David got a kick out of her. If it didn't work out, he could return to the United States later with a new identity. Driving away, he said he felt a mix of fear, confidence and excitement that he outsmarted the FBI. 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. One number is working in Campbells favor. They hadn't slept together or even fooled around much, but he was ready to commit. He shut the empty vault and set its timer so the vault could not be opened for two or three days. EDITORIAL: Computer Science misses the need for digital literacy, N. Carolina legislators announce Medicaid expansion deal, EDITORIAL: Fighting political forces that sever family ties, Special-use to get overhaul: Commissioners, planners take a look, Cape Carteret seeking new police chief one month after hiring New Bern resident for post, How many in North Carolina are awaiting student loan debt relief? This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. Javascript is not enabled in your browser. There are many robberies registered in the history of America, but the Loomis Fargo Robbery is known to be the second largest robbery in the United States. In all, agents arrested 24 people in the heist. Uh-oh, it looks like your Internet Explorer is out of date. CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) During one overnight shift, a bumbling conspiracy of thieves just west of Charlotte stole more than $17 million from Loomis Fargo. Soon thereafter, he met Kelly Campbell, a co-worker at Loomis Fargo. That first day in prison was scary, Ghantt said. She was five-foot-seven, had dirty-blond hair, and had worked with him for about a year at Loomis Fargo, until she left for another job in 1996. "But you can still have a cigarette.". 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. LeVaughn Kelly Campbell (born July 23, 1980 in Atlanta, Georgia) is a former football wide receiver. Michelle Chambers received a few more months than Ghantt, because she had violated several bond conditions. By then, the FBI had become greatly concerned for Ghantts personal safety; they had learned of Chambersmurder for hirescheme. 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. We are happy to work with other website publishers. Afterward, she and David would talk just occasionally on the phone. Fourteen defendants were ordered to make restitution payments to Loomis Fargo totaling almost $19 million. Of course the problem was, the money belonged to someone else. 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Marine Fisheries Commission advocates for water quality, North Carolina the only state allowing unnecessary killing of sea turtles, 'Pagan' bike gang leader in N. Carolina sentenced to prison, Deputy cleared in shooting death of Gloucester woman, Beaufort amends charter to allow four-year mayoral term. "I don't have time to mess with you. Hed never really been in trouble, he wasnt a career criminal, said retired FBI agent John Wydra. By using this website, you accept the terms of our Visitor Agreement and Privacy Policy, and understand your options regarding Ad Choices. All of the primary players got fined millions of dollars --for example, Kelly Campbell was hit with more than $4 million, an amount that she will never come close to paying. As an adult, he preferred Shakespeare, Tom Clancy, and any book he could find about the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Have a youtube channel or website similar? Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. Their only intimate physical contact had been kissing on a mid-September night when they had driven her pickup truck to a field behind a shooting range in Gaston County to discuss their plans and the theft's chance of success. 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. Each cart, holding about $2 million, was taking David seven or eight minutes to stack, push, and empty into the van, and there were about eight cartloads' worth in the vault. He has been a staff writer for the Star-Ledger in New Jersey since 2000. That movie, Masterminds, was filmed in 2014. Campbell was another employee at Loomis Fargo and she and Ghantt quickly struck up a relationship, one that Campbell denies was ever romantic though FBI evidence says otherwise, and one that continued after she left the company. 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. After hanging up on her, David returned to work. sole discretion of the site administrators and repeat offenders may The biggest restitution numbers for victims of financial crimes generally involve Ponzi schemes or sweepstakes fraud, not cash thefts. He ejected the two VCR tapes that he knew had recorded him stealing the money, took them, and prepared to leave. (John D. Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP). The trainee didn't know to check to make sure it was closed. Now one of the most wanted men in America with the FBI hot on his heels, Ghantt must figure out how to get his money, get away from a hit man, and get even. He was signed by the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 2002. The bigger the amount, however, the bigger the damages to victims that likely will never be repaid: Amy Paynes collection account was closed in 2020 with her having paid $53,000 of the $274,000 she owed. "I'll need help moving the money, getting a new ID, and leaving the country," he told her. He played high school football at Mays High School in Atlanta, and college football at Georgia Tech . Steve began talking about wiring money to overseas accounts, and even purchasing a nightclub. The strange story of Mary Reeser Spontaneous Human Combustion. 