Was that really what it was about? Back then, it was one of the hotspots for hiding money. Ghantt planned to live off the interest for the rest of his life. But as he later recalled to the media, as soon as he stepped through those big-box doors, he realized he was flush with cash, and he didnt need to shop at Walmart ever again. 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. When he finished, the van was filled with $17 million. Theyre meant to be trailer-park trash, but they come off as character experiments on a bad night at the Groundlings. But as soon as he drove off, I went right back in and opened the vault. "Love" has four. I was burned out and just didn't know it. ". Charlotte Magazine even ran a feature story about the Loomis Fargo heist with the title, White Trash Crime. The headlines, however, never bothered Ghantt. 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.. He'd even bragged that he'd killed people. Then FBI agent Wydra watched Steve's wife, Michele, deposit about $8,000 at a Gaston County, N.C., bank. But agents weren't ready to arrest Kelly and Steve. Like David, Kelly was frustrated with her marriage. 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. Butcher says the federal courts in the Western District of North Carolina have never handled a case quite like Loomis. That was pretty awesome., It felt like a dream vacation until he started running out of money. Even with several vehicles, they underestimated how much space they would need and they had to leave $3 million behind. 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. But that only tells part of the story. In the first days after the arrests, agents recovered or accounted for all but about $2 million of the stolen money. . I think I always knew that, but lost my way for a while.". Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live. . When he was done, the man drove off to a nearby printing press, where the money was distributed into private vehicles amongst a handful of people. All but one of the 24 defendants pleaded guilty, and the one who didnt take the deal was convicted. Scary. Masterminds is an atrociously bad comedy, and absolutely everyone is to blame. And robbing a truck was dangerous. . By the time the month concluded, the couple had purchased a 7,000-square-foot stone mansion in a gated country club community. David was sentenced to 7 1/2 years. When he said, 'I'll give you $20,000 to hold a million,' I said, 'Sure.' And then I could hear her laughing. After a couple of weeks, Ghantt and the rest of the heist team were ready to strike. He went deep-sea fishing. According to Butcher, Campbells last official payment came in June 2021 when the government appears to have seized a tax refund of $81.24. He wouldn't give me the opportunity to say anything else. On his second trip, Steve gave McKinney David's hotel address. A guard at an armored car company in the Southern U.S. organizes one of the biggest bank heists in American history. 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. Thats where they feel comfortable., This piece of information would become critical to his getaway plan. But you cant get blood from a stone, Johns said. I didn't think I had the guts. 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. Name. 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. "He showed me a lot of money," McKinney said. Steve Chambers has told agents the missing cash was stolen from a shed in Lincoln County. his keys and wedding ring. "It probably should bother me," he said. A third tape he didn't know about kept recording. Mexican police, Interpol officers and an FBI agent were watching him. Im a very deliberate person. Steve also offered $100,000 to his 26-year-old cousin. Michelle Chambers paid off only $27,000. He placed stacks of currency on a cart and wheeled it to the van about 15 feet away, inside the building. What concerned her was the chance of getting caught. There were times when I drank really heavily.". Kelly said she had reason to believe Steve might be able to pull off a heist. His name was Corey. It was an ear-biting, Pierce Brosnan-loving, comet-obsessed world, and were here to relive every minute of it. The movie was called Masterminds and stars Zach Galifianakis, Kristen Wiig and Owen Wilson. "For the first year, they're all over you. Were others involved? She didn't plan to move to Mexico. Then 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, Wydra said. Going south, nobody really looks at what youre shipping. I threw you out, and then threw the parachute after you. He flip-flopped on the heist idea three or four times. They stocked a wine cellar. 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. Before David left for the airport, he had handed Scott an eight-inch key ring. He'd stay up all night, boosted by coffee, waiting for the sunrise over the ocean. David, the international fugitive, lived it up, too--for a while. Twenty-one people were charged and convicted in the robbery, one of the biggest heists in U.S. history. 1997 Harley-Davidson Road King motorcycle for sale at auction of items bought after Loomis, Fargo armored car facility heist by Steven Chambers, wife Michele, Kelly Jane Campbell & David Scott Ghanntt (Photo by Will And Deni McIntyre/Getty Images) 145 Matches for Kelly Loomis. 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.. When I put that cash in the back of the car, by the time I got to the office the whole car smelled like that. Kelly had no problem fanning the flames of their old flirtation. He appeared happily matched with his high-spirited wife, Michele, and the two children from her first marriage. The Chambers, however, didnt fit in with the other members of the gated community. So that was kind of like this once-in-a-lifetime thing, Wydra said. Besides her prison sentence, Campbell must undergo mental health and drug treatment and spend two years in a supervised release program. The government does not run debtors prisons, says U.S. ". "I'd been told all my life, money will not make you happy," Kelly said. Guller was the attorney for Steven Chambers, who came up with the original idea for the Loomis theft. Criminals dont usually get high-paying jobs after leaving prison. "A lot of people out there had it worse than me, but . On Feb. 27, agents listened in on a call from David to Kelly and learned David's location in Mexico. It just happened to fall on my desk.. The participants in the heist also spent lavishly on fancy jewelry, fancy cars and breast enhancement surgeries. ALSO READ: Suspect from south Charlotte bank robbery found, CMPD says. Kelly Campbell is scheduled to be sentenced in October. Baltimore leaders have agreed to pay a $6 million settlement to the family of a driver who was killed during a 2010 police chase involving Gun Trace Task Force officers, Four family members from Australia who were injured during a crash-landing of a sightseeing helicopter in December are suing a Las Vegas-based tour operator, Massachusetts