Human nature is a flexible part of life, Gronquist said. Its like, me and you sat down, I have access to pie, you like pie, all I want is my share of the pie. He has a regular life now, but 25 years ago, Ghantt was the mastermind behind the third-largest bank robbery in U.S. history. VERDICT The first edition of this work was published in 2002. Despite being caught on camera wheeling the money from the vault to the getaway van, David Ghantt makes off to Mexico before the FBI can blink. A customs inspector, asking routine questions of bus passengers, focused her attention on him when his answers reminded her of Tommy Flanagan, the pathological-liar character played by Jon Lovitz on Saturday Night Live. 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. At about 6:40 p.m., he went back inside. CHARLOTTE If you didnt live in the Charlotte area 25 years ago, you might not believe it. Its in the ether. That movie, Masterminds, was filmed in 2014. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. He shut the empty vault and set its timer so the vault could not be opened for two or three days. Ghantt, who by then was long out of prison, served as a consultant. The woman on the phone was Kelly Jane Campbell, and David had a mad crush on her. You cannot fine low-income people millions of dollars. Ghantt studied how to rob his employer and advised the others not to spend the money lavishly. "Don't double-cross us," the woman on the phone told David Ghantt. (LogOut/ But you cant get blood from a stone,, Criminals dont usually get high-paying jobs after leaving prison. 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. The site features a collection of unexplained, strange and odd mysteries. Nathan, Steves cousin, was found in a mobile home the Chambers had abandoned. Butcher says the federal courts in the Western District of North Carolina have never handled a case quite like Loomis. As a child, he had preferred reading to playing sports, and he would say, as an adult, that although he couldn't have told you "who was on first," he knew as a kid who the Egyptian god of the dead was. He knew they were nervous outside waiting for him, but he also knew he wouldn't stop stealing until he had taken everything. Theres no way to get it back,, And with Loomis, were looking at only one case. Most people are going to forgive you. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Then, he proceeded to load 2,800 pounds of cash into a 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. These weren't the hardest of criminals, and though there was logic to not knowing each other's names, they had derived some of their methods from Hollywood depictions of crime. 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. JACKSONVILLE, Fla. This month marked 25 years since one of the biggest armored car heists in U.S. history. Enabling JavaScript in your browser will allow you to experience all the features of our site. 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. I ride motorcycles and fish -- normal guy, Ghantt told Counts. In the first couple of weeks, they had heard both Steve and Shelley bragging about their new-found fortune, and spending remarkable amounts of money. Michelle Chambers paid off only $27,000. He realized his bosses would know he had worked that day and that he was missing, but maybe without a video they would think he'd been held at gunpoint and taken hostage, or even better, that he'd been killed. Then, keeping with the plan, Ghantt took $50,000 (the maximum that could be taken across the border by law without further authorization) with him and left for Mexico, winding up at the popularYucatan Peninsularesort ofCozumel. David and the trainee left the warehouse. Jim Gronquist was Campbells defense attorney. Ghantt had struck up a relationship with a fellow Loomis Fargo employee, Kelly Campbell; they continued to maintain contact even after Campbell left the company. A more immediate need was securing help to move the stolen money to safety the night of the crime. Ghantt met up with the other members of the plot and offloaded the cash. 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 loot would later be divided among David, Kelly, and Steve. "Everything's gonna be all right," she told him. He is a graduate of Yale and has worked for the Connecticut Post, the Associated Press, and the Palm Beach Post. How he felt shorted by life. The Chambers home is now gated, which means Channel 9 crews cant drive up to it like we used to. He worked close-by to where the van and over $3 million dollars had been ditched, and was friends with Steve Chambers. He could even be famous, perhaps joining the ranks of legendary master thieves. of violence, racism, anti-Semitism, or Ghantts spending in Mexico was extravagant at first. "For the first year after a crime," he told her, "they're all over you, with six to ten agents. Though much of the cash was already stacked on pushcarts in the vault, other stacks were on shelves or the floor, and they were heavy. She had previously been making frequent small deposits to avert suspicion. It all seemed unfair. By this time, agents knew where he was and had a general idea who the other players were, so they went to every bank in town to see if any of them rented a safe deposit box. You can seize property. When Ghantt called Campbell however, the FBI was able to track his location, and arrested him with the help of the Mexican police onMarch 1, 1998. Twenty years ago this Wednesday, a small group of people stole $17 million in cash from the main vault of a Loomis Fargo & Co. armored-car warehouse in west Charlotte. Youre supposed to get less time for cooperating, a lesser penalty, and instead, you see what she got hit with. Gronquist said. 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. 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.. 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. While David Ghantt trusted Steve Chambers enough to leave his cut behind, Chambers had other plans. It's been 20 years since the Loomis Fargo heist. - Charlotte Observer So the original gang was all totally shocked, Wydra said. There are multiples of thousands of these things coming every year. The actual crime itself required none of Hollywood's imagination. Ghantt was working as a vault supervisor for Loomis Fargo in Charlotte in 1997, earning about $8 an hour and tired of his humdrum life. Cool interesting stuff features everything odd, weird, bizzare, strange or unusual. Living with his wife, Tammy, in a mobile home, he had longed for the middle-class lifestyle of his childhood that had come to seem luxurious, a pipe dream for him now. More than 2 million dollars are still missing to this day. 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. Unexplained Mysteries and Strange Things,Cool Interesting stuff has been online since early 2011. [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]. 