To be brutally honest, it was that morning, Ghantt replied. "I thought he was goofing around.". The Evergreen State takes the top spot again in the U.S. News Best States ranking on the strength of its tech sector and other industries. If you want me to leave, Ill leave. Then, Ghantt went into another room. So yeah, Ghantt continues, I took a bus from there to Atlanta, and then I hopped a cab from the bus station to the airport in Atlanta., Back in North Carolina, his accomplices were working as fast as they could to hide the $17 million. The money weighed as much as a compact car and he did it all by himself. The phone rang: Kelly had a problem. ". It affects everybody different. . But he tried to keep his face averted, so David wouldn't be able to ID him. Though David had no criminal experience, he felt he could offer expert advice: He'd just finished reading a book on the FBI. In the dark, Scott inserted one key into the back door slot. Given his position at the bank, hed be the one to pull off the robbery, and he intended to be ready. The initials on the money wrapper belonged to a Loomis employee who hadn't worked there since before the heist. The Columbia airport had no available flights. I threw you out, and then threw the parachute after you. Steven Chambers and David Ghantt (back) arrested 12) Loomis Fargo heist- The aftermath They placed a bust of Caesar in the dining room. See all of the stories here. If they could just sit on the money until then, he said, they'd be fine. "Think of how many women would have stood by. Kelly called David at. . The bigger the amount, however, the bigger the damages to victims that likely will never be repaid: Amy Paynes collection account was closed in 2020 with her having paid $53,000 of the $274,000 she owed. They sweated, though the night was cool. Eric Payne got out of prison in 2006 for his role in the heist and has since paid $11,357 on his $292,000 debt. He says the Loomis case shows how the criminal justice system and the courts treat lower-income people differently. 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. Kelly found herself standing beside David while they waited together for a bond hearing. Ghantt, his former co-worker Kelly Campbell and her friends Steve and Michelle Chambers carried out the Loomis Fargo heist on Oct. 4, 1997. Im on the phone with Kelly [Campbell], and Im like, Hey, I really was expecting a package to arrive. When we worked together [for Loomis], we'd joke about it. One thing about teammates, in David's view: You could always trust them. ". Michelle, meanwhile, purchased new breasts for herself, along with a $43,000 diamond ring and a new convertible BMW Z3. . It will be some time before she can commune with domestic animals again. Eventually, Steve made Kelly believe they could steal from Loomis and get away with it, she said. 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. 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. In one case, the restitution for a Loomis defendant may be a moving target. "You" has three. At 6-1 and 220 pounds, Steve was stocky and imposing, a fast talker with a brown goatee. 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. He didn't want to abandon his parents. Its attracted workers like Ghantt. Agents noticed it two months later when it flowed to them through official channels, along with hundreds of similar reports involving other people. They loaded the wine cellar with Pabst Blue Ribbon, and Steve hung a velvet portrait of Elvis Presley in the basement. Part 2: Channel 9 speaks with the man at the center of Loomis Fargo heist 25 years ago. Scott didn't want to, but then he remembered the hundred-grand payday. So much so that one suspicious neighbor called the FBI. He flew in an ultra-light plane. Sandra Floyd, Michele Chambers's mother, remembers the first time she saw the house. She could visit friends. Kelly had no problem fanning the flames of their old flirtation. 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.. Federal law stops government collection efforts 20 years after a defendant leaves prison. Everybody seemed stunned. "I wanted to be more like my mom and dad were.". >> PHOTOS: The Loomis Fargo heist, 25 years later. ". But what did that mean? They put up mauve wallpaper. 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. She was like, Well, at least you had guts, he says. And that's OK with Ghantt, who's just a few weeks shy of his 47th birthday, out of federal prison for more than a decade, married with a 9-year-old daughter . Tuesday marked 25 years since a group of buddies pulled off the third-largest money grab in U.S. history -- the Loomis Fargo heist. Kelly, using David's cell phone, kept beeping him. Or that it was an inheritance. Its 90-minutes of mugging for the camera, but the only people who feel mugged are those that pay to see Masterminds. Until, that is, he decided to hell with it he was going to pull-off the second largest heist in U.S. history. Kelly Campbell is scheduled to be sentenced in October. "He showed me a lot of money," McKinney said. He recalled that another agent, Phil King, said, "Hey, there was an article in the [Charlotte] Observer about beeper codes. 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. At the time, it was the largest cash heist in history. What made her abandon an ordinary existence to commit this spectacular, doomed crime? There had been no signs. 