The FBI was also surveilling Kelly Campbell and followed her to a pay phone that she used to place calls to Mexico. Loomis, then known as Loomis Fargo, experienced two inside jobs in 1997, for $17.3 million and $18.8 million. The mystery 1-4-3 caller had been Kelly, though agents didn't know it yet. Steve led the planning. "I've learned that I'm a fortunate man," he said. 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. 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. Scott, 26, had a larceny conviction as a teenager, but he'd since cleaned up his act and now had a steady job, a daughter and a girlfriend. Money'll turn your head, I don't care who you are. Michelle Chambers paid off only $27,000. "I thought he was goofing around.". All of the defendants are out of prison -- the longest sentence was 11 years. 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. Kelly, using David's cell phone, kept beeping him. Theres barely a laugh in the entire film, which looks like it was shot entirely in one take while the actors were still working out their characters. Puedes cambiar tus opciones en cualquier momento desde tus controles de privacidad. Paying the money back has taken a lot longer, and time is running out for the U.S. government to collect. I missed my wife. There were times when I drank really heavily.". Steve had another conversation with Kelly about killing David. ', "He asked me if I'd mind holding some money for him. Twenty-one people were charged and convicted in the robbery, one of the biggest heists in U.S. history. But the idea of all that money pulled at her. One day, Campbell was speaking to an old friend named Steve Chambers. He then began loading $17 million in unmarked bills inside a company van before driving away. A guard at an armored car company in the Southern U.S. organizes one of the biggest bank heists in American history. In the first days after the arrests, agents recovered or accounted for all but about $2 million of the stolen money. 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. Ghantt would go on to spend six and a half years in federal prison. The robbery of some $17 million quickly became one of the wildest bank heists of the last quarter century. Nah, it was always about the money, he told the agents. This time, David told McKinney the truth. October was "a blast," he said. Just head on out. And so, he did. This is the person I counted as my friend. About 5:30 the next morning, McKinney knocked on David's door and dropped $8,500 on the bed. . Down in Jacksonville, a Loomis Fargo employee took $18 million from an armored van he was driving. Its hilarious. Masterminds is a 2016 American crime comedy film based on the October 1997 Loomis Fargo robbery in North Carolina. After a couple of weeks, Ghantt and the rest of the heist team were ready to strike. Steve Chambers would keep the rest. 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. So they went to Mexico and arrested Ghantt in order to protect him. A week later, another informant told the FBI that Eric Payne had quit his job at a printing company soon after the heist and was spending money he probably hadn't earned legally. 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. Hes very articulate. Kelly Campbell, 29, a former company employee, entered guilty pleas earlier to bank larceny, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder charges. He placed stacks of currency on a cart and wheeled it to the van about 15 feet away, inside the building. Ghantt was the vault manager and was surrounded daily by millions of dollars worth of temptation. . The movie was called Masterminds and stars Zach Galifianakis, Kristen Wiig and Owen Wilson. Ghantt had fled to Mexico with $50,000 in cash, leaving the rest of the money with Steve Chambers. Tags: Associated Press, courts, crime, North Carolina. Copyright 2022 TheAssociated Press. Ghantt was the vault manager and was surrounded. Website. They loaded the wine cellar with Pabst Blue Ribbon, and Steve hung a velvet portrait of Elvis Presley in the basement. They planned to kill a man named David Ghantt, the guy who had made their extravagant new lifestyle a reality. But what did that mean? She could spend time with her children and parents. Her sentence was delayed until Jan. 1 so she could spend the holidays with her family. The whole town I was staying in was 98.9 percent Mexican, except for when the cruise ships were in, Ghantt recalls. To be brutally honest, it was that morning, Ghantt replied. Thatd probably been the best thing for me to do, really. 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 says the Loomis case shows how the criminal justice system and the courts treat lower-income people differently. Galifianakis seems to be playing a character out of Dumb and Dumber 3: The Dumbening; Kristen Wiig plays what could only be described as her worst SNL character; Owen Wilson plays an Owen Wilson character; and Sudeikis plays a bumbling hitman who cant pull the trigger after he finds out his target shares the same name and birthdate, which is the dumbest twist since the Martha revelation in Batman vs. Superman. Get to me. Its that kind of excitement.. We got this guy named Bruno. Here, he amps up the most obnoxious excesses of his entire cast and lets their grating bad-improv skills run amok. Based on a true story, the premise itself is fascinating, which makes Masterminds all the more a waste. And I said, Hey, man, I got this. 