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. Not a documentary. They paid for all of it in cash. On Feb. 27, agents listened in on a call from David to Kelly and learned David's location in Mexico. They heard Michele brag about her $43,000 ring. Everything came crashing down on an early March morning in 1998. The best states in the U.S. come from coast to coast. In the following months, Steve persisted, even floating the notion of placing phony hand grenades on a Loomis truck to scare away the drivers, Kelly said. The Evergreen State takes the top spot again in the U.S. News Best States ranking on the strength of its tech sector and other industries. She was the group's only contact with David, and she was smoking marijuana "like other people smoke cigarettes," she said. Depression had led to smoking a lot of marijuana and taking Prozac, a combination she figures affected her judgment. . I hear her typing. We spoke with the inside man, David Ghantt, to get the real story. Im a very deliberate person. At one point, the hoodlum shows up and Ghantt is wearing a Jerome Bettis Pittsburgh Steelers jersey; the hoodlums favorite team is the Steelers, and he caves and tells Ghantt that McKinney wants him dead. It changes you. 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. He wouldn't give me the opportunity to say anything else. "I was trying to figure out a way to [leave my husband] and take care of my kids without having to depend on him or any other man," Kelly said. Gaston County residents remember how that worked out. He had even scheduled a follow-up appointment at the dentist. At the Halloween party, though, Kelly gave in to Steve, and agreed it had to be done. Scott didn't want to, but then he remembered the hundred-grand payday. 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. In February 1998, the FBI tapped their phones and listened to Steve discuss depositing $2.5 million in the Cayman Islands. Michelle, meanwhile, purchased new breasts for herself, along with a $43,000 diamond ring and a new convertible BMW Z3. 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. Loomis Armored Shreveport, LA, 1124 Forum Dr, Shreveport, LA, USA Shreveport, LA, USA Req #1990. So he convinced a local hoodlum in Mexico to try to kill Ghantt. 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. The Chambers, however, didnt fit in with the other members of the gated community. Sweat soaked David's uniform. White-collar criminals are pretty good at hiding their money, she said. Twenty-five years ago, a small group of rural North Carolinian amateur bank robbers pulled off the second-largest heist in American history. Loomis employees drive the very core of our business. 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. Steve solicited two others to help move cash during the theft. 27 febrero, 2023 . It affects everybody different. "I missed my family. Is he telling the truth? I flew from Atlanta to New Orleans. When he walked onto the plane, he was wearing big, tall cowboy boots, where hed stuffed a majority of the smuggled cash. In the two days after the robbery, agents interviewed more than 100 people, most connected with David. The initials on the money wrapper belonged to a Loomis employee who hadn't worked there since before the heist. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist. There are multiples of thousands of these things coming every year. 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. He learned to parachute. Some amateur thieves might turn to movies and TV shows for lessons on criminal behavior. 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. Like David, Kelly was frustrated with her marriage. Given the presence of the surveillance tapes and a gun belonging to Ghantt, they started with Ghantts phone and pager records and discovered a pattern they attributed to an accomplice. If you go from a mobile home to a mansion, that's going to attract attention. He was an old friend from East Gaston High School, tough and sure of himself. The plan to rob Loomis Fargo was spawned by Campbell and her friend Steve Chambers, during a casual bonfire at Chambers' home. It wouldn't work, Kelly told him. They stocked a wine cellar. 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. 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. If you want me to leave, Ill leave. Then, Ghantt went into another room. Working together, they got the gate open, then drove in a caravan to the Reynolds & Reynolds parking lot. 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. David was excited, jabbering about their future together. Key benefit components include: Health insurance plans. That sounds like a lot of money until its compared to the $18,930,201.26 the group was ordered to pay. Its kind of like that. This was in the 1990s the Columbia Airport back then was closed at around 9:30, 10 oclock. You might as well take it all, Ghantt tells me. Or does it sit in an offshore account, waiting for a prison sentence to end? About 200 keys dangled from it. His name was Corey. 