followed by "Don't worry, it is not drug money," the bank filled out a suspicious activity report, which ultimately reached the FBI. It was an ear-biting, Pierce Brosnan-loving, comet-obsessed world, and were here to relive every minute of it. Ghantt pulled out $50,000 from the back of the unmarked Loomis Fargo van. Ghantt was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison, though he was released on parole after five. Less than a month later, the family moved from a double-wide to a 7,000-square-foot, $635,000 home in a gated country club community in Gaston County. Ghantts accomplices soon showed up but now they had another problem. He covers culture, politics, race, and other perplexing mysteries for MEL. This page was last edited on 7 January 2023, at 02:50. By the time the month concluded, the couple had purchased a 7,000-square-foot stone mansion in a gated country club community. On similar grounds, four other people were ultimately also charged with money laundering. The FBI was also surveilling Kelly Campbell and followed her to a pay phone that she used to place calls to Mexico. Next month, Payne will back in the Charlotte federal courthouse, this time to be sentenced from weapons and methamphetamine trafficking charges. As it turns out, the heist did in fact go as well as you might expect. The details of the heist itself, coupled with the missteps the crew made after stealing the money, attracted the attention of writers and movie producers. They would then load as much cash as they could carry into a van. We were two paychecks away from being homeless at any given time.. So Im like, Can you get a move on with my money? After a couple of weeks passed, I get a phone call from Kelly: Okay, Brunos coming to you, blah, blah, blah. So I get a phone call from this guy, and I tell him where to meet me. Twenty people were convicted of roles big and small in the massive 1997 armored-car warehouse heist in west Charlotte. So with the assistance of a co-worker and possible love interest as well as a small-time criminal, David Ghantt pulled off the then-second-largest cash heist in U.S. history. 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. There was one problem: he forgot to remove the tape from the third security camera. Hes very articulate. Hello, federal suspicious activity report. Thirteen friends and family members were also charged with money laundering, as they had helped Ghantt, Chambers, Campbell, and the others deposit money illegally. She wondered how much she could deposit without attracting the attention of the FBI, so she decided to just ask the teller: How much can I deposit before you have to report it to the feds? she asked. The money was successfully handed off, and Ghantt and Campbellmade their way to the Columbia airport with $50,000 and an intent to make it to Mexico by the next day, where the two would hide out while Chambers took care of things in Charlotte until it was safe to come back. Or as he tells me, How many people in the United States havent thought about robbing a bank? Speaking of his co-defendants, Ghantt says hes not currently in contact with any of them. Chambers wife, Michelle, bought a minivan in cash and began taking frequent trips to the bank to make deposits. An inept hitman was sent to kill David Ghantt. The pal part is true: The real amateur killer Chambers sent couldnt pull off the crime after traveling to Mexico. We spoke with the inside man, David Ghantt, to get the real story. Thats pretty standard in restitution matters. Down in Jacksonville, a Loomis Fargo employee took $18 million from an armored van he was driving. Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. David Ghantt was a nuisance to Steve Chambers and Kelly Campbell, John Wydra, a retired FBI agent who handled the case, told Super Heists.. 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. On Oct. 5, the Loomis heist celebrates its 25th birthday. In August 1997, Campbell informed Ghantt of an old high school friend of hers, Steve Chambers, who could assist Ghantt in executing a massive cash robbery of the Loomis Fargo vault in one night. 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. The two struck up a friendship during work that would continue after Campbell left the company. And drastic it was. Chambers and his wife also made some cash payments on a few cars. 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. Loomis Fargo employee David Ghantt and his partners nearly pulled off the perfect crime, but it would be their lavish spending, and an alleged murder plot, that would be their undoing. And so, he told her, Google my name. WebHolding 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 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. Because lets be brutally honest: Theyre not wrong, okay? Where I was going was right there near the Cayman Islands. 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. WebAydin Properties > Uncategorized > real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist. David Ghantt had been a model employee for an armored car company before pulling off Cool, I say. Hed be in contact. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! First, in January, he tried to get someone to take some millions down to Mexico. And I was thinking about just showing up there. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! But it wasnt. In the wee hours of the morning, Chambers and the Erics drove back to the town of Vale, North Carolina, and holed up in a double-wide trailer while counting their cash. 