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. Kelly called David at Loomis; he told her he'd be ready for them with the cash at 6:30 or 7 p.m. Alone in the building, David was trying to finish loading cash from the vault into an unmarked white Ford Econoline van belonging to Loomis. The government does not run debtors prisons, says U.S. It is based on the October 1997 Loomis Fargo Robbery in North Carolina, which was the subject of the 2016 American comedy film Masterminds. Because lets be brutally honest: Theyre not wrong, okay? By now, you probably know the names -- David Ghantt, Steve Chambers and his wife Michelle, and Kelly Campbell. ", "I wouldn't do it. Ghantt met up with the other members of the plot and offloaded the cash. He had an endearing smile, a beautiful wife and two children. In one case, the restitution for a Loomis defendant may be a moving target. Informacin sobre tu dispositivo y conexin a Internet, como tu direccin IP, Actividad de navegacin y bsqueda al utilizar sitios web y aplicaciones de Yahoo. So the pieces were falling into place for investigators. To protect themselves, David and Steve didn't meet or talk. Will Vin Sant Leave You Jacked or Scammed. He approached a longtime friend, Eric Payne, who lived in a mobile home south of Belmont, N.C. Steve offered him $100,000 to help. In the dark, Scott inserted one key into the back door slot. 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. Mexican police, Interpol officers and an FBI agent were watching him. It has a certain feel, a smell and weight to it. An officer rang the doorbell. Al hacer clic en Aceptar todo, aceptas que Yahoo y nuestros socios procesarn tu informacin personal y utilizarn tecnologas como cookies para presentarte anuncios y contenido personalizados, evaluar anuncios y contenido, obtener datos clave sobre la audiencia y desarrollar productos. But as soon as he drove off, I went right back in and opened the vault. But after she left, she reached back out to Ghantt and brought up what they'd talked about that day in the break room. Meanwhile, back in North Carolina, Ghantts wife woke up to find her husband missing. But few could have guessed how spectacularly the heist would go wrong after the criminals initially got away with it. Without really intending to, Kelly recalls, she turned the conversation to the possibility of a heist. Driving away, he said he felt a mix of fear, confidence and excitement that he outsmarted the FBI. Steve Chambers has told agents the missing cash was stolen from a shed in Lincoln County. 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. In December, agents got the tie-in they were looking for: Kelly Campbell had bought a $30,000 Toyota minivan with cash and registered it to one of Steve Chambers's aliases. Some family members hid money in bank deposit boxes, other friends were asked to mule cash to the Cayman Islands. Mine did. The case resurfaced in the federal courts on Thursday, Sept. 1, when the U.S. Attorneys Office in Charlotte posted a public reminder in the case file of Loomis defendant Kelly Campbell that she had fallen behind in her restitution. He allegedly hired a hitman to take Ghantt out, tying up the ultimate loose end. Time passed, and Campbell eventually quit her job at Loomis Fargo. His collection case, which closes in November 2026, got credit for the couples $540,000 house on Cramer Mountain in Gaston County, Butcher says. Before David left for the airport, he had handed Scott an eight-inch key ring. And robbing a truck was dangerous. I threw you out, and then threw the parachute after you. "A lot of people out there had it worse than me, but . About 5:45 a.m., he got into his pickup and began the 45-minute drive to work in Charlotte. The FBI now knew Chambers had Loomis cash. When neighbors asked where they got their money, Steve said hed played in the NFL. She was like, Well, at least you had guts, he says. The principals here are David Ghantt, a driver for Loomis, Fargo and Co.; Kelly Campbell, the woman Ghantt had a crush on, and who convinced him to commit the crime; and Steve and Michele Chambers. He'd stay up all night, boosted by coffee, waiting for the sunrise over the ocean. I didn't think I had the guts. She asked about the limit for a cash deposit before "paperwork" was required. Scott was so nervous, he said, that he couldn't help. . He partied, met women, drank, skied and hung out at the beach. He appeared happily matched with his high-spirited wife, Michele, and the two children from her first marriage. They set the date, Oct. 4, a Saturday when David knew he could be alone in the building after his shift. ". For reasons that remain obscure, Robert spilled the beans to David. Her marriage--at which she was making another ambivalent effort after multiple separations--and even the jobs she'd been able to get with a diploma couldn't come close to providing the kind of life she dreamed about, the life she felt she deserved: a house in the country, a swimming pool, and enough cash so she didn't need to rely on men. He added that money can be a motivator for anyone. Meanwhile, outside Reynolds & Reynolds, Steve, Scott and Eric needed to move 2,748 pounds of cash, quickly, from the Loomis van into the Budget van. Scott Grant and Steve pulled up next to her in a Mazda. They discussed it further, and Campbell asked him when they should do it. 