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), Florida Senator proposes bill to cancel Democratic Party in state, Georgia star Jalen Carter charged with racing in fatal wreck, FHP: Man dies after FDOT Road Ranger rear-ends truck, pushes him over edge of Buckman Bridge, Bartram Trail High School girls lacrosse player denied NIL opportunity, Contest: Win tickets to the AMALIE Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville. Steve tried keys on a side door. "We had David Ghantt and Kelly Campbell tied together, and we had Steven Chambers and Eric Payne with unexplained wealth, but we didn't have a tie between them," Agent John Wydra said. I ride motorcycles and fish -- normal guy, Ghantt told Counts. hippie fest 2022 michigan; family picture poses for 5 adults; unforgettable who killed rachel; pacific northwest college of art notable alumni; adler sense of belonging family constellation I told the lead investigator I was glad to see him.. ALSO READ: Suspect from south Charlotte bank robbery found, CMPD says. "She just called me up on the phone and said, 'Hey, let's meet one day after work.' At the end of one session, they wound up kissing outside the pickup. The pager entry was 1-4-3. 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. Besides her prison sentence, Campbell must undergo mental health and drug treatment and spend two years in a supervised release program. In 2017, for example, Paul Burks of Lexington was ordered to pay $244 million to the victims of his worldwide Ponzi scheme, Zeek Rewards. The plan called for David to leave the vault door ajar, then maneuver a few minutes alone at the end of his shift, long enough to loot the cash, then pass it to Kelly and Steve. So we were able to figure out with all the denominations, it would require about 20 safe deposit boxes to store it all.. 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. 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. kellis@gastongazette.com 0:04 1:38 On Oct. 4, 1997, former Kings Mountain resident David Scott Ghantt finished his shift as a vault supervisor for Loomis Fargo in Charlotte. "I was thinking, 'They aren't paying me enough,' " McKinney recalled. 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. He goes, My name is Bruno. More agents waited outside to arrest them. David, now 30, says he's sorry he abandoned his wife--who he says still loves him--and his family. "Every time my conscience would start bothering me," Kelly recalled, "I'd smoke another joint and forget about it.". 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. Ghantt didnt know the full extent of what was happening back home -- how that lay low plan turned into a flurry of extravagant spending. And going to see the Mayan ruins. My love for my family is by far the most important thing in my life. ". 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. Michelle Chambers received seven years and eight months, while Steve Chambers was handed an 11-year sentence. Is he telling the truth? One of them tapped him on the back. Its hilarious. Its a farce that never farces; a comedy without jokes. Some family members hid money in bank deposit boxes, other friends were asked to mule cash to the Cayman Islands. Kelly, she says now, was thinking about how happy she would be to send this man far away from her. Now he offered to pay him to carry cash to David--Steve said he was a friend hiding out after a bad drug deal, McKinney recalled. When neighbors asked where they got their money, Steve said hed played in the NFL. . On Monday, October 6th, the FBI agents who were investigating the robbery located the Loomis Fargo van abandoned in the woods. Steve Chambers and his wife (Mary Elizabeth Ellis) were a little more difficult to connect to the heist. ". Campbell left her job in the summer of 1997, but she would later use Ghantt's feelings for her to her own advantage to get him to agree to carry out the multi-million-dollar heist. Guller was the attorney for Steven Chambers, who came up with the original idea for the Loomis theft. About the same time, Kelly and McKinney received phone calls from agents who told them to open their doors. It was an ear-biting, Pierce Brosnan-loving, comet-obsessed world, and were here to relive every minute of it. On Nov. 12, a confidential informant told the FBI about Steve Chambers's move from mobile home to mansion. I had to go in there and tell her the whole story, and she was real cool about it. If you want to go ahead and go, I got it. Some of that money is just gone. They found Ghantts truck, and in it were his keys, some personal items and his wedding ring. When October 1997 began, Steve and Michelle Chambers lived in a double-wide trailer. "I said, 'That's all they gave me,' " McKinney recalled. He'd even bragged that he'd killed people. So yeah, Im kind of proud of it.. A couple weeks pass, and I call again, Hey, Id like to get some more money. We spoke with the inside man, David Ghantt, to get the real story. If you didnt live in the Charlotte area 25 years ago, you might not believe it. Exciting. Before David left for the airport, he had handed Scott an eight-inch key ring. The Election, U.S. Foreign Policy, And Harold Pinter's 2005 Nobel Lecture, Nate Parker on Rape Allegations: 'I Don't Feel Guilty'. They ditched the Loomis van, then drove the cash-heavy Budget van to Steve's mobile home in Lincoln County, where his wife, Michele, waited with a calculator and rubber bands. As with Kelly, the worst blotch on 29-year-old Eric's record until now was a driving-while-intoxicated conviction. Its a once-in-a-lifetime thing, and I went down and talked to them, got to meet Zach Galifianakis and the director, Ghantt said. Ghantt didn't actually meet Chambers until the night of the heist, though, according to Diamant, who would go on to write a book about it.The reason Ghantt got involved was always the . Ghantt was the vault manager and was surrounded. Steve also offered $100,000 to his 26-year-old cousin. The van door opened. Ghantt and one other employee were the last to leave. Steve Chambers and Kelly Campbell, who had been friends on and off since growing up together in the mid-1980s, were at a cookout, playing cards and drinking Budweiser at Steve's Lincoln County, N.C., mobile home, Kelly recalled. You're an idiot.'". 