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. They picked me, he says with a rueful tone. Charlotte Magazine even ran a feature story about the Loomis Fargo heist with the title, White Trash Crime. The headlines, however, never bothered Ghantt. Who was the FBI agent in the movie Masterminds? Truth be told, Ghantt had something of a crush on Campbell, and so, he told her exactly how hed pull off such a heist. On the night of October 4, the plan went into action. Tags: Associated Press, courts, crime, North Carolina. Outside the building, Ghantt met up with Campbell, Chambers, and others who were involved in the plot, and drove off to a printing business called Reynolds & Reynolds in northwest Charlotte. These days, the 52-year-old husband and father lives in Jacksonville, Florida, where he works at a heavy equipment rental agency. His partners, who planned to stay behind, agreed to send him his full cut of the money after the heat from investigators had died down. In the meantime, Ghantts wife reported him missing and the CMPD had found his truck in the parking lot of Loomis Fargo. wydd radio pittsburgh; dumb military bases I was just going to get the money into the van. There are two ideas as to how the plan was created. It happened on October 4, a Saturday. The conversations werent made up of much more than daydreams that took the vague shape of plansuntilCampbell mentioned that she had a high school friend with connections that could actually get it done. Getting restitution, its like pulling teeth.. But thanks in part to the film, the outlandish story of David Ghannt and the Loomis Fargo heist will surely live on for years to come. The figures can be astounding. Ive never taken offense to anything like that, he tells me. Even still, he was 27, married and struggling to provide for his family. I felt cornered and one day the joking in the break room about robbing the place suddenly didnt seem so far-fetched.. 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. Stay informed daily on the latest news and advice on COVID-19 from the editors at U.S. News & World Report. WebNo products in the cart. The pair began to daydream about whether they could really pull off the heist. But it was the rural, Southern backgrounds of many of the key players, along with the many botched twists and bungled turns, that led the media to dub it the hillbilly heist.. WebThis real-life . Before he left, he went into his managers office and removed tapes from two of the security cameras. In spite of Chambers assurance that the money was, you know, totally not illegally acquired, the teller remained suspicious, especially because the stacks of cash still had Loomis Fargo wrappers on them. He hadnt checked ahead of time if the airport had any available flights, let alone if it would even be open. WebAydin Properties > Uncategorized > real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist. Our new student and parent forum, at ExpertHub.PrepScholar.com, allow you to interact with your peers and the PrepScholar staff. Michele Chambers 1998 BMW for sale following the prosecutions of the Loomis Fargo heist conspirators. Ghantt worked at Loomis Fargos regional office vault in Charlotte. Chambers and his wife Michele moved out of a trailer and into a luxury mansion in a nice neighborhood. His new life in Mexico had begun. the Loomis heist celebrates its 25th birthday. Michelle, meanwhile, purchased new breasts for herself, along with a $43,000 diamond ring and a new convertible BMW Z3. To that end, Campbell brought in her childhood friend Steve Chambers, who was characterized in the local press as a small-time drug dealer and a local fence for stolen goods, to lead the team. Campbell was receptive and brought the idea up to Ghantt. WebCampbell made her way back to Charlotte (Ghantt was told by Chambers to head to Atlanta and catch a flight from there), where the money had since been moved into barrels and Chambers had no intention of following those rules, believing the FBI would never connect him to Ghantt. Some of the friends and family members received parole, while Ghantt was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison. A Comprehensive Guide. Robbing the 7-Eleven and getting $40 bucks and a pack of Marlboros was not for me. Get all your true crime news from Oxygen. 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.. Twenty-one people were charged and convicted in the robbery, one of the biggest heists in U.S. history. 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. Ghantt believed the new employee would make a good replacement for his wife, but the feelings were not necessarily reciprocated. While Ghantt waited for the heat from the robbery to die down, Chambers would send Ghantt small amounts of money. For her part, Kelly Campbell spent six years in federal prison. Also charged were several innocent relatives that the robbers had enlisted to help get safety deposit boxes in various banks. David Ghantt was portrayed by Zackary Hatfield. I knew that the news wouldnt break until later that morning. His name was Corey. 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. Soon thereafter, he met Kelly Campbell, a co-worker at Loomis Fargo. We spoke to the FBI agents who investigated the case who say the real-life masterminds couldnt contain their spending-spree. From going fishing to riding horses on the beach the whole nine yards. As soon as you put that first bag of stolen money in that van, theres no going back. Michelle Chambers received seven years and eight months, while Steve Chambers was handed an 11-year sentence. Who pulled off the biggest heist in history? More than 95% of the cash that stolen was accounted for. 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. Investigators considered Ghantt to be the prime suspect almost from the beginning. Its kind of out of sight, out of mind, she said of the reasoning. Jim Gronquist, Campbells defense attorney during the Loomis case, says the financial penalties levied against his client and her co-defendants are grossly excessive and unjust, particularly since most of the stolen Loomis money was actually recovered. The government does not run debtors prisons, says U.S. But as soon as he drove off, I went right back in and opened the vault. By then Id figured out that Bruno was up to no good, and that Id probably never seen any more of my money. Three weeks later, the couple purchased, in cash, a $635,000 stone mansion. Then check out another bank robber who inspired a movie, John Wojtowicz. And I think that makes it all the more funny, because it really offends my co-defendants. Without question, 1997's Loomis Fargo robbery has a home in it. She was like, Well, at least you had guts, he says. Records show the government has garnished his Social Security checks. