Loomis Fargo? Ghantt tells me. Each week, Michele deposited thousands of dollars in cash. His collection case closes in two years. 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). The van door opened. . Ghantt and one other employee were the last to leave. Her only brush with the law had been a DUI arrest. Ghantt:Since I still owe the federal government money I can't get paid. 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. . And when everybody else voted to kill me, she voted with them, he explains. shes now Miss USA. Down in Jacksonville, a Loomis Fargo employee took $18 million from an armored van he was driving. Time passed, and Campbell eventually quit her job at Loomis Fargo. On Feb. 27, agents listened in on a call from David to Kelly and learned David's location in Mexico. 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. I'd probably change jobs. Thatd be the time to do it, Ghantt recalls. It wasnt a big hit, but Ghantt, who was played by Galifianakis, gives it a rave review. What that says is, We will never forgive you for what youve done.. When Chambers and the two Erics were done loading the stolen millions into barrels, they abandoned the van in the woods. There were times when I drank really heavily.". They also purchased tanning beds, a pool table, a Harley-Davidson Road King motorcycle and all kinds of expensive furniture. His name was Corey. Mine did. "I said, 'That's all they gave me,' " McKinney recalled. These (Loomis) guys, not so much.. Now worried about both the FBI and McKinney, he spent even more time alone in his room. Two more defendants in the $17 million Loomis Fargo & Co. robbery last year have agreed to plead guilty, and a third person entered a formal plea in court. The authorities didn't know yet how much was missing from the armored-car company, but Steve did. ];Kelly Jane Campbell [Misc. A couple weeks pass, and I call again, Hey, Id like to get some more money. ". A woman by the name of Kelly Campbell had worked there in 1996, and she and Ghantt had become friends in that time. Down in Jacksonville, a Loomis Fargo employee took $18 million from an armored van he was driving. No dry runs, no rehearsals. Kelly Campbell, 29, a former company employee, entered guilty pleas earlier to bank larceny, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder charges. Steve led the planning. Our success depends on our team members, and that's why it's important for us to offer an employee benefits program that is not only extremely comprehensive but also one of the best in the industry. He would pay McKinney $250,000, half upfront. 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. Fourteen defendants were ordered to make restitution payments to Loomis Fargo totaling almost $19 million. Steve tried keys on a side door. She could spend time with her children and parents. At the sight of all that money, Scott and Eric had the same thought: They'd made the worst mistake of their lives. 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. Ghantt fled to Mexico. The initials on the money wrapper belonged to a Loomis employee who hadn't worked there since before the heist. She'd heard his stories of other successful schemes, like getting refunds on phony tax returns, or operating a loan shark business. Some of that money is just gone. Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. I wanted to get as far away as I could. Theres no management around. 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. Ghantt:It's a comedy. After a couple of weeks, Ghantt and the rest of the heist team were ready to strike. Ghantt knew Chambers as Steve, but didnt find out that his last name was Chambers until the arrests were made. Zaron Burnett is an investigative journalist and longform features writer based in Los Angeles. Agents noticed it two months later when it flowed to them through official channels, along with hundreds of similar reports involving other people. Steve told me to tell [David] whatever was necessary to keep him happy.". She was the group's only contact with David, and she was smoking marijuana "like other people smoke cigarettes," she said. The theft at the time the second-largest cash robbery in U.S. history has been the brunt of mocking movies and books, mostly on how the thieves, who had little money to begin with, could not control their spending habits once they did. 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. Or as he tells me, How many people in the United States havent thought about robbing a bank? Ghantt went on to explain that he rarely even looks at his debt statement to the government, but believes the IRS says he still owes them $3.8 million. I did a little research into crime statistics and the local cops. ", "Even then . When he walked onto the plane, he was wearing big, tall cowboy boots, where hed stuffed a majority of the smuggled cash. On Oct. 5, the Loomis heist celebrates its 25th birthday. Butcher says the federal courts in the Western District of North Carolina have never handled a case quite like Loomis. In hindsight, it doesnt surprise me a bit, Ghantt says, a bitter laugh catching in his throat. Kelly, she says now, was thinking about how happy she would be to