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. Its a once-in-a-lifetime thing, and I went down and talked to them, got to meet Zach Galifianakis and the director, Ghantt said. Holding her hands behind her back, Michele Chambers was sentenced Tuesday to seven years and eight months in prison for her role in the $17 million heist from Loomis, Fargo & Co. She was also. Getting that off his chest calmed him some, and the conversation returned to the plan. But with Kelly's new idea on the table, several dark realities converged on him. Paying the money back has taken a lot longer, and time is running out for the U.S. government to collect. Another time, the day after a Christmas in the late 1980s, David and some friends planted all the discarded Christmas trees from the area in one neighbor's front yard. The money weighed as much as a compact car and he did it all by himself. Working by himself, Ghantt would commit the robbery and then flee for Mexico, leaving the bulk of the cash with Chambers. He hired a hitman to take Ghantt out, tying up the ultimate loose end. Burks was also ordered to serve 15 years in prison, limiting his ability to balance his books. 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. He is a graduate of Yale and has worked for the Connecticut Post, the Associated Press, and the Palm Beach Post. In David's eyes, Johnson's big mistake was that he did it alone. Also charged with money laundering were innocent relatives and friends who had co-signed safe deposit boxes. In 2017, for example, Paul Burks of Lexington was ordered to pay $244 million to the victims of his worldwide Ponzi scheme, Zeek Rewards. That way, outsiders couldn't see money being loaded. Inside $3.3 million was located along with the two stolen surveillance tapes, apparently left due to the robber and his accomplices being sloppy, or in a hurry. In one case, the restitution for a Loomis defendant may be a moving target. From my standpoint, it was just a business deal, Ghantt said. There was a book published in 2002 as well, by author Jeff Diamant called,Heist! Ghantt reported to Chambers that his supply of money was running low, but Chambers sent Ghantt just $8,000. Once they were in custody, the overwhelming task of clearing out possessions possibly purchased with the stolen money began. For the defendants in the Loomis Fargo heist, its allure was irresistible. The bizarre true story of the criminals behind the second-largest bank heist in American history. Federal law stops government collection efforts 20 years after a defendant leaves prison. There are multiples of thousands of these things coming every year. But what the bank didnt tell Michelle, and Michelle didnt know, was that one of those forms get filled out if you ask about it, or if its close to $10,000 or if they suspect that any part of that transaction is suspicious, Wydra said. The old man me would never survive that, Id have a heart attack.. Learn about careers at Cox Media Group. I ride motorcycles and fish -- normal guy, Ghantt told Counts. Her case closes in 2025. uncanny, eerie, unnatural, preternatural, supernatural, unearthly, other-worldly, unreal, ghostly, mysterious, mystifying, strange, abnormal, unusual. The woman on the phone was Kelly Jane Campbell, and David had a mad crush on her. All of the defendants are out of prison -- the longest sentence was 11 years. Some of that money is just gone. He waffled on the heist idea three or four times from late August to mid-September. In Gastonia, David would run into high-school classmates who had never struck him as especially smart. A third surveillance tape was carelessly left behind, and the company was able to identify the man who robbed the vault as David Ghantt. "Everything's gonna be all right," she told him. He'd already done enough, he realized, to get himself fired and arrested, even if the gate prevented him from moving the money outside the building. In the movie: Campbell invites Ghantt to a restaurant under the auspices of a date, but then springs the idea of the heist on him, as Chambers and two associates join the conversation from an . Thats pretty standard in restitution matters. Campbell used to work for Loomis and continued the friendship with Ghantt, eventually hooking him up with Chambers. But he wasn't finished. I gotta go.". On Oct. 5, the Loomis heist celebrates its 25th birthday. Chambers would then occasionally wire Ghantt money and see to his basic financial needs; when the heat was off, Ghantt was to re-enter the U.S. and the money would be split up among all of the co-conspirators. These (Loomis) guys, not so much.. He added that money can be a motivator for anyone. He loves his motorcycle and enjoys going fishing and, while hes sorry for the past, hes not ashamed to talk about it. Learning from this error, David planned to leave the stolen money behind with his coconspirators while he fled to Mexico. You should definitely start your own blog, I highly recommend it. He couldn't understand the gap, why he wasn't more successful, why he couldn't at least match the financial stability of his father, who earned a comfortable salary driving a truck. 