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. One of the best ways to learn more about U.S. history is to make sure youre taking history classes. That was pretty awesome., It felt like a dream vacation until he started running out of money. The Chambers, however, didnt fit in with the other members of the gated community. Inside were, along with other personal items, his keys and wedding ring. Clerk of Court Frank Johns of Charlotte. Their combined salaries were less than $42,000. There was, however, one problem with his plan. He was also married. And when everybody else voted to kill me, she voted with them, he explains. Steve bought a truck, a Rolex and a motorboat. And with Loomis, were looking at only one case. The thieves had simply abandoned whatever they couldnt carry away. They planned to kill a man named David Ghantt, the guy who had made their extravagant new lifestyle a reality. The College Entrance Examination BoardTM does not endorse, nor is it affiliated in any way with the owner or any content of this site. Just head on out. And so, he did. 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. Ask questions; get answers. Instead, the bandits just started throwing as much money as they could into the van until they couldnt fit anymore. Ghantt and his compatriots, it turns out, had underestimated how bulky money is. 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.. One number is working in Campbells favor. Some amateur thieves might turn to movies and TV shows for lessons on criminal behavior. See how other students and parents are navigating high school, college, and the college admissions process. Ask below and we'll reply! Ghantt, meanwhile, was losing his patience and starting to make threats. ", After successfully tracing Ghantt's phone call, FBI agents coordinated with Mexican police to arrest Ghantt on March 1, 1998, at Playa del Carmen, a city near Cancun. There used to be a consulate in Cancun. I loved it. Two more defendants in the $17 million Loomis Fargo & Co. robbery last year have agreed to plead guilty, Steven Chambers and Kelly Jane Campbell, also are charged with plotting to kill Ghantt. Meanwhile, Ghantt would take $50,000, as much as could legally be carried across the border without questions, and flee to Mexico. Bubbling under the surface, however, was a deep frustration at the way he was treated. I knew that if I did something like that, I would take a huge amount of money, Ghantt said of the brash robbery on an upcoming episode of CNBCs Super Heists, airing Monday at 10 p.m. Ghantt, a U.S. Army veteran, was living a relatively boring life working as the vault superintendent at a Loomis Fargo armored car warehouse just outside Charlotte, North Carolina making a relatively meager paycheck, when he crossed paths with Kelly Campbell. After years of reflection and time in prison to work on himself, Ghantt was able to find a way to a better version of himself. ];David Scott Ghanntt [Misc.] Campbell helped plot the robbery of Loomis Charlotte vault on Oct. 4, 1997, with David Ghantt, a Loomis supervisor who stole the money, and Steve Chambers, a longtime Campbell friend. Kelly Campbell, 29, a former company employee, entered guilty pleas earlier to bank larceny, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder charges. The two struck up a friendship during work that would continue after Campbell left the 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 move bought him a little extra time to make his escape. Some of that money is just gone. See all of the stories here. It wasnt a big hit, but Ghantt, who was played by Galifianakis, gives it a rave review. They loaded the wine cellar with Pabst Blue Ribbon, and Steve hung a velvet portrait of Elvis Presley in the basement. So it was weird when during the middle of the week, there were these very clean-cut, very Midwestern looking, obviously American guys in the town. The Dunbar Armored robbery The next day, the Chambers, Campbell and other members of the ring were arrested. According to Butcher, Campbells last official payment came in June 2021 when the government appears to have seized a tax refund of $81.24. From there, hed meet Campbell, Chambers and Grant, a friend of Chambers, in a parking lot, from where they would head to an industrial warehouse and load all but $50,000 into a rental van. 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. That sounds like a lot of money until its compared to the $18,930,201.26 the group was ordered to pay. Soon, the couple would be paying for something else, too: a hitman. Ghantt, his former co-worker Kelly Campbell and her friends Steve and Michelle Chambers carried out the Loomis Fargo heist on Oct. 4, 1997. They had initially agreed to control their spending for a year or two, in the belief that the government would vigorously track the spending habits of any and all suspects for at least a year before relenting. 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. WebThe Loomis Fargo Bank Robbery was a robbery of $17.3 million in cash from the Charlotte, North Carolina, regional office vault of Loomis, Fargo & Co. on the evening of October 4, On Monday, October 6th, the FBI agents who were investigating the robbery located the Loomis Fargo van abandoned in the woods. The next day, Steve and Michelle Chambers, Kelly Campbell, and four others were arrested.[6]. The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 160+ SAT Points, How to Get a Perfect 1600, by a Perfect Scorer, Free Complete Official SAT Practice Tests. And youre like, Come on parachute. Theres less security. Not Ghantt. Having only brought $50,000 in cash, however, Ghantt soon found himself short on funds. Ghantt was caught on videotape loading large amounts of cash into a truck. Bank name Loomis, Fargo & Co. on the evening of October 4, 1997, by vault supervisor David Scott Ghantt, his married girlfriend Kelly Campbell (a former Loomis co-worker), Steve Chambers, his wife Michelle Chambers, Michael Gobbies and four other co-conspirators. My name down to Mexico go as well as you might expect high school,,. Best ways to learn more about U.S. history is to make threats husband and father lives in,... Made some cash payments on a few cars fit anymore 1997 armored-car warehouse heist west. Youre taking history classes going to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, news... 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