I knew that if we could stay off the radar for about a year, we could basically live a vacation life, Ghantt said. If you're trying to make yourself better today, that's all most people care about. Will Mcintyre/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images. 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. I'd probably be that infamous gringo living in Belize, kicked back on the beach, fishing and bored out of my mind. The morning after the height, employees of Loomis Fargo realized they couldnt open the vault. Meanwhile, David Ghantt was relaxing on a beach in Cozumel, Mexico. He would eventually be arrested in Mexico in March 1998 after one of his co-conspirators put out a hit on him under the false suspicion he was the only prime suspect authorities were aware of at the time. Masterminds (2016) - IMDb What happens at the end of mastermind? The true crime behind Asheville-based Galifianakis film While Ghantt spent more than 6 1/2 years in federal prison, he said he usedthat time to"re-invent" himself. David Ghantt And The Loomis Fargo Heist: The Outrageous True Story. Q: You say your time in federal prison changed you. The Loomis Fargo heist became something of a media lightning rod. But because he still owes millions to the IRS, he couldnt be paid. [1], Steven Chambers finished serving his sentence in November 2006. 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. After finding himself in prison he made a concious choice to do things differently. Ask questions; get answers. David Ghantt was the vault supervisor for Loomis, Fargo & Co. armored cars, which managed the transportation of large sums of cash between banks in North Carolina. Over the next months, Ghantt, Campbell, and Chambers developed a plan. Kate. And with that, David Ghantt took off for Mexico. #CLXGaming#CLXRa#evokethegods 1 2 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. David Ghantt on stealing 17 million dollars from Loomis Fargo (Crime Over the years many of his social . October 1997 Loomis Fargo robbery - Wikipedia While Ghantt waited for the heat from the robbery to die down, Chambers would send Ghantt small amounts of money. Although the history of the predecessor Wells Fargo & Company dates back to 1852, Loomis Fargo & Company was established in 1997 by the consolidation of Wells Fargo Armored Service and Loomis Armored Inc.; the resulting corporation employed 8,500 people and provided armored transportation, cash handling services, and automatic teller machine maintenance. The judge said he would recommend that Michele Chambers be given mental health treatment in prison. . When Seymour Hersh Strained to Keep Up With CounterPunch, Nichole Stephens, Administrative Assistant. He was insecure. A: I hate to think about what I'd be doing if I hadn't gotten caught. We were in Old Fortwhen they were shooting the movie and went out to eat. David Ghantt Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images Harper Beckham and her dad David Beckham dressed in matching black outfits as they headed to a Paris Fashion Week event being thrown by Harper's mom and David's wife Victoria . . In fact, David Ghantt was about to commit the heist of a lifetime. Pour en savoir plus sur la faon dont nous utilisons vos donnes personnelles, veuillez consulter notre politique relative la vie prive et notre politique en matire de cookies. Federal Judge Graham Mullen sentenced her to between those lengths. WIFE, FAMILY OF HEIST SUSPECT CLING TO HOPE - Greensboro News and Record If so,check out some of these books on our AP History Exam reading list. David GhanttRetweeted Iraqveteran8888 @Iraqveteran8888 Dec 9, 2022 Elect me President and I'll fire everyone, free Julian Assange, and pardon Edward Snowden. Ghantt was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison, though he was released on parole after five. Channel 9 speaks with the man at the center of Loomis Fargo heist 25 For the New York State assemblyman, see. Ghantt added, I really enjoyed the movie. Michele Chambers' sentence was two months longer than that given to David Scott Ghantt, the Loomis employee who removed the money from the company vault on Oct. 4, 1997. An additional tip reached the FBI when Michelle Chambers made a large deposit at a bank. Finally, in March 1998, the FBI traced a call from Ghantts phone and he was arrested in Mexico. Masterminds | On-set visit with Zach Galifianakis 'David Ghantt' Als u niet wilt dat wij en onze partners cookies en persoonsgegevens voor deze aanvullende doeleinden gebruiken, klik dan op 'Alles weigeren'. Day in and day out, he drives an armored vehicle,. Chambers promised to wire him money in Mexico until the investigation blew over and Ghantt could return to North Carolina. But his partners soon began to get greedy and were spending large amountswith Chambers and his wife, Michelle, even buying an exclusive mansion in cash. Once Ghantt loaded the large haul from the vaultwhich could have been close to $20 millioninto a truck, he planned to drive to a second location, then head straight to the airport and fly to Mexico. But it was Ghantt, now 47 and living with his wife and daughter in Jacksonville, Florida,who actually took more than 2,000 pounds of cash and just drove away from his job. Ten days later, the group was indicted for bank larceny and money laundering. American Couple Who Disappeared in Greece Found Dead We caught up with David Ghantt about - The Gaston Gazette | Facebook The College Entrance Examination BoardTM does not endorse, nor is it affiliated in any way with the owner or any content of this site. Ghantt believed the new employee would make a good replacement for his wife, but the feelings were not necessarily reciprocated. I realized a lot of things that were wrong with me as a person. 4 million images and real time event coverage from coast to coast , ImageCollect is the only celebrity photo site you'll ever need. Chambers, it turned out, became the biggest source of evidence for the FBI. Theyre meant to be trailer-park trash, but they come off as character experiments on a bad night at the Groundlings. Galifianakis will play the armored car driver, David, who evades authorities, will be searching for his co-conspirators who betrayed him, Kelly (Kristen Wiig) and Steve (Owen Wilson). Because the money in the vault was largely from banks, the crime was technically a bank robbery and thus a federal offense. AMA In October of 1997, I was a vault supervisor for armored truck company Loomis Fargo, when I made off with $17.3 million. Thats the big thing. The FBI investigation was aided by the gang's extravagant spending. The next day, the Chambers, Campbell, and some other notable parties were arrested in Charlotte. The plan was for Ghantt to commit the robbery and then quickly leave the country for Mexico but to leave the bulk of the cash with Chambers. Generally, the events of the film are fairly close to reality when they follow the broad details of the case. In addition to his phone calls with Ghantt, Chambers began extravagantly spending the money, even though the co-conspirators had agreed to lay low for a year or two. This Wednesday marks the 20th anniversary of the notorious Loomis Fargo heist. When the cheerleading coach broke the news to Katrina Kohel that she was the only one left on the cheer squad, Kohel was determined to compete anyway. Q: Do you ever think about what your life would be like if you had gotten away with the money? Campbell used to work for Loomis and continued the friendship with Ghantt, eventually . 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. Unfortunately, he failed to disable the third camera. He was like OK, yeah, we can do that, she recalled. A movie based on the heist starring Zach Galifianakis, Kristen Wiig, Owen Wilson, Jason Sudeikis, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones and directed by Jared Hess (the guy who made Napoleon Dynamite) is out now on Blu-ray and DVD. Michele Chambers' sentence was two months longer than that given to David Scott Ghantt, the Loomis employee who removed the money from the company vault on Oct. 4, 1997. Officers responded just after 5 a.m. Wednesday to an area near the intersection of Martin Luther King Drive and Carolyn Coleman Way and found , "The Wall Street Journal just so happened to have a supportive op-ed ready to publish within hours of the meeting. This page was last edited on 21 February 2023, at 16:45. Back then all I really wanted to do was just, I wanted to change my life. All but one of the indicted pleaded guilty. Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! The couple was married for 22 years before her untimely death in 2012. David Ghantt was portrayed by Zackary Hatfield. The real story behind the second largest bank heist in history, which Will Mcintyre/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty ImagesMichele Chambers 1998 BMW for sale following the prosecutions of the Loomis Fargo heist conspirators.