send this man far away from her. Kelly had no problem fanning the flames of their old flirtation. The Chambers, however, didnt fit in with the other members of the gated community. In March 1997, after Loomis Fargo & Company has been robbed of $18.8 million in Jacksonville by company security guard Philip Noel Johnson, Steve Eugene Chambers and Kelly Campbell, a former employee of Loomis, decides to rob the company. Steve solicited two others to help move cash during the theft. >> 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,. David trusted her. I mentioned it to Kelly. Kelly would only discover later that leading up to the heist, Steve had been writing bad checks, $17,000 worth, for which he would later be convicted. One day, Campbell was speaking to an old friend named Steve Chambers. Called Masterminds, the 2016 film stars Zach Galifianakis, Kristen Wiig and Owen Wilson. For his part, Ghantt was now officially on his way to Mexico, his future stretched out before him. . Clerk of Court Frank Johns of Charlotte. Kelly found herself standing beside David while they waited together for a bond hearing. Ghantt simply got ready for work one morning knowing it would be his last day on the job. Ghantt was working as a vault supervisor for Loomis Fargo in Charlotte in 1997, earning about $8 an hour and tired of his humdrum life. I don't blame him.". and "I love money!" There was a third person with them, too, a man named Eric Grant. Question: Do you ever think you could have been killed? Money'll turn your head, I don't care who you are. David was excited, jabbering about their future together. I studied up on the FBI. Ghantt:It baffles me to this day. Or is the loot buried in somebody's yard? shaka wear graphic tees is candy digital publicly traded ellen lawson wife of ted lawson real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist 25 Feb/23 (No Ratings Yet) 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. There it was, "The Heist." . So much so that one suspicious neighbor called the FBI. Ghantt:I've burned that bridge years ago. I flew from Atlanta to New Orleans. "But, I hate to admit it, it doesn't faze me one bit. Twenty-five years ago, a small group of rural North Carolinian amateur bank robbers pulled off the second-largest heist in American history. I can take it.". But you cant get blood from a stone, Johns said. Though David had no criminal experience, he felt he could offer expert advice: He'd just finished reading a book on the FBI. About 5:45 a.m., he got into his pickup and began the 45-minute drive to work in Charlotte. One thing about teammates, in David's view: You could always trust them. "She said, 'What would it take to convince you to do it?' The money was heavy. They discussed it further, and Campbell asked him when they should do it. Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. Kelly drove David to the airport. . ", "I wouldn't do it. Question: Any contact with Steve Chambers or any of the others involved with the heist? Kelly told the FBI she had done drugs with David but denied knowing about the theft. He was also a former FBI informant who had tipped the bureau off to a planned robbery of a Loomis Fargo armored truck that never came to fruition. What purpose does that serve other than to denigrate that person into abject poverty?. Michelle Chambers paid off only $27,000. He kept looking over his shoulder. I knew that the news wouldnt break until later that morning. 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. 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. The last time he called me, he said, Hey Ghantt, I just saw a big Loomis Fargo truck. Meanwhile, back in North Carolina, Ghantts wife woke up to find her husband missing. "I'm glad I've grown out of that.". When she realized Ghantt never came home from work the night before, she contacted the police and filed a missing persons report. But as soon as he drove off, I went right back in and opened the vault. Scott didn't want to, but then he remembered the hundred-grand payday. Ultimately, though, the heist wasnt Ghantts idea, which meant he didnt decide who else was involved. Charlotte hotel chef who serves with a smile recognized as outstanding ambassador, Eritrean, Ethiopian restaurant owner was a big brother and father to many in Charlotte, Home tours: This wired-up Weddington smart home has a pool big enough for the neighborhood. He'd even bragged that he'd killed people. At first, David Ghantt said, "I didn't take her seriously. That week, the FBI designated the theft its 142nd "major case," putting it on a list--begun in the 1970s--that includes such other infamous crimes as the World Trade Center bombing. Ghantt was missing and no one, not even his wife, knew where he was. Ghantt was scheduled to work a shift at the armored car company Oct. 4. It was an ear-biting, Pierce Brosnan-loving, comet-obsessed world, and were here to relive every minute of it. 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 had David Ghantt and Kelly Campbell tied together, and we had Steven Chambers and Eric Payne with unexplained wealth, but we didn't have a tie between them," Agent John Wydra said.
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