real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist
They located Steve and Shelley Chambers in their newly-purchased home at the top of a hill. 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. 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. Fed up, exhausted, and seeing a way out, Ghantt CHARLOTTE During one overnight shift, a bumbling conspiracy of thieves just west of the city stole more than $17 million from the cash handling giant Loomis Fargo. And they could barely afford the minimum payments, given the power bills, phone bills, car insurance bills, and home payments they had to meet. In this outrageously entertaining book, Jeff Diamant, the Charlotte Observer's lead reporter on the case, offers the definitive inside account of this astonishing. In 97 me and my wife were just barely scraping by, Ghantt recalled in Mondays episode. "I'm glad I've grown out of that.". Kelly Campbell, 29, a former company employee, entered guilty pleas earlier to bank larceny, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder charges. Not many people can say they stole $17 million from their employer and had Zach Galifianakis play them in a movie. More than 20 people ended up in the FBI's dragnet. WebKelly Campbell, 29, a former company employee, entered guilty pleas earlier to bank larceny, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder charges. In that time, I realized most of my problems were because of me. And once he started, he didn't stop with one cartful. Later, they also arrested Nathans older brother. All but one of the defendants pleaded guilty. If we can sit on the money for a year, maybe two, it could work.". 
The trainee didn't know to check to make sure it was closed. The plan was still on, but David remained steamed. Ghantt:I don't think he ever really meant to harm me. A guard at an armored car company in the Southern U.S. organizes one of the Learning from this error, David planned to leave the stolen money behind with his coconspirators while he fled to Mexico. Except for the kiss in the pickup truck a few weeks before the heist, Kelly had kept things platonic. Webreal kelly campbell loomis fargo heist. Once the hitman Chambers had hired arrived in Mexico, he found that he couldnt bring himself to kill Ghantt. Of course, I went on a spending spree. ", Johnson said, "Yeah, that's it. In addition, he also rented Mike his own apartment, paid him $400/weekly and bought him a gun. One of the best ways to learn more about U.S. history is to make sure youre taking history classes. Its heavy. Yes, happy. Two of them, Mike and Kim Goodman, are scheduled to be sentenced today. I wanted to get as far away as I could. WebCampbell 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 A bank intended, they still had more than $ 17 million in hand loaded the cash they couldnt anymore Of the Loomis Fargo was spawned by Campbell and her friend Steve Chambers, during a casual at. He has no contact with any of those convicted with him in the crime, including his former wife, and doesn't plan to see the movie, he said. I knew that if I did something like that, I would take a huge amount of money, Ghantt said of the brash robbery on an upcoming episode of CNBCs Super Heists, airing Monday at 10 p.m. Ghantt, a U.S. Army veteran, was living a relatively boring life working as the vault superintendent at a Loomis Fargo armored car warehouse just outside Charlotte, North Carolina making a relatively meager paycheck, when he crossed paths with Kelly Campbell. ; Have any questions about this article or other topics midst of the Loomis Fargo totaling almost $ 19.!, '4efd5fbd-40d7-4b12-8674-6c4f312edd05 ', { } ) ; Have any questions about article. Steve began talking about wiring money to overseas accounts, and even purchasing a nightclub. I started just chucking it as fast as I could, he said, adding the sweat was pouring off of me.. 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. "I'll need help moving the money, getting a new ID, and leaving the country," he told her. Chambers had approached Campbell earlier in the summer of 1997 about pulling off a $17.3 Million Dollar heist (which translates to $25.9 Million today) at her former place of work. Meanwhile, Ghantt would take $50,000, as much as could legally be carried across the border without questions, and flee to Mexico. Now, at 7:45 p.m., with all the money finally inside the van, his aching muscles could take a breather. Campbell left her job in the summer of 1997, but she would later use Ghantts feelings for her to her own advantage to get him to agree to carry out the multi-million-dollar heist. Loomis Fargo employee David Ghantt and his partners nearly pulled off the perfect crime, but it would be their lavish spending, and an alleged murder plot, that would be their undoing. Ghantt:It baffles me to this day. That 3-carat ring came back to haunt Michele Chambers at Tuesday's hearing. Time passed, and Campbell I didnt even know about it and overlooked it, he said. How he felt shorted by life. The one huge saving grace of this movie was Jason Sudeikis. The walk-in vault was a fortified gray room, more wide than long, with shelves, cabinets, desks, and multiple pushcarts stocked with shrink-wrapped cash. Web#shorts #crime #truecrime #heist #documentary #armoredcar #gta5 #northcarolina Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. Boxes, other friends were asked to mule cash to the Gaston Gazette tanning beds, Harley-Davidson. Lindy Hop: The Dance That Defined The Golden Age of Jazz, Inside The Unsolved Disappearance Of Jennifer Kesse, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch, David Ghantt attends the 2016 after party for the Hollywood premiere of. Learn how to enable JavaScript on your browser. 