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. He had since held one low-paying job after another. shaka wear graphic tees is candy digital publicly traded ellen lawson wife of ted lawson real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist 25 Feb/23 (No Ratings Yet) 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. David was thin six-foot-one, one hundred sixty-five pounds and heaving the stacks onto the cart, pushing the cart toward the vault door, and then emptying its contents into the van was exhausting. They located Steve and Shelley Chambers in their newly-purchased home at the top of a hill. kelly campbell masterminds - clydeautorepairs.co.uk 25th anniversary of the incredible Loomis Fargo bank heist | wcnc.com The plan was for Ghantt to commit the actual robbery and then quickly leave the country forMexico but to leave the bulk of the cash with Chambers. He couldn't understand the gap, why he wasn't more successful, why he couldn't at least match the financial stability of his father, who earned a comfortable salary driving a truck. remove comments that contain spam, advertising, vulgarity, threats The figures can be astounding. WOMAN GETS TIME IN LOOMIS HEIST - Greensboro News and Record According to Butcher, Campbells last official payment came in June 2021 when the government appears to have seized a tax refund of $81.24. Some of that money is just gone. Winds light and variable. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.. Clear skies. Getting restitution, its like pulling teeth.. Javascript is not enabled in your browser. Temptation to do something that you think you normally wouldnt do can change a lot of minds when its that kind of cash, and thats what it was., (WATCH BELOW: VIDEO: The Loomis Fargo heist: 25 years later). 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. Twenty people were convicted of roles big and small in the massive 1997 armored-car warehouse heist in west Charlotte. Theres no way to get it back, Butcher told The Charlotte Observer. The bizarre true story of the criminals behind the second-largest bank heist in American history. Soon thereafter, he met Kelly Campbell, a co-worker at Loomis Fargo. So we were able to figure out with all the denominations, it would require about 20 safe deposit boxes to store it all., WSOC TV facebook feed(Opens a new window), Part 2: Channel 9 speaks with the man at the center of Loomis Fargo heist 25 years ago, ALSO READ: 14-year-old boy robbed at gunpoint while waiting for bus in east Charlotte, mom says, ALSO READ: Leader of $3M check theft, bank fraud scheme in Charlotte area sentenced to prison, ALSO READ: Man released from jail, accused of robbing banks while wearing electronic monitor, police say, ALSO READ: Suspect from south Charlotte bank robbery found, CMPD says, NCSHP arrest driver accused of nearly hitting 2 students at bus stop in Statesville, CMS delays opening of new school meant to ease overcrowding, Mooresville orders removal of memorial at park after teens death, Chick-fil-A announces app data breach, tells customers how to protect personal information, Charlotte woman celebrates $1 million scratch-off prize, WSOC - TV Public File Contact / Program Director, WAXN - TV Public File Contact / Program Director. Still facing possible unknowns of other people involved, the FBI needed to gather more information without the suspects getting suspicious of them. "I was unhappy with my life. One number is working in Campbells favor. There's just one hitch: Ghantt has entrusted the money to an oddball crew of accomplices who had wooed him into committing this massive theft in the first placeand who, he soon learns, are trying to take him out. The plan was still on, but David remained steamed. He played high school football at Mays High School in Atlanta, and college football at Georgia Tech . Restitution is a familiar part of sentencing in federal court. - 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. Theres no way to get it back, Butcher told The Charlotte Observer. (LogOut/ 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. In his youth, his mother had taken him to Sears and JCPenney, but as a man he shopped at Walmart, and while he knew there was nothing wrong with that, he wished he could afford more. The building was configured so vans could drive inside and pull up next to the vault. Well they were in some sense celebrities, Gronquist said. Pink, Mr. Blue, Mr. Orange, Mr. Blonde. It wasn't how much you stole that mattered most; it was that you had stolen in the first place. 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. Chambers had broached the possibility of a robbery to Campbell earlier in the summer. They didnt expect it.. 'When you have money, you just have different problems': The Loomis And if that gives people out there a little bit of hope, then Ive served my purpose on this earth.. The case had gotten national publicity and was the subject of numerous articles, documentaries and even a movie. Of course the most famous thing inside the home was a velvet Elvis portrait. FBI video shows agents searching the Cramer Mountain home and finding stacks of cash. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. He would then have the bulk of his share sent south of the border. White-collar criminals are pretty good at hiding their money, she said. "Are you serious?" "What would it take to make you do it?". Sure to be in demand as the book has been made into a movie, Masterminds, to be released in August.Michael Sawyer, Pine Bluff, AR. Holding 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 & Co. She was also. Ms. Campbell worked at Loomis for 11 months, leaving in November 1996, according to court papers. You should definitely start your own blog, I highly recommend it. In March 1997, after Loomis Fargo & Company has been robbed of $18.8 million in Jacksonville by company security guard Philip Noel Johnson, Steve Eugene Chambers and Kelly Campbell, a former employee of Loomis, decides to rob the company. This was several years before the advent of smartphones and the post-9/11 increase in federal surveillance of electronic communications, and public knowledge about this tracking was less widespread. She had attitude. White-collar criminals are pretty good at hiding their money, she said. How did they get away with stealing more than $17 million? He knew his mother would be traumatized, shocked, and appalled. Seven Charged In $17M Heist - CBS News The Loomis defendants face no additional legal jeopardy for not paying off their debts. Except for the kiss in the pickup truck a few weeks before the heist, Kelly had kept things platonic. Clerk of Court Frank Johns of Charlotte. She sounded incredulous. 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. Inside the truck, they found Ghantts ring and surmised this as a sign of Ghantts intention to end his relationship with his wife. People dont seem to understand human nature. David and Kelly had driven to Rock Hill, South Carolina, and used the documents to obtain a fake ID that David would also rely on after the theft. Ghantt was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison. - 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. From my standpoint, it was just a business deal, Ghantt said.