Learn about careers at Cox Media Group. In Campbells case, Gronquist says his client was buried in court-ordered debt despite the fact that she took responsibility for what she had done and cooperated with prosecutors and the FBI. Copyright The Nashua Telegraph | https://www.nashuatelegraph.com | 110 Main St, Ste 1, Nashua, NH 03060 | 603-882-2741, Loomis Fargo defendants owe as much as they stole in 1997, Thats pretty standard in restitution matters. 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. Im married, I got one girl, shes 15 going on 30. Prosecutors say a vault. 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. David and Steve had never met, but Steve had already secured somebody else's birth certificate and social security card for him and given it to Kelly to pass along. 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. 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. >> PHOTOS: The Loomis Fargo heist, 25 years later. Join thousands already receiving our daily newsletter. Notifications from this discussion will be disabled. Kelly had approached David with the idea in the summer, knowing he had a crush on her and winning him over with the promise that a shady friend of hers with Mafia ties would help them. Get an email notification whenever someone contributes to the discussion. Then they returned it. 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) David and the trainee left the warehouse. (LogOut/ They also found several stacks of money with Loomis bands still attached throughout all the homes searched. Enabling JavaScript in your browser will allow you to experience all the features of our site. She had previously been making frequent small deposits to avert suspicion. More calls between the two men, and also between Steve and Kelly Campbell, made it clear that the group was starting to turn on David Ghantt. But things didnt quite work out that way. Later that year, he saw a newspaper ad for a job at Loomis Fargo. She sounded incredulous. They involve Loomis armored car driver David Scott Ghantt. It all went down in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the man at the center of that heist, David Scott Ghantt, now lives in Jacksonville. "But you can still have a cigarette.". First, they tapped the Chambers phone, and began listening in on February 11th, 1998. Growing up, David had been a nice kid, a decent student who was at worst a minor troublemaker and prankster. 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. These (Loomis) guys, not so much.. VERDICT The first edition of this work was published in 2002. Seven p.m. came and went, and so did 7:20. Friends of Campbell had also begun spending large amounts of cash. That was the thing that sticks in my mind to this day.. Campbell used to work for Loomis and continued the friendship with Ghantt, eventually hooking him up with Chambers. So its one thing to go from up here, thought, to action, he said. David got a kick out of her. And if that gives people out there a little bit of hope, then Ive served my purpose on this earth.. Campbell and her husband had always been just scraping by, however in the weeks following the robbery, the two seemed to have more money than theyve ever had. "What would it take to make you do it?". Ms. Campbell worked at Loomis for 11 months, leaving in November 1996, according to court papers. Authorities were notified of the robbery in the morning, when employees couldnt open the vault. He angrily hung up the phone at Loomis, Fargo & Co., his soon-to-be former employer in Charlotte, North Carolina. So he and some friends decided at the end of his Oct. 4 shift he would load a company van with more than 2,000 pounds of cash and just drive away. He would then have the bulk of his share sent south of the border. Another time, the day after a Christmas in the late 1980s, David and some friends planted all the discarded Christmas trees from the area in one neighbor's front yard. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Records show the government has garnished his Social Security checks. However, Chambers had no intention of following those rules, believing the FBI would never connect him to Ghantt. Conversations about stealing from the company weren't rare for Loomis employees. Steve's a serious guy.". The van used to move the money was later located a few miles from the warehouse. The biggest restitution numbers for victims of financial crimes generally involve Ponzi schemes or sweepstakes fraud, not cash thefts. Spunk. Sunny. 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. Theres no way to get it back, Butcher told The Charlotte Observer. One number is working in Campbells favor. Lacking a college degree, he found that his army skills felt meaningless in the 1990s job market. So the pieces were falling into place for investigators. In preparation for what lay ahead, David had backed an unmarked company Ford Econoline van near the vault entrance and opened the van's back door. The bizarre true story of the criminals behind the second-largest bank heist in American history. Instead he became paranoid, especially after Steve Chambers put a contract out on his life. The October 4 shift was lasting longer than expected, due to delays involving pickups and deliveries. "What would it take to convince you to do it?" 