His eyes widened and he stopped breathing as he realized that something as mundane as a malfunctioning gate might ruin their entire plan. She'd left Loomis in November 1996 to take a job elsewhere as a security guard. The Star-Ledger, 06/15/2015On October 4, 1997, an amateurish gang robbed Loomis, Fargo & Co. in Charlotte, NC of $17 million, the second largest heist in U.S. history. They kept several furnishings from the previous owners, including avelvet Elvis. - 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. 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. Many of the lesser players in the conspiracy have been the most effective in paying their debts. She had attitude. sole discretion of the site administrators and repeat offenders may Loomis Fargo heist: 25 years later While David Ghantt trusted Steve Chambers enough to leave his cut behind, Chambers had other plans. Sunny. But with Kelly's new idea on the table, several dark realities converged on him. For example, Steve Chambers and his wife were living in a trailer and upgraded to what would today be a multi-million-dollar mansion at Cramer Mountain. 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 . These (Loomis) guys, not so much.. them. Except for the kiss in the pickup truck a few weeks before the heist, Kelly had kept things platonic. He would then have the bulk of his share sent south of the border. 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. Twenty years ago this Wednesday, a small group of people stole $17 million in cash from the main vault of a Loomis Fargo & Co. armored-car warehouse in west Charlotte. They hadn't slept together or even fooled around much, but he was ready to commit. A woman by the name of Kelly Campbell had worked there in 1996, and she and Ghantt had become friends in that time. Thats pretty standard in restitution matters. [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]. So the pieces were falling into place for investigators. Next month, Payne will back in the Charlotte federal courthouse, this time to be sentenced from weapons and methamphetamine trafficking charges. The money weighed as much as a compact car and he did it all by himself. He even had to watch what he bought at the grocery store. Perry identified the other six people arrested as Steve and Michelle Chambers; Kelly Jane Campbell, a former Loomis employee; Michael L. McKinney; Thomas Nathan Grant; and Eric Haley Payne.. Heist! 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. 12) Loomis Fargo heist- The aftermath Ultimately, eight co-conspirators were indicted for the Loomis Fargo bank heist. You cannot fine low-income people millions of dollars. One number is working in Campbells favor. 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. David got a kick out of her. Conversations about stealing from the company weren't rare for Loomis employees. The same applies to trolling, the use of multiple aliases, or Well they were in some sense celebrities, Gronquist said. That was the thing that sticks in my mind to this day.. The Loomis Fargo heist: 25 years later We went on a mission to calculate exactly how much size-wise the money was, $11.3 million in $20 bills, and it weighed over 2,000 pounds, former FBI agent John Wydra said. His collection case closes in two years. Investigators considered Ghantt to be the prime suspect almost from the beginning. If we can sit on the money for a year, maybe two, it could work.". Human nature is a flexible part of life, Gronquist said. Criminals dont usually get high-paying jobs after leaving prison. He ejected the two VCR tapes that he knew had recorded him stealing the money, took them, and prepared to leave. Theres no way to get it back,, And with Loomis, were looking at only one case. - 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. He knew they were nervous outside waiting for him, but he also knew he wouldn't stop stealing until he had taken everything. NASCAR. But after one visit, she asked a teller How much can I deposit before you have to report it to the feds? followed by Dont worry, it is notdrug money, the bank filled out asuspicious activity report, which ultimately reached the FBI. La vie de David Ghantt n'a rien de compliqu. Expanded two-hour true crime story about the 1997 Loomis-Fargo armored car heist in North Carolina and the serio-comic fate of its bumbling underdog perpetra. About the worst he had done as a teenager was stealing a construction company's Porta-Jon with a friend, tying it to the back of a pickup truck, and driving around for about fifteen minutes. be blocked or permanently banned without warning. LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Is this really about the needs of the poor? The biggest restitution numbers for victims of financial crimes generally involve Ponzi schemes or sweepstakes fraud, not cash thefts. In David's eyes, Johnson's big mistake was that he did it alone. In 1994, they moved to Gastonia, North Carolina, where they had grown up, and David took a job driving a forklift. 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. From my standpoint, it was just a business deal, Ghantt said. David was thin six-foot-one, one hundred sixty-five pounds and heaving the stacks onto the cart, pushing the cart toward the vault door, and then emptying its contents into the van was exhausting. It has a certain feel, a smell and weight to it. Then, keeping with the plan, Ghantt took $50,000 (the maximum that could be taken across the border by law without further authorization) with him and left for Mexico, winding up at the popularYucatan Peninsularesort ofCozumel. 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. Have a youtube channel or website similar? He and his wife, Michele, moved from theirmobile homeinLincoln Countyto a luxury house in the wealthy Cramer Mountain section ofCramerton. On Oct. 5, the Loomis heist celebrates its 25th birthday. In his youth, his mother had taken him to Sears and JCPenney, but as a man he shopped at Walmart, and while he knew there was nothing wrong with that, he wished he could afford more. David knew this was important from having followed the recent news about a Florida man who had brazenly committed the biggest heist from an armored-car company in United States history, a loner named Philip Noel Johnson, who also had worked for Loomis. All but one of the 24 defendants pleaded guilty, and the one who didnt take the deal was convicted. Loomis, Fargo offered a $500,000 reward for his arrest and conviction. 