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. Now, at 7:45 p.m., with all the money finally inside the van, his aching muscles could take a breather. Sunny. He and Tammy could have one or two meals each week that he really liked, but the rest were hot dogs or Hamburger Helper. How many people have walked the red carpet at a movie premiere in a case that was yours?. Paying the money back has taken a lot longer, and time is running out for the U.S. government to collect. Kelly Campbell, who one day visited a Toyota dealership to purchase a minivan with twenty-dollar bills. Former Loomis employee David Scott Ghantt is accused of stealing the money. He says the Loomis case shows how the criminal justice system and the courts treat lower-income people differently. Ghantt said he believes in redemption, and that his mistake 25 years ago brought him all the things that are important in his life today. Available on Compatible NOOK Devices and the free NOOK Apps. NASCAR. "For the first year after a crime," he told her, "they're all over you, with six to ten agents. Kristen Wiig plays Kelly, who really wasn't that into David, but convinced him to take a fortune from Loomis Fargo in the fall of '97. The property has changed hands several times since then. ", "I don't need any more friends," she'd shot back. The building was configured so vans could drive inside and pull up next to the vault. But this time on the phone, Kelly wasn't joking. Growing up, David's family went to Disney World, sent him to religious school, and shopped at places he couldn't afford as a self-supporting adult. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. At about 6:40 p.m., he went back inside. The government does not run debtors prisons, says U.S. The unsolved crime mystery of Marilyn Sheppard. The unfairness gnawed at him, stirred by Kelly's questions. First, they tapped the Chambers phone, and began listening in on February 11th, 1998. The site features a collection of unexplained, strange and odd mysteries. Now and again I run into blog posts that tends to make me want to get started on bloggin myself. Since then, there have been numerous articles, books, documentaries and even a movie about this gang -- the gang that couldnt shoot straight. 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. He tried again to make the back gate rise, to no avail. Growing up, David had been a nice kid, a decent student who was at worst a minor troublemaker and prankster. In 2017, for example, Paul Burks of Lexington was ordered to pay $244 million to the victims of his worldwide Ponzi scheme, Zeek Rewards. Heist! Sun, sand and beaches are all part of why Jacksonville is a popular destination. "I've got a friend," she said, "who can hook you up with a new ID.". Although the FBI investigation was able to quickly connect Ghantt to Campbell, connecting Ghantt to Chambers was a more difficult task. These (Loomis) guys, not so much.. David Ghantt (Zach Galifianakis), an employee of Loomis Fargo, robbed his own vault, left the $17.3 million in cash with his co-conspirators, Kelly Campbell (Kristen Wiig) and Steve Chambers (Owen Wilson) and fled the country to Mexico. An additional tip reached the FBI when Michelle Chambers made a large deposit at a bank. The supervisor liked him and gave him the job. All but one took plea deals, including Ghantt, who was sentenced to seven years in prison. Thank you! Butcher says the federal courts in the Western District of North Carolina have never handled a case quite like Loomis. The gang made numerous mistakes. Not all of them, but some of them are going to forgive you, theyre going to overlook it., he said. He hired a hitman to take Ghantt out, tying up the ultimate loose end. And if that gives people out there a little bit of hope, then Ive served my purpose on this earth.. When Ghantt called Campbell however, the FBI was able to track his location, and arrested him with the help of the Mexican police onMarch 1, 1998. Twenty people were convicted of roles big and small in the massive 1997 armored-car warehouse heist in west Charlotte. OWLS director fired in wake of new board taking over, New rules will require flood history disclosure in real estate, North Carolina recreational spring flounder season canceled for 2023, Supreme Court seems ready to sink student loan forgiveness, Beach commission gets update on search for new sources of sand for beach nourishment. A connection between each suspect began to emerge slowly, and as the intensity of spending grew, suspicion did as well. Most people are going to forgive you. Many of the lesser players in the conspiracy have been the most effective in paying their debts. "Just think about it," she said. The defendants received sentences ranging from probation for several relatives to over 11 years in federal prison for Steve Chambers. Winds light and variable. She sounded incredulous. Cool interesting stuff features everything odd, weird, bizzare, strange or unusual. One day, the two employees were in the break room and got to talking about the news of the day a massive bank heist that just occurred in Florida by someone at their company. David and Steve had never met, but Steve had already secured somebody else's birth certificate and social security card for him and given it to Kelly to pass along. https://www.charlotteagenda.com/67457/loomis-fargo-heist-masterminds-movie/, http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/state/article104506876.html, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_1997_Loomis_Fargo_robbery#Company, http://retroclt.blogspot.com/2014/07/loomis-fargo-heist.html, . I think if you remember some of her early photographic opportunities, shall we put it that way, she was sort of laughing, not seeming to take it seriously.. Restitution is a familiar part of sentencing in federal court. As beads of sweat formed under his red hair, he loaded up another cart and repeated the process. 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. He put on his best pair of jeans, a button-down shirt, and his nicest cowboy boots. LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Is this really about the needs of the poor? Many of the lesser players in the conspiracy have been the most effective in paying their debts. As a child, he had preferred reading to playing sports, and he would say, as an adult, that although he couldn't have told you "who was on first," he knew as a kid who the Egyptian god of the dead was.

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