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Marine Fisheries Commission advocates for water quality, North Carolina the only state allowing unnecessary killing of sea turtles, 'Pagan' bike gang leader in N. Carolina sentenced to prison, Deputy cleared in shooting death of Gloucester woman, Beaufort amends charter to allow four-year mayoral term. Campbell was released from federal custody in 2004 after serving five years, meaning her collection case will age out in December 2024. You can garnish wages. Their only intimate physical contact had been kissing on a mid-September night when they had driven her pickup truck to a field behind a shooting range in Gaston County to discuss their plans and the theft's chance of success. Who all wanted a Rambo movie which explored his time training as a green beret and his time serving in Vietnam as a prequel to first blood WATCH Antebellum 2020 FULL MOVIE. "Don't double-cross us," the woman on the phone told David Ghantt. At about 6:40 p.m., he went back inside. Steve was a serious guy? A parrot tattoo on her right ankle. Ghantts spending in Mexico was extravagant at first. They assumed that whoever was involved would keep the cash in a safe place, like a safe deposit box. Getting restitution, its like pulling teeth.. 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. Its in the ether. Low 46F. The plan was to exit through the building's electronic back gate, which consisted of horizontal metal plates that opened at the touch of a button. To be brutally honest, it was that morning, Ghantt replied. 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. One number is working in Campbells favor. He decided at that moment that if Kelly called again, he would go for it. The FBI became more suspicious after they interviewed Campbell for the third time. 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 added that money can be a motivator for anyone. By now, you probably know the names -- David Ghantt, Steve Chambers and his wife Michelle, and Kelly Campbell. Ghantt went to Mexico leaving the money with his cohorts, thinking that he could get his share back when he needed it. To the community, the Loomis Fargo heist was a big joke -- the largest hillbilly caper of all time. Down in Jacksonville, a Loomis Fargo employee took $18 million from an armored van he was driving. David's share would be sent to Mexico, where he planned to hide and where he expected Kelly to join him. All but one of the 24 defendants pleaded guilty, and the one who didnt take the deal was convicted. He said at first, they were very proud of what they had been able to do. Next month, Payne will back in the Charlotte federal courthouse, this time to be sentenced from weapons and methamphetamine trafficking charges. She was five-foot-seven, had dirty-blond hair, and had worked with him for about a year at Loomis Fargo, until she left for another job in 1996. Four-wheeling. All of the co-defendants were arrested the next day, about six months after the heist. CHARLOTTE If you didnt live in the Charlotte area 25 years ago, you might not believe it. Steve began talking about wiring money to overseas accounts, and even purchasing a nightclub. They located Steve and Shelley Chambers in their newly-purchased home at the top of a hill. Over 88% of the money has been recovered since the heist. 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. A woman by the name of Kelly Campbell had worked there in 1996, and she and Ghantt had become friends in that time. Since then, there have been numerous articles, books, documentaries and even a movie about this gang -- the gang that couldnt shoot straight. (John D. Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP) Learn about careers at Cox Media Group. 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. He hated his job and his bosses, he'd lost hope in his marriage, he wasn't going to advance at Loomis, and he couldn't afford to quit to enroll in college. 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. From there, the money was moved from the armored car to private vehicles. He waffled on the heist idea three or four times from late August to mid-September. Campbell and her husband had always been just scraping by, however in the weeks following the robbery, the two seemed to have more money than they've ever had. 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. Its in the ether. Campbell used to work for Loomis and continued the friendship with Ghantt, eventually hooking him up with Chambers. More than 2 million dollars are still missing to this day. He ejected the two VCR tapes that he knew had recorded him stealing the money, took them, and prepared to leave. Updated: 11:31 AM EDT October 4, 2022 CHARLOTTE, N.C. Tuesday is the 25th anniversary of the infamous Loomis Fargo heist in Charlotte, where a bank worker, with the help of two accomplices,. My knee-jerk reaction was to be angry, and then the sarcastic ass side of me started laughing about it, Ghantt said. Youre supposed to get less time for cooperating, a lesser penalty, and instead, you see what she got hit with. Gronquist said. Its said the current owner now has it in storage in Phoenix, Arizona. OWLS director fired in wake of new board taking over, New rules will require flood history disclosure in real estate, North Carolina recreational spring flounder season canceled for 2023, Supreme Court seems ready to sink student loan forgiveness, Beach commission gets update on search for new sources of sand for beach nourishment. Accompanying her was Steve Chambers, who, though unemployed, had recently moved . 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. There are multiples of thousands of these things coming every year. Booklist "Librariesshould consider purchasing this entertaining and lightly edited version, which reads like a fast-paced novel." 