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. Worlds Biggest Heists London Hatton Garden 200m Diamond Robbery, Easter 2015. The reason David didn't know Steve's last name was so they couldn't identify each other to the police or FBI, should cops or G-men ever enter the picture. She will never get beyond the debt. To visit friends.". Its in the ether. By then, the FBI had become greatly concerned for Ghantts personal safety; they had learned of Chambersmurder for hirescheme. Javascript is not enabled in your browser. In preparation for what lay ahead, David had backed an unmarked company Ford Econoline van near the vault entrance and opened the van's back door. At that point, Kelly and David had known each other for two years. He hired a hitman to take Ghantt out, tying up the ultimate loose end. 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. 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. Its attracted workers like Ghantt. In the end, the FBI was able to capture the original gang in five months, snaring 21 individuals for their participation in the crime. It was David who was hours away from committing the most daring act of his life, and she was going off about Steve being a serious guy? 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. Guller was the attorney for Steven Chambers, who came up with the original idea for the Loomis theft. I was relieved emotionally because I knew there was a good chance my luck might run out, Ghantt said. Ghantt was the vault manager and was surrounded. 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. Afterward, she and David would talk just occasionally on the phone. He had stayed in a luxury hotel and paid for expensive food and activities such asscuba divingandparasailing. "What would it take to make you do it?". Available on Compatible NOOK Devices and the free NOOK Apps. Learn about careers at Cox Media Group. 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) The plan was to maintain a low profile and wait for things to cool off, allowing Ghantt to return to the states and collect his cut. That sounds like a lot of money until its compared to the $18,930,201.26 the group was ordered to pay. Later, they also arrested Nathans older brother. The gang made numerous mistakes. Steve had hired a bodyguard named Mike McKinney. "Just remind Steve," he said, "that I might be trouble my own self." And after two years, the case is just a file. Campbell led Ghantt to think she loved him and they would flee to Mexico together, but she actually wanted to make a better life for herself in the U.S. With the plan in place, Ghantt sent a newly hired employee he had been assigned to train home early (reportedly, at 6 p.m.) and then proceeded to load a little more than $17.3 million in cash (approximately $11 million of which was in$20 bills) into the back of a company van. It all went down in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the man at the center of that heist, David Scott Ghantt, now lives in Jacksonville. Some of that money is just gone. If we work together, we can all have plenty of pie.. He also stole both existing sets of vault keys and hurried into the manager's office, where three TV security screens and two VCRs were visible. In Reservoir Dogs, released just five years earlier, the pawns in a robbery knew each other only by assigned colors: Mr. She sounded incredulous. One number is working in Campbells favor. Spunk. David's vision for all of this actually derived more from books than from movies. Since then, there have been numerous articles, books, documentaries and even a movie about this gang -- the gang that couldnt shoot straight. 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. she asked again. Despite being caught on camera wheeling the money from the vault to the getaway van, David Ghantt makes off to Mexico before the FBI can blink. Steve was a serious guy? The trainee didn't yet know how the place worked, a fact David planned to use to his advantage. It took me going to prison to realize I was a bag of worms, and it took me years of work to be somebody worthy to come back into our society, he said. 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. 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. 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. Over 88% of the money has been recovered since the heist. Campbell, a mother of two, was in the process of divorcing 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. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. If it didn't work out, he could return to the United States later with a new identity. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. He said at first, they were very proud of what they had been able to do. 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. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. And with Loomis, were looking at only one case. 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. Action News Jax facebook feed(Opens a new window), Action News Jax twitter feed(Opens a new window), Action News Jax youtube feed(Opens a new window), JSO K9 escapes kennel, bites three people in Jacksonville neighborhood, To know Nancy was to love Nancy: St. Johns County woman killed in suspected DUI crash, JSO says missing child alert results in deadly drowning, Senator proposes bill giving state emergency jurisdiction over custody of kids with trans parents, Florida woman accused of killing terminally ill husband released from jail. I dont know if Steve would have done it himself, but he definitely was capable of buying someone to do it for him and I think that was going to happen if we didnt step in and arrest Ghantt, Wydra said. Getting restitution, its like pulling teeth., White-collar criminals are pretty good at hiding their money,, Youre supposed to get less time for cooperating, a lesser penalty, and instead, you see what she got hit with., She will never get beyond the debt. White-collar criminals are pretty good at hiding their money, she said. As it neared its end, David stealthily left the vault door ajar. She had attitude. So the original gang was all totally shocked, Wydra said. Ghantt didnt know the full extent of what was happening back home -- how that lay low plan turned into a flurry of extravagant spending. He and Tammy could have one or two meals each week that he really liked, but the rest were hot dogs or Hamburger Helper. Its in the ether. What that says is, We will never forgive you for what youve done. contact us to submit an unexplained mystery article, or to join the team on the email address below. The phone calls began to get more intense when Steve and Eric got suspicious of a man who was running hismouth about them and the vault job over in Charlotte.