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. 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. So we were able to figure out with all the denominations, it would require about 20 safe deposit boxes to store it all.. AP 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. I hear her typing. Kelly found herself standing beside David while they waited together for a bond hearing. I learned something that was valuable at the time: Most criminals never leave a 250, maybe 300-mile circle from their home base. Well she was a pretty happy-go-lucky person, he said. In early December, Steve and Michele invited relatives to their daughter's sixth birthday party. On his second trip, Steve gave McKinney David's hotel address. But if you did, youll never forget it. Now worried about both the FBI and McKinney, he spent even more time alone in his room. The audacity of the act was breathtaking. Best States is an interactive platform developed by U.S. News for ranking the 50 U.S. states, alongside news analysis and daily reporting. Campbell was released from federal custody in 2004 after serving five years, meaning her collection case will age out in December 2024. Or that hed gotten lucky gambling. But that only tells part of the story. Search Tools . It all went down in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the man at the center of that heist, David Scott Ghantt, now lives in Jacksonville. Well they were in some sense celebrities, Gronquist said. "But, I hate to admit it, it doesn't faze me one bit. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. About six months before the Charlotte theft, on March 29, a total of $18.8 million was taken from Loomis, Fargo in Jacksonville, Fla., in what was believed to be the largest heist in U.S.. 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 case had gotten national publicity and was the subject of numerous articles, documentaries and even a movie. What made her do it? She will never get beyond the debt. I was relieved emotionally because I knew there was a good chance my luck might run out, Ghantt said. You might as well take it all, Ghantt tells me. When she realized Ghantt never came home from work the night before, she contacted the police and filed a missing persons report. He had since served time in prison for the crime and told our sister station WSOC-TV Channel 9s Glenn Counts he learned a valuable lesson while behind bars. Probably very egotistical of me, I thought, Yeah, sure, I can beat them, theyre college smart and thats about it, Ghantt said. . His collection case closes in two years. The plan to rob Loomis Fargo was spawned by Campbell and her friend Steve Chambers, during a casual bonfire at Chambers' home. 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. Guller was the attorney for Steven Chambers, who came up with the original idea for the Loomis theft. She'd heard his stories of other successful schemes, like getting refunds on phony tax returns, or operating a loan shark business. Ghantt was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison. They heard Michele brag about her $43,000 ring. 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. Masterminds is an atrociously bad comedy, and absolutely everyone is to blame. From Mexico, David usually spoke with Kelly on the phone once a week, paying with calling cards. Things were spiraling fast. Steve bought a truck, a Rolex and a motorboat. What kind of surprised me is how much the car smelled like money, like if you ever hold money up to your nose it has a distinct smell, Wydra said. In hindsight, it doesnt surprise me a bit, Ghantt says, a bitter laugh catching in his throat. She never really worried about the moral end of it--she was focused only on getting what she wanted out of life, what so many others seemed to have in this booming part of the South. Sweat soaked David's uniform. Of course the problem was, the money belonged to someone else. And to me, if it pisses them off, Im all for it.. About 20 ago, Campbell sent him a letter of apology, but he never responded. She also assured the teller her cash wasn't drug money. None of the suspects had been in any serious trouble before this. ". . The barrels were Steves idea, Ghantt says. They paid for all of it in cash. Hed be in contact. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. He couldn't talk.". 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. Percent Mexican, except for when the U.S and dropped $ 8,500 on the and... Boosted by coffee, waiting for the U.S. government to collect when David knew he could n't help pieces falling! Drove off, I got this guy named Bruno a motorboat a fortunate man, '' he said for the. 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N'T care who you are, okay and she says, how you.

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