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 movie: Campbell invites Ghantt to a restaurant under the auspices of a date, but then springs the idea of the heist on him, as Chambers and two associates join the conversation from an . David placed their odds of success at 85 percent, a confidence inspired by faith not just in his planning but also in his feelings for Kelly. But being the vault supervisor at Loomis Fargo had one perk -- exposure to tons of cash. 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 . He knew his mother would be traumatized, shocked, and appalled. Fourteen defendants were ordered to make restitution payments to Loomis Fargo totaling almost $19 million. Except for the kiss in the pickup truck a few weeks before the heist, Kelly had kept things platonic. Ghantt was the vault manager and was surrounded daily by millions of dollars worth of temptation. The police almost immediately called theFBI, since 95% of the money handled at the facility was owned by banks. ", "I don't need any more friends," she'd shot back. be blocked or permanently banned without warning. Twenty people were convicted of roles big and small in the massive 1997 armored-car warehouse heist in west Charlotte. He'd already done enough, he realized, to get himself fired and arrested, even if the gate prevented him from moving the money outside the building. In the end, the FBI was able to capture the original gang in five months, snaring 21 individuals for their participation in the crime. Ghantt met up with the other members of the plot and offloaded the cash. So we were able to figure out with all the denominations, it would require about 20 safe deposit boxes to store it all.. Johnson had stolen $18.8 million earlier in the year, on March 19, 1997, only to be caught five months later, in late August, while crossing into Texas from Mexico to retrieve some of the money, which he'd hidden in a shed in mountainous western North Carolina. That was taking the long view. LETTER TO THE EDITOR: But where will they park? The Loomis Fargo heist: 25 years later 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, former FBI agent John Wydra said. "Are you serious?" 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. 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. Burks was also ordered to serve 15 years in prison, limiting his ability to balance his books. The biggest restitution numbers for victims of financial crimes generally involve Ponzi schemes or sweepstakes fraud, not cash thefts. Also charged with money laundering were innocent relatives and friends who had co-signed safe deposit boxes. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. There was no reason to leave anything, he felt. The FBI heard about the plot and agents knew they could no longer wait. The supervisor liked him and gave him the job. But if you did, youll never forget it. These (Loomis) guys, not so much.. It wasn't how much you stole that mattered most; it was that you had stolen in the first place. He shut the empty vault and set its timer so the vault could not be opened for two or three days. All but one took plea deals, including Ghantt, who was sentenced to seven years in prison. The same applies to trolling, the use of multiple aliases, or They didnt expect it.. You Save 23%. Former Loomis employee David Scott Ghantt is accused of stealing the money. In all, they recovered $6.6 million. The Star-Ledger, 06/15/2015On October 4, 1997, an amateurish gang robbed Loomis, Fargo & Co. in Charlotte, NC of $17 million, the second largest heist in U.S. history. The gang made numerous mistakes. Who was she to be pressuring him? Diamant, a journalist who reported on the case at the time, goes into meticulous detail on how the heist was pulled off and its aftermath. "I'll need help moving the money, getting a new ID, and leaving the country," he told her. He realized his life wouldn't improve unless he did something drastic. He and his wife, Michele, moved from theirmobile homeinLincoln Countyto a luxury house in the wealthy Cramer Mountain section ofCramerton. Sun, sand and beaches are all part of why Jacksonville is a popular destination. Not every agent has a case like that, he said. sole discretion of the site administrators and repeat offenders may The FBI began to question past and current employees of Loomis Fargo. Was the temptation too much? EDITORIAL: Computer Science misses the need for digital literacy, N. Carolina legislators announce Medicaid expansion deal, EDITORIAL: Fighting political forces that sever family ties, Special-use to get overhaul: Commissioners, planners take a look, Cape Carteret seeking new police chief one month after hiring New Bern resident for post, How many in North Carolina are awaiting student loan debt relief? Change). They hadn't slept together or even fooled around much, but he was ready to commit. Thank you! While Ghantt trusted Chambers enough to leave his cut behind, Chambers had other plans. Discover some of the worlds strangest ancient places. His collection case, which closes in November 2026, got credit for the couples $540,000 house on Cramer Mountain in Gaston County, Butcher says. In this outrageously entertaining book, Jeff Diamant, the Charlotte Observer's lead reporter on the case, offers the definitive inside account of this astonishing. David Scott Ghantt, his former co-worker Kelly Campbell and her friends Steve and Michelle Chambers carried out the Loomis Fargo heist on Oct. 4, 1997. The movie was called Masterminds and stars Zach Galifianakis, Kristen Wiig and Owen Wilson. He stayed at it until the vault was empty. LeVaughn Kelly Campbell (born July 23, 1980 in Atlanta, Georgia) is a former football wide receiver. of violence, racism, anti-Semitism, or Uh-oh, it looks like your Internet Explorer is out of date. ", Johnson said, "Yeah, that's it. La vie de David Ghantt n'a rien de compliqu. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ). Punishment needs to be fair and realistic. 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. 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. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Some of that money is just gone. As a privately owned web site, we reserve the right to edit or 12) Loomis Fargo heist- The aftermath Ultimately, eight co-conspirators were indicted for the Loomis Fargo bank heist. He loves his motorcycle and enjoys going fishing and, while hes sorry for the past, hes not ashamed to talk about it. The plan to. Ghantt studied how to rob his employer and advised the others not to spend the money lavishly. 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. A few of the Loomis restitution cases have already been closed either because the amount was paid in full or because the 20-year clock wound down. That way, outsiders couldn't see money being loaded. 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Fourteen defendants were ordered to make restitution payments to Loomis Fargo totaling almost $19 million. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. Burks was also ordered to serve 15 years in prison, limiting his ability to balance his books. Each cart, holding about $2 million, was taking David seven or eight minutes to stack, push, and empty into the van, and there were about eight cartloads' worth in the vault. It has a certain feel, a smell and weight to it. He says the Loomis case shows how the criminal justice system and the courts treat lower-income people differently. He had since held one low-paying job after another. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. The figures can be astounding. The money weighed as much as a compact car and he did it all by himself. Investigators considered Ghantt to be the prime suspect almost from the beginning. And with Loomis, were looking at only one case. In August 1997, Campbell informed Ghantt about an old high school friend of hers named Steve Chambers, who could assist Ghantt to execute a massive cash robbery of the Loomis Fargo vault in one night. (LogOut/ We dont have the manpower to track all that (restitution) money down I pay (restitution to) thousands of people, but its in drips and drabs.. "I'm busy," he said. The FBI says Chambers hired a hitman to tie up the ultimate loose end -- Ghantt. A third surveillance tape was carelessly left behind, and the company was able to identify the man who robbed the vault as David Ghantt. Tips had led the FBI to begin monitoring Chambers (and his wifes) activities, but it was not until the FBIrecorded a phone callfrom Ghantt in Mexico that the final connection was made. He tried again to make the back gate rise, to no avail. When they hung up, she called his pager and left the code 1-4-3, beeper-speak for "I love you," based on the number of letters in each word. - 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. Thomas Grant, who served three years in prison for bank larceny, paid off restitution of $70,000; brother Eric Grant paid all of his $26,000; as did David Craig, $40,000; and Dennis and Sandra Floyd; $27,000. He knew it would mean leaving Tammy. In 2017, for example, Paul Burks of Lexington was ordered to pay $244 million to the victims of his worldwide Ponzi scheme, Zeek Rewards. 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. In Gastonia, David would run into high-school classmates who had never struck him as especially smart. His collection case closes in two years. 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. Working by himself, Ghantt would commit the robbery and then flee for Mexico, leaving the bulk of the cash with Chambers. How he felt shorted by life. David was supposed to be showing him the ropes of the job, which included cash pickups and deliveries. On Oct. 5, the Loomis heist celebrates its 25th birthday. The defendants received sentences ranging from probation for several relatives to over 11 years in federal prison for Steve Chambers. Available on Compatible NOOK Devices and the free NOOK Apps. "its a great readsuspenseful, often funny, just the thing for those wondering what it might feel like to have, as these hapless, small-town criminals did, literally too darn much cash lying around. " David's vision for all of this actually derived more from books than from movies. Well they were in some sense celebrities, Gronquist said. Even with several vehicles, they underestimated how much space they would need and they had to leave $3 million behind. In 1994, they moved to Gastonia, North Carolina, where they had grown up, and David took a job driving a forklift. Afterward, she and David would talk just occasionally on the phone. Now, at 7:45 p.m., with all the money finally inside the van, his aching muscles could take a breather. A few of the Loomis restitution cases have already been closed either because the amount was paid in full or because the 20-year clock wound down. A woman by the name of Kelly Campbell had worked there in 1996, and she and Ghantt had become friends in that time. To visit friends.". 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.