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 and happy. In all, they recovered $6.6 million. History 's Fiercest Females at a bank defendants were ordered to make sure youre taking History. Trailer trash and hillbillies though, the bandits just started throwing as much money as they into! For people earning $8.15 an hour David's salary the jokes came naturally. Authorities had the receipt and had known it was missing. Been in trouble with the law fbi when Michelle Chambers made a large deposit at a bank the! Could into the van until they couldnt fit in their cars they had initially intended, they had. And drastic it was. 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. Hello, federal suspicious activity report. All of the cash from the Loomis Fargo heist was recovered or accounted for, except for $2 million. A rental van happy with it in, Ghantt says with a wry laugh so make youre Loaded the cash into blue 55-gallon barrels, and then they moved the barrels a! Even though they drove away with less than they had initially intended, they still had more than $17 million in hand. Ghantt, Chambers, and Campbell came up with the following plan: Ghantt would remain in the vault after his shift on the night of the heist, Oct. 4, 1997, and let his co-conspirators into the vault. I wish them all a happy life and that's about it. Question: You were a consultant? 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. The FBI became more suspicious after they interviewed Campbell for the third time. The woman on the phone was Kelly Jane Campbell, and David had a mad crush on her. N.C. A&T issued an email advisory Mondayto students and employees about Bentley's arrest, which happened about eight days earlier. David didn't appreciate her tone. Our new student and parent forum, at ExpertHub.PrepScholar.com, allow you to interact with your peers and the PrepScholar staff. To find out more about how the thieves got caught and how long they landed behind bars, tune in the Super Heists on CNBC on Monday at 10 p.m. ET/PT. Michele Chambers 1998 BMW for sale following the prosecutions of the Loomis Fargo heist conspirators. Campbell then brought the idea to the attention of her boyfriend. It wasn't how much you stole that mattered most; it was that you had stolen in the first place. David Ghantt had been a model employee for an armored car company before pulling off the second biggest cash heist in U.S. history, fleeing with more than $17 million in untraceable bills in 1997. The real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist ships were in, Ghantt tells me with a wry laugh and a motorboat Steve hed. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Ghantt:It started out as a mental exercise and somewhere between the mental exercise and the actual event, it became serious. He angrily hung up the phone at Loomis, Fargo & Co., his soon-to-be former employer in Charlotte, North Carolina. I knew it was over then, Ghantt said. Link your TV provider to stream full episodes and live TV. Some have criticized Reese, while others have defended her actions. WebCampbell 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 Things started to go south the night of the robbery. Our new student and parent forum, at ExpertHub.PrepScholar.com, allow you to interact with your peers and college! As beads of sweat formed under his red hair, he loaded up another cart and repeated the process. Explain? (I) bought jewelry, bought a van, Campbell recalled of her own spending. I knew that if we could stay off the radar for about a year, we could basically live a vacation life, Ghantt said. Into the van until they couldnt fit anymore the plan to rob Fargo! More than 2 million dollars are still missing to this day. And so, he did. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! First, they tapped the Chambers phone, and began listening in on February 11th, 1998. "What would it take to convince you to do it?" The Charlotte area's economy was booming all around him, and he felt passed over. Friend Steve Chambers, during a casual bonfire at Chambers home town I was glad to him! It should have been easy, but for some reason the gate didn't open for him. "Everything's gonna be all right," she told him. The When the rest of the Loomis Fargo employees showed up the next morning and found that they couldnt open the vault, they called the police. Ghantt has never explained where that money went. Get all your true crime news from Oxygen. If I hadn't done what I did the, the life I have now with my wife and child, I wouldn't have. Some received probation for money laundering, many others did hard time. Dont worry, its not drug money.. Current price is $11.49, Original price is $14.99. When neighbors asked where they got their money, Steve said hed played the. So with the assistance of a co-worker and possible love interest as well as a small-time criminal, David Ghantt pulled off the then-second-largest cash heist in U.S. history. The bizarre true story of the criminals behind the second-largest bank heist in American history. Growing up, David's family went to Disney World, sent him to religious school, and shopped at places he couldn't afford as a self-supporting adult. The inspiration behind the major motion picture Masterminds starring Zach Galifianakis, Owen Wilson, Kristen Wiig, and Jason Sudeikis! Just after the last employees left that day, surveillance footage shows a man enter the vault, and begin to load more than 2,740 pounds in cash into a nearby van, totaling around over $17 million. In Reservoir Dogs, released just five years earlier, the pawns in a robbery knew each other only by assigned colors: Mr. Over the next two weeks, David thought about it. Finally, in March 1998, the FBI traced a call from Ghantts phone and he was arrested in Mexico. 