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. Kelly drove her pickup to a lot across the street from the Loomis building, on Suttle Avenue in Charlotte. There was, however, one problem with his plan. Health savings account and flexible spending account. I've got a good woman.". We spoke to the FBI agents who investigated the case who say the real-life. Ghantt was already married when he took part in the heist, to a woman named Tammy who author Diamant described as very nice. It is true, however, that she had no idea about the plot and that he fled to Mexico without telling her. He'd stay up all night, boosted by coffee, waiting for the sunrise over the ocean. We need to set up some way for me to get my money. She said, We got it all worked out. And youre like, Come on parachute. They picked me, he says with a rueful tone. CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Kelly Campbell, the woman who helped plan the $17 million robbery of armored-car company Loomis, Fargo was sentenced yesterday to nearly six years in prison and ordered to pay back more than $4 million. Was Queen Charlotte Black? Nah, it was always about the money, he told the agents. He covers culture, politics, race, and other perplexing mysteries for MEL. Records show the government has garnished his Social Security checks. You see, there's a reason Loomis Fargo used armored cars to move large amounts of cash. . ". I'd probably change jobs. One thing about teammates, in David's view: You could always trust them. Steve had another conversation with Kelly about killing David. "I felt that if I didn't do something, I was going to snap," David said. CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS FROM 1998 and ACTORS IN MOVIE. Her husband gave her a brown teddy bear. Many of the lesser players in the conspiracy have been the most effective in paying their debts. I just had to call you., Today, Ghantt cant look back on the whole ordeal without some degree of pride. 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 . The audacity of the act was breathtaking. Theres less security. Steve told Scott to ignore the remaining stacks, which were mostly ones and fives. Ive never taken offense to anything like that, he tells me. 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. Were others involved? 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. Should David be killed after he gave them the money? Or that hed gotten lucky gambling. Did you get paid? And I think that makes it all the more funny, because it really offends my co-defendants. An Ohio police officer who shot and killed a Black man as he lay in bed in his home last summer is no longer on the force, Three Kansas City police officers who were shot while serving a search warrant have been released from the hospital, Officials say one passenger died when a business jet experienced severe turbulence, forcing a landing at Bradley International Airport in Connecticut. . She could walk under the trees, with the chickens and goats and dogs that live around her mobile home. It was his goodbye. "I said, 'Yeah, sure.' The robbery of some $17 million quickly became one of the wildest bank heists of the last quarter century. I missed my wife. 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. Then, I started loading the van., Money, when bound in bulk and stacked in canvas bags, is heavier than you might expect. 2022 marks the 25th anniversary of the year that everything happened 1997. LeVaughn Kelly Campbell (born July 23, 1980 in Atlanta, Georgia) is a former football wide receiver. Some family members hid money in bank deposit boxes, other friends were asked to mule cash to the Cayman Islands. Heres what happened on Sunday nights episode. Filming in the Asheville area starting in early July, and is. So the last third of the movie is almost entirely fiction. He was doing what the rest of us were doing making bad decisions. . They obviously werent trying to get it right they were putting together what they believe is a better story, said Diamant. 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. ", "Even then . He didn't want to abandon his parents. Soon, the couple would be paying for something else, too: a hitman. 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. Back then, it was one of the hotspots for hiding money. Ghantt planned to live off the interest for the rest of his life. Get to me. Its that kind of excitement.. "I wanted to be more like my mom and dad were.". Next month, Payne will back in the Charlotte federal courthouse, this time to be sentenced from weapons and methamphetamine trafficking charges. Youre supposed to get less time for cooperating, a lesser penalty, and instead, you see what she got hit with. Gronquist said. Eric watched. Besides her prison sentence, Campbell must undergo mental health and drug treatment and spend two years in a supervised release program. 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. "A lot of people out there had it worse than me, but . Copyright 2022 TheAssociated Press. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Steve now needed a hit man. . Ghantt:Since I still owe the federal government money I can't get paid. 