2023 Cox Media Group. All I needed was a change of pace.". I hit the local library the thing that we used to do before Google, Ghantt says with a small laugh. Though Wydra is retired, 25 years ago, he was an agent with the FBI. 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. The next day, he was sitting next to FBI agent Mark Rozzi on a US Airways flight to Charlotte. Though he never found the right moment to carry out the hit, McKinney did find time to make a friend--a shady character named Robert, to whom he revealed more than was prudent. 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. Thats where they feel comfortable., This piece of information would become critical to his getaway plan. There was, however, one problem with his plan. He loves his motorcycle and enjoys going fishing and, while hes sorry for the past, hes not ashamed to talk about it. So they went to Mexico and arrested Ghantt in order to protect him. . Based on a true story, the premise itself is fascinating, which makes Masterminds all the more a waste. In a word, "Teamwork. ', "He asked me if I'd mind holding some money for him. This is where it starts to unravel, Ghantt tells me with a wry laugh. Steve Chambers would keep the rest. Steve bought a truck, a Rolex and a motorboat. Sweat soaked David's uniform. One day, Campbell was speaking to an old friend named Steve Chambers. By now, you probably know the names -- David Ghantt, Steve Chambers and his wife Michelle, and Kelly Campbell. For the defendants in the Loomis Fargo heist, its allure was irresistible. She asked about the limit for a cash deposit before "paperwork" was required. There was a little voice in my head that said, 'Don't do it. However, the FBI knew immediately who robbed the vault (Ghant was seen on video camera), and it didnt take long for the FBI to loop in Kelly Campbell. . Campbell was another employee at Loomis Fargo and she and Ghantt quickly struck up a relationship, one that Campbell denies was ever romantic though FBI evidence says otherwise, and one that continued after she left the company. Best States is an interactive platform developed by U.S. News for ranking the 50 U.S. states, alongside news analysis and daily reporting. He told him McKinney was in Mexico to kill somebody. Campbell used to work for Loomis and continued the friendship with Ghantt,. The agents tapped the phone, and it didnt take long to locate Ghantt after that. Kelly had resisted this suggestion before the heist: She and David were friends. And after two years, you're just a file." 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. He gave the rest to Kelly. The money was heavy. Chambers promised to wire him money in Mexico until the investigation blew over and Ghantt could return to North Carolina. All but one of the 24 defendants pleaded guilty, and the one who didnt take the deal was convicted. David didn't even know Steve's name. Campbell was released from federal custody in 2004 after serving five years, meaning her collection case will age out in December 2024. I mean, it was dark, Ghantt explains. Warning! That sounds like a lot of money until its compared to the $18,930,201.26 the group was ordered to pay. Well she was a pretty happy-go-lucky person, he said. Ghantt spent a solid hour moving what ended up being 2,700 pounds of cash more than an actual ton into an unmarked company van. She also assured the teller her cash wasn't drug money. FBI video shows the agency searching that home and finding drawers full of cash. We got this guy named Bruno. Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. But it wasnt. Michelle Chambers paid off only $27,000. However, the fact that a man who formerly lived in a mobile home was lavishly spending money on a luxury home ($635,000 in cash), expensive cars, and a ring ($42,000 in cash) eventually made it easy to connect the dots. Throughout the multi-year-long case and subsequent trials, journalists often referred to Ghantt and the others as trailer trash and hillbillies. As he and Kelly met in a field behind a shooting range to refine the plan, she allowed him to believe she was falling for him. Besides her prison sentence, Campbell must undergo mental health and drug treatment and spend two years in a supervised release program. An officer rang the doorbell. Her sentence was delayed until Jan. 1 so she could spend the holidays with her family. Campbell used to work for Loomis and continued the friendship with Ghantt, eventually hooking him up with Chambers. On the radio, the "John Boy and Billy" show played the song "Take the Money and Run. But after a year, they'll cut it down to two agents. From my standpoint, it was just a business deal, Ghantt said. There, Scott and Eric paced the floor as Steve tried to calm them down. To protect themselves, David and Steve didn't meet or talk. For reasons that remain obscure, Robert spilled the beans to David. Some days, the robbery seems like a memory from a different life, a choice made by a different man. You can garnish wages. Ghantt took $50,000 for himself and fled to Cozumel, Mexico. Scary. There was a third person with them, too, a man named Eric Grant. I learned something that was valuable at the time: Most criminals never leave a 250, maybe 300-mile circle from their home base. Ghantt, meanwhile, was losing his patience and starting to make threats. Search by Name Search . As soon as you put that first bag of stolen money in that van, theres no going back. "So he stays behind and moving over two thousand pounds. Ghantt worked at Loomis Fargos regional office vault in Charlotte. Not all of them, but some of them are going to forgive you, theyre going to overlook it., he said. There were times when I drank really heavily.". Hes a family man with a wife and daughter. I'd probably change jobs. 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