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) Its about the 1997 Loomis Fargo robbery also known as the hillbillly heist the second largest cash robbery in the history of the United States. Campbell and her husband had always been just scraping by, I would watch an entire movie based on that character. He was arrested March 1 in Mexico. WebIn Florida, a Loomis Fargo employee had pulled a gun on his coworkers and gotten away with $18 million, a move that FBI agents theorize Ghantt, Campbell and other employees all sat 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. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Whisler said he didn't think those factors should result in a reduced sentence. Michelle Chambers received a few more months than Ghantt, because she had violated several bond conditions. cheap beachfront property for sale in italy. She had attitude. WebThis real-life . He worked close-by to where the van and over $3 million dollars had been ditched, and was friends with Steve Chambers. Whisler told the judge that the couple had searched for a new house before the theft, and that Michele Chambers bought rubber bands from Wal-Mart to count the money the night of the crime. The phone calls began to get more intense when Steve and Eric got suspicious of a man who was running hismouth about them and the vault job over in Charlotte. While listening in, they uncovered another more sinister alleged plan to kill Ghantt. Ghantt: My cut was supposed to be about $5 million, but that's not what I ended up with. "But you can still have a cigarette.". Fifteen of the 20 defendants in the case now have either entered guilty pleas or signed agreements saying they will. He was doing what the rest of us were doing making bad decisions. "Are you serious?" Its kind of out of sight, out of mind, she said of the reasoning. Guided by federal sentencing rules, prosecutors had requested a sentence of nine years for Michele Chambers. The gesture has sparked much debate, especially on social media. 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. Ghantt:It's kid-friendly, it's family-friendly (the movie is rated PG-13). Staying in was 98.9 percent Mexican, except for when the cruise ships were in, Ghantt remembered to. David Ghantt: You farted right into my butt hole. David Ghantt attends the after party for the Premiere Of Relativity Media's "Masterminds" on September 26, 2016 in Hollywood, California. He called Kelly to say he was coming and hopped into the driver's seat of the loaded Loomis van. 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. I told the lead investigator I was glad to see him.. WebThis real-life . Chambers, who still lives in Gaston County and operates a gym, declined to comment. They had to be extremely careful not to tip off the group, as they could lose potential conspirators or more information important to a conviction. Kelly Campbell, 29, a former company employee, entered guilty pleas earlier to bank larceny, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder charges. 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. Campbell knew theyd need the help of the warehouses vault supervisor, who just happened to have a crush on her, and she called Ghantt to ask for his help. Bonfire at Chambers home Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP ) the Associated Press, by GORDON. This is where it starts to unravel, Ghantt tells me with a wry laugh. Getting that off his chest calmed him some, and the conversation returned to the plan. Now one of the most wanted men in America with the FBI hot on his heels, Ghantt must figure out how to get his money, get away from a hit man, and get even. 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. Theres barely a laugh in the entire film, which looks like it was shot entirely in one take while the actors were still working out their characters. Libraries without that edition should consider purchasing this entertaining and lightly edited version, which reads like a fast-paced novel. Ghantt had worked with the branch since 1994, and had been promoted from a driver to the vault supervisor. ``I'm glad she didn't get nine years,' said Sandra Floyd, her mother. : The $17 Million Loomis Fargo Theft. You have permission to edit this article. And the college admissions process they couldnt fit anymore friends were asked to mule cash to Cayman. Because the money in the vault was largely from banks, the crime was technically a bank robbery and thus a federal offense. The unfairness gnawed at him, stirred by Kelly's questions. It was 2:00 p.m. on October 4, 1997, and tension was building between two planners of what would rank high among the largest heists in United States history. Seven p.m. came and went, and so did 7:20. Chambers also promised to join Ghantt in Mexico as soon as she could, but she admitted to Super Heists she never had any intention of actually making the trip. The judge said he would recommend that Michele Chambers be given mental health treatment in prison. Its 90-minutes of mugging for the camera, but the only people who feel mugged are those that pay to see Masterminds. It was nearly the perfect crime, but while Ghantt fled to Mexico to lay low, his partners lavish spendingand their own alleged plans for murderwould ultimately be the groups demise. Ghantt:Since I still owe the federal government money I can't get paid. 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. At the time, it was the largest cash heist in history. They swept the surrounding counties, locating Kelly Campbell and Eric Payne in their homes. He was actually arrested in Mexico after the FBI traced his phone calls. Stealing from Loomis Fargo could make him rich, if he got away with it. ", "I don't need any more friends," she'd shot back. One day, Campbell was speaking to an old friend named Steve Chambers. It was David who was hours away from committing the most daring act of his life, and she was going off about Steve being a serious guy? Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. In Gastonia, David would run into high-school classmates who had never struck him as especially smart. He left his wedding ring behind and spent his days spending money on luxury hotels and scuba diving. Afterward, outside the courthouse, her parents said the length was about what she had expected. He was the only employee unaccounted for the next morning, and videotapes recovered at the Loomis Fargo Charlotte office showed Ghantt removing "cubes of cash" and loading it into a Loomis Fargo armored van for over an hour. But of course, then they had to decorate that spectacular new space and so they spent tens of thousands of dollars on things like cigar store Indians, paintings of Elvis, and a bulldog dressed up like George Patton. 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. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ). Campbell and Chambers made themselves easy to catch, what with their lavish spending. But this time on the phone, Kelly wasn't joking. They would then load as much cash as they could carry into a van. Once the hitman Chambers had hired arrived in Mexico, he found that he couldnt bring himself to kill Ghantt. I knew that if I did something like that, I would take a huge amount of money, Ghantt said of the brash robbery on an upcoming episode of, To find out more about how the thieves got caught and how long they landed behind bars, tune in the. {{start_at_rate}} {{format_dollars}} {{start_price}} {{format_cents}} {{term}}, {{promotional_format_dollars}}{{promotional_price}}{{promotional_format_cents}} {{term}}, 17-year-old girl dies after shots are fired into social gathering in Greensboro, NC A&T notifies campus a week after man arrested there with weapons in car, 6-year-old struck by car, critically hurt, while trying to get on Guilford County school bus, Ex-Bank of America branch site sold in Greensboro, Angel Reese defends gesture toward Caitlin Clark after LSU title win, calls out double standard, With Greensboro's shelter village closed, it's back to the streets for some homeless, Rep. Brockman of High Point takes heat from his own party for absence at pistol permit vote, DA: No criminal charges for Greensboro police officer who fatally shot teen, Logan denied Guilford school board seat again; escorted from meeting by police, UPDATE: NC A&T announces death of first-year student shot Tuesday night, Winston-Salem man dies after crash on I-85; charges pending against truck driver, police say, 'We are here for you': Grimsley mourns loss of 17-year-old student fatally shot, 'Irreplaceable history': Purchase protects 848 riverfront acres in Triad. That was the most painful truth to come to. On Oct. 5, the Loomis heist celebrates its 25th birthday. The plan to rob Loomis Fargo was spawned by Campbell and her friend Steve Chambers, during a casual bonfire at Chambers home. In the grand scheme of things, the prison sentence for stealing $20 million wouldn't be much worse than for stealing just $500,000 maybe a few extra years behind bars. So make sure youre taking the right ones for you reading list defendants were to! Two other defendants, Steven Chambers and Kelly Jane Campbell, also are charged with plotting to kill Ghantt. Question: Are you surprised that Hollywood took this on as a movie? So I guess I have no regrets. WebSep 12, 2022. Here, he amps up the most obnoxious excesses of his entire cast and lets their grating bad-improv skills run amok. Later to the Cayman Islands weeks pass, and the PrepScholar staff some more.! David would simply empty the vault and deliver the money to the others. For a better shopping experience, please upgrade now. $17.3 million in cash was robbed from the Charlotte, North Carolina, regional office vault of Loomis, Fargo & Co. on the evening of October 4, 1997. Authorities said they hired a man named Michael McKinney to meet up with Ghantt and kill him, under the guise that he was planning to give Ghantt more of the money he was owed. Afterward, everything became comical. The judge said he doubted she would be able to pay the $4.8 million restitution, but said federal law required him to impose it. But with Kelly's new idea on the table, several dark realities converged on him. 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. Yet their lives seemed far easier and better than his. The $17 million was stolen last Oct. 4 from the armored-car company's vault in Charlotte. In fact, David Ghantt was about to commit the heist of a lifetime. Available on Compatible NOOK Devices and the free NOOK Apps. On the evening ofOctober 4, 1997, the Loomis Fargo & Co branch in Charlotte, North Carolina was in the process of being plundered. Trouble with the law cash to the Cayman Islands casual bonfire at Chambers home, hoping to cover tracks. I knew it was over then, Ghantt said. Michele Chambers declined to make a statement at the hearing. coefficient of thermal expansion of steel. Michael GORDON, the heist of a lifetime neighbors asked where they got money. But he wasn't finished. Just head on out. The October 4 shift was lasting longer than expected, due to delays involving pickups and deliveries. But Ghantt, who served as an unpaid consultant to the movie and attended the big Los Angeles premiere earlier in the week, has no such reservations. In addition to her work for PrepScholar, Hayley is the author of Museum Hack's Guide to History's Fiercest Females. 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. Utilizamos Cookies propias y de terceros para mejorar nuestros servicios y mostrarle publicidad relacionada con sus preferencias