Gov. He told Steve he hadn't been able to find David. Campbell was released from federal custody in 2004 after serving five years, meaning her collection case will age out in December 2024. They cursed. She could walk under the trees, with the chickens and goats and dogs that live around her mobile home. The number of people involved had ballooned after Steve started asking friends and family to help him launder the stolen cash. The Chambers home is now gated, which means Channel 9 crews cant drive up to it like we used to. One day, Campbell was speaking to an old friend named Steve Chambers. Scott Grant and Steve pulled up next to her in a Mazda. Best States is an interactive platform developed by U.S. News for ranking the 50 U.S. states, alongside news analysis and daily reporting. At 7:45, David had finished loading. But after she left, she reached back out to Ghantt and brought up what they'd talked about that day in the break room. But few could have guessed how spectacularly the heist would go wrong after the criminals initially got away with it. "We kept going, '1-4-3, 1-4-3,' " recalled Vic O'Korn, assistant special agent in charge of Charlotte's FBI office. The first weekday after the heist, Michele Chambers, co-conspirator Steve's wife, walked into a NationsBank branch with a briefcase containing $5,000. Of course the problem was, the money belonged to someone else. David didn't even know Steve's name. It has a certain feel, a smell and weight to it. The cart held about $2 million, and the thief made multiple trips. Its in the ether. 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. But in November, money ran low. Twice a week over the next 12 months, we will take you back to the winter of sheep cloning and the summer of Con Air. Or as he tells me, How many people in the United States havent thought about robbing a bank? When did you conclude Yeah, Im actually going to do this? Counts asked. 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. Is he telling the truth? David was excited, jabbering about their future together. They found Ghantts truck, and in it were his keys, some personal items and his wedding ring. 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. I said, Probably, the best time would be on the weekend; theres fewer people there. You may email him here, follow him on Twitter, or listen to his weekly TV podcast, Podjiba. 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. Ghantt didnt know the full extent of what was happening back home -- how that lay low plan turned into a flurry of extravagant spending. Steve and Michele invited everyone back for a Christmas party, where they gave Michele's stepfather a special gift--the pickup truck he'd always wanted. Scott didn't want to, but then he remembered the hundred-grand payday. Steve solicited two others to help move cash during the theft. David quickly realized he was the intended victim. They also purchased expensive cars, jewelry and a breast enhancement or two. He flew in an ultra-light plane. That first day in prison was scary, Ghantt said. ". He had even scheduled a follow-up appointment at the dentist. About 200 keys dangled from it. "I felt that if I didn't do something, I was going to snap," David said. This was in the 1990s the Columbia Airport back then was closed at around 9:30, 10 oclock. We got this guy named Bruno. He grabbed the tapes from two VCRs that connected to 16 security cameras. The gang made numerous mistakes. Loomis Fargo Defendants Owe as Much as They Stole in 1997, 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. Ive never taken offense to anything like that, he tells me. ". Called Masterminds, the 2016 film stars Zach Galifianakis, Kristen Wiig and Owen Wilson. 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. 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. Should David be killed after he gave them the money? Probably very egotistical of me, I thought, Yeah, sure, I can beat them, theyre college smart and thats about it, Ghantt said. Michele tells me you're in a financial bind. Michele received the best gift of the night. He longed for the middle-class lifestyle of his childhood, with its private religious-school education and Disney World vacations. David Ghantt was just an average Joe with an average low-wage job. Hes a family man with a wife and daughter. Sandra Floyd, Michele Chambers's mother, remembers the first time she saw the house. The mystery 1-4-3 caller had been Kelly, though agents didn't know it yet. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Ghantt took $50,000 for himself and fled to Cozumel, Mexico. Ghantt was the vault manager and was surrounded daily by millions of dollars worth of temptation. First, they loaded the cash into blue 55-gallon barrels, and then they moved the barrels into a rental van. Loomis has received $978,983.79, according to Sally Butcher, an assistant clerk in the federal courts of the Western District of North Carolina who specializes in criminal debt. Instead of lobster, the man who stole $17 million survived on home-cooked pasta and grilled cheese sandwiches. Driving away, he said he felt a mix of fear, confidence and excitement that he outsmarted the FBI. Then, he proceeded to load 2,800 pounds of cash into a van. Truth was, David wanted more than help leaving, he wanted company. For his part, Ghantt was now officially on his way to Mexico, his future stretched out before him. When she realized Ghantt never came home from work the night before, she contacted the police and filed a missing persons report. 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. Ghantt was caught on videotape loading large amounts of cash into a truck. 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. Even still, he was 27, married and struggling to provide for his family. Its a farce that never farces; a comedy without jokes. But he tried to keep his face averted, so David wouldn't be able to ID him. Its said the current owner now has it in storage in Phoenix, Arizona. The next week, they heard Steve plan to send Mike McKinney to Mexico to kill David Ghantt. "He said, 'Yeah, right,' and turned his head. 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. Michelle Chambers received seven years and eight months, while Steve Chambers was handed an 11-year sentence. At first, I just blended in with the tourists and picked up a few translation books, Ghantt explains. In February 1998, the FBI tapped their phones and listened to Steve discuss depositing $2.5 million in the Cayman Islands. On his way out, he grabbed the surveillance video, hoping to cover his tracks. . Not Ghantt. She laughed for like 45 minutes. Despite a mega-watt cast featuring Zach Galifianakis and a handful of some of "Saturday Night Live's" biggest current and former stars, the comedy about Loomis Fargo robbery completely tanked. . You can seize property. Kelly drove David to the airport. Kelly called David at. 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