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 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. Chambers went from a mobile home in Lincoln County to a mansion in Cramerton. 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.. All the while, Ghantt prepared himself for the task at hand. Soon thereafter, he met Kelly Campbell, a co-worker at Loomis Fargo. . Posted on . This real-life crime is the core of "Untitled Armored Car Project," which stars Zach Galifianakis, Owen Wilson and Kristen Wiig. While the agents initiated their investigation, the Chambers spent money as quickly as they could. . 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. Each week, Michele deposited thousands of dollars in cash. The next day, Kelly drove back to Steve's mobile home to watch the news with Steve and Michele. Here's what Floyd recalls: After two games of pool, Steve told him, "You know, we do a lot of gambling. "As soon as you start, you realize there's no going back," David recalled. It wasnt a big hit, but Ghantt, who was played by Galifianakis, gives it a rave review. Kelly drove her pickup to a lot across the street from the Loomis building, on Suttle Avenue in Charlotte. In the dark, Scott inserted one key into the back door slot. The figures can be astounding. Heres your money. Then he turns around and leaves., The problem was, it was nowhere near the amount Ghantt had expected: Im looking at it, and theres maybe $8,000. After a couple of weeks, Ghantt and the rest of the heist team were ready to strike. Campbell, a mother of two, was in the process of divorcing her. We got this guy named Bruno. 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) Ghantt:I've burned that bridge years ago. I really enjoyed the little scuba diving trip. Restitution is a familiar part of sentencing in federal court. More than half of the amount came from the seizure of a luxury home purchased by husband-and-wife defendants during their post-heist spending spree. . She also assured the teller her cash wasn't drug money. Question: You went to Mexico. Industry leading Training and Development. Ghantt:We're both North Carolina boys so we had a lot to talk about from the very beginning. There had been no signs. 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. 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. David thought about it. About 10 frantic minutes later, Scott found the right key. In real life: False. 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. I wanted to get as far away as I could. Chambers, who still lives in Gaston County and operates a gym, declined to comment. He rewarded Robert with $3,000 and vowed never to meet McKinney alone. "He said, 'Yeah, right,' and turned his head. 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. You cannot fine low-income people millions of dollars. Inside the Mazda, Steve told Scott Grant to get out and help David. The Loomis Fargo Bank Robbery was the $17.3 million cash robbery of the Charlotte, North Carolina, regional office vault of Loomis Fargo & Company on the evening of October 4, 1997, by armored car driver and vault supervisor David Scott Ghantt. Scary. They cursed. Agents found out where Ghantt was living because Chambers had put out a hit on him, foolishly believing Ghantt was the only person the FBI had fingered for the crime. 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. Hidden in it was a 3 1/2-carat diamond ring that cost $43,000. Basic and voluntary life insurance plan. . 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.". Thats where they feel comfortable., This piece of information would become critical to his getaway plan. It was an ear-biting, Pierce Brosnan-loving, comet-obsessed world, and were here to relive every minute of it. Based on a true story, the premise itself is fascinating, which makes Masterminds all the more a waste. This time, David told McKinney the truth. I wish them all a happy life and that's about it. 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. More than 20 people ended up in the FBI's dragnet. Still, she wasn't happy. Guller was the attorney for Steven Chambers, who came up with the original idea for the Loomis theft. Question: Are you happy that Wilkesboro-nativeZach Galifianakis plays you in the movie? Inside were, along with other personal items, his keys and wedding ring. The government does not run debtors prisons, says U.S. All I needed was a change of pace.". The next week, they heard Steve plan to send Mike McKinney to Mexico to kill David Ghantt. One of them tapped him on the back. He said every year he files his taxes and the IRS takes all of his tax return. Then Steve pushed Scott inside, and he began throwing plastic-wrapped bundles of tens, twenties, fifties and hundreds to Eric and Steve, who placed them in three blue 55-gallon barrels. I can take it.". On Monday, October 6th, the FBI agents who were investigating the robbery located the Loomis Fargo van abandoned in the woods. 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. As soon as Corey left, I pretended like I was leaving.

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