In 2017, for example, Paul Burks of Lexington was ordered to pay $244 million to the victims of his worldwide Ponzi scheme, Zeek Rewards. It has a certain feel, a smell and weight to it. 2023 Cox Media Group. The bag held his mobile phone and handgun. However, Chambers had no intention of following those rules, believing the FBI would never connect him to Ghantt. While Ghantt waited for the heat from the robbery to die down, Chambers would send Ghantt small amounts of money. 25th anniversary of the incredible Loomis Fargo bank heist | wcnc.com FBI video shows the agency searching that home and finding drawers full of cash. Libraries without that edition should consider purchasing this entertaining and lightly edited version, which reads like a fast-paced novel. Loomis Fargo, the nation's largest privately held armored- car company, used vans to transport hundreds of millions of dollars a day belonging to banks and other businesses, stocking automated teller machines and storing money in the Loomis vault between deliveries. For example, Steve Chambers and his wife were living in a. Loomis Fargo Heist of 1997 - History and Other Things Discover some of the worlds strangest ancient places. He ejected the two VCR tapes that he knew had recorded him stealing the money, took them, and prepared to leave. David told Kelly they would have to control themselves and not spend the money too quickly, because the FBI could electronically trace a suspect's recent spending activity through bank papers, credit card records, and land transactions. When some friends stole a stop sign from a busy intersection, David made them put it back. Unexplained Mysteries - owned by Aliens since 2011. How Did David Ghantt, Kelly Campbell, Steve Chambers Steal More Than 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. An additional tip reached the FBI when Michelle Chambers made a large deposit at a bank. Though Wydra is retired, 25 years ago, he was an agent with the FBI. Chambers had broached the possibility of a robbery to Campbell earlier in the summer. 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. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. They hadn't slept together or even fooled around much, but he was ready to commit. 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 was unhappy with my life. Turns out, most of the thieves and their accomplices have been about as effective coming up with their court-ordered restitution as they were hiding their original crimes. 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.. 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. Getting restitution, its like pulling teeth.. Uh-oh, it looks like your Internet Explorer is out of date. This station is part of Cox Media Group Television. I think if you remember some of her early photographic opportunities, shall we put it that way, she was sort of laughing, not seeming to take it seriously.. Only a nickel on every dollar have been collected so far. Steve had hired a bodyguard named Mike McKinney. Loomis Fargo heist: 25 years later 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 government does not run debtors prisons, says U.S. 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. Hed never really been in trouble, he wasnt a career criminal, said retired FBI agent John Wydra. He was a hard worker, smart enough, and had graduated from high school. Kelly called, using David's own cell phone, to ask where he was already, because she and the others were waiting outside for him. The towns booming construction industry attracts workers from around the country. That first day in prison was scary, Ghantt said. CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Kelly Campbell, the woman who helped plan the $17 million robbery of armored-car company Loomis, Fargo was sentenced yesterday to nearly six years in prison and ordered to. 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. They also bought aBMW Z3with cash and made several large purchases, including a $600 statue of aNative American. At 2:20 p.m., the phone rang; it was Kelly again. They swept the surrounding counties, locating Kelly Campbell and Eric Payne in their homes. Campbell, a former Loomis employee and one of the original masterminds of the caper, has paid off less than $21,000 of the $4,701,694.18 she was docked. WOMAN GETS TIME IN LOOMIS HEIST - Greensboro News and Record Human nature is a flexible part of life, Gronquist said. 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. There are multiples of thousands of these things coming every year. 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. According to Butcher, Campbells last official payment came in June 2021 when the government appears to have seized a tax refund of $81.24. Unexplained Mysteries and Strange Things,Cool Interesting stuff has been online since early 2011. In David's eyes, Johnson's big mistake was that he did it alone. Most people are going to forgive you. 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. Punishment needs to be fair and realistic. 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. Conversations about stealing from the company weren't rare for Loomis employees. 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. He stayed at it until the vault was empty. 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. (John D. Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP) He even had to watch what he bought at the grocery store. Next month, Payne will back in the Charlotte federal courthouse, this time to be sentenced from weapons and methamphetamine trafficking charges. He realized his life wouldn't improve unless he did something drastic. Chambers had broached the possibility of a robbery to Campbell earlier in the summer. Before the robber left Loomis Fargo, he made a trip to the managers office to remove two surveillance tapes in order to conceal his identity. Later, they also arrested Nathans older brother. 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. Ghantt didnt know the full extent of what was happening back home -- how that lay low plan turned into a flurry of extravagant spending. The unsolved mystery of the Van Meter Visitor a winged creature! "I've got a friend," she said, "who can hook you up with a new ID.". 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. The corporation handled armored transportation, ATM maintenance and other cash handling services, and had millions of currency stashed in the vault of the North Carolina branch. 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. Get an email notification whenever someone contributes to the discussion. You can seize property. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. From my standpoint, it was just a business deal, Ghantt said. In 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 around talking about - and what they would do with that amount of money - for a while. Loomis, Fargo offered a $500,000 reward for his arrest and conviction. Ms. Campbell worked at Loomis for 11 months, leaving in November 1996, according to court papers. Booklist "Librariesshould consider purchasing this entertaining and lightly edited version, which reads like a fast-paced novel." Although the FBI investigation was able to quickly connect Ghantt to Campbell, connecting Ghantt to Chambers was a more difficult task. But being the vault supervisor at Loomis Fargo had one perk -- exposure to tons of cash. Loomis Fargo heist: 25 years later While David Ghantt trusted Steve Chambers enough to leave his cut behind, Chambers had other plans. He would then have the bulk of his share sent south of the border. Yet their lives seemed far easier and better than his. "For the first year after a crime," he told her, "they're all over you, with six to ten agents. Learn about careers at Cox Media Group. (John D. Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP). 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. "Don't back out on us. These (Loomis) guys, not so much.. The money weighed as much as a compact car and he did it all by himself. But after a year, they cut it down to two agents. Records show the government has garnished his Social Security checks. 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. The strange story of Mary Reeser Spontaneous Human Combustion. You have permission to edit this article. When Ghantt called Campbell asking for more money, a plan was set in motion to take him out. The FBI began to question past and current employees of Loomis Fargo. Federal law stops government collection efforts 20 years after a defendant leaves prison. 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. While David Ghantt trusted Steve Chambers enough to leave his cut behind, Chambers had other plans. Low 46F. Ghantt said he believes in redemption, and that his mistake 25 years ago brought him all the things that are important in his life today. David Ghantt And The Ridiculous Loomis Fargo Heist She had previously been making frequent small deposits to avert suspicion. Its in the ether. Two days later, when the FBI found the Loomis Fargo armored van, they discovered almost $3.3 million in cash left in the back of the van; it was later discovered that the thieves had miscalculated the sheer bulk of the small denomination currency, and that they simply left the cash that they could not take with them in the back of the van. Ghantt, his former co-worker Kelly Campbell and her friends Steve and Michelle Chambers carried out the Loomis Fargo heist on Oct. 4, 1997. LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Remember why you were elected! Youre supposed to get less time for cooperating, a lesser penalty, and instead, you see what she got hit with. Gronquist said. Ghantt met up with the other members of the plot and offloaded the cash. 'When you have money, you just have different problems': The Loomis Fact check: Is there much truth to the new 'Masterminds' movie? Arrests Made in $17 Mil. N.C. Heist | AP News There are multiples of thousands of these things coming every year. Burks was also ordered to serve 15 years in prison, limiting his ability to balance his books. But with Kelly's new idea on the table, several dark realities converged on him. Loomis Fargo defendants owe as much as they stole in 1997 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. Kelly Campbell, 29, a former company employee, entered guilty pleas earlier to bank larceny, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder charges. 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. The reason David didn't know Steve's last name was so they couldn't identify each other to the police or FBI, should cops or G-men ever enter the picture. Paying the money back has taken a lot longer, and time is running out for the U.S. government to collect. 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. So the original gang was all totally shocked, Wydra said. All of the co-defendants were arrested the next day, about six months after the heist. So that was kind of like this once-in-a-lifetime thing, Wydra said. "About fourteen or fifteen million dollars," he said. I pay (restitution to) thousands of people, but its in drips and drabs.. He decided at that moment that if Kelly called again, he would go for it. Next month, Payne will back in the Charlotte federal courthouse, this time to be sentenced from weapons and methamphetamine trafficking charges. He also took various measures to change his appearance, such asshaving, after a patron at a restaurant pointed out to him that he looked like the man who robbed a bank of $20 million.. Campbell, a former Loomis employee and one of the original masterminds of the caper, has paid off less than $21,000 of the $4,701,694.18 she was docked. Hes a family man with a wife and daughter. His collection case closes in two years. NASCAR. His collection case, which closes in November 2026, got credit for the couples $540,000 house on Cramer Mountain in Gaston County, Butcher says. Ghantt had worked with the branch since 1994, and had been promoted from a driver to the vault supervisor. 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. Loomis Fargo heist: 25 years later Steve Chambers and his wife were living in a trailer and upgraded to what would today be a multi-million-dollar mansion at Cramer Mountain. 'Can I Keep the Velvet Elvis?': The Great Hillbilly Heist of 1997 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. Thats pretty standard in restitution matters. These cookies do not store any personal information. 'Masterminds' Review: Loomis Fargo Robbery Where Are They Now? - Pajiba Criminals dont usually get high-paying jobs after leaving prison. They assumed that whoever was involved would keep the cash in a safe place, like a safe deposit box. Afterward, she and David would talk just occasionally on the phone. To the community, the Loomis Fargo heist was a big joke -- the largest hillbilly caper of all time. By now, you probably know the names -- David Ghantt, Steve Chambers and his wife Michelle, and Kelly Campbell. He is a graduate of Yale and has worked for the Connecticut Post, the Associated Press, and the Palm Beach Post. Steve's a serious guy.". He put on his best pair of jeans, a button-down shirt, and his nicest cowboy boots. The unfairness gnawed at him, stirred by Kelly's questions. Thank you! Besides her prison sentence, Campbell must undergo mental health and drug treatment and spend two years in a supervised release program. Getting restitution, its like pulling teeth.. At that point, Kelly and David had known each other for two years. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. The Loomis defendants face no additional legal jeopardy for not paying off their debts. La vie de David Ghantt n'a rien de compliqu. It should have been easy, but for some reason the gate didn't open for him. But on Oct. 4, 1997, that no longer mattered and Ghantt took off with $17.3 million. One number is working in Campbells favor. In the end, the FBI was able to capture the original gang in five months, snaring 21 individuals for their participation in the crime. The bizarre true story of the criminals behind the second-largest bank heist in American history. You can have your whole career and not have a case like that. She had attitude. The case had gotten national publicity and was the subject of numerous articles, documentaries and even a movie. America's Dumbest Heist! (True Crime Documentary) | Real Stories He called Kelly to say he was coming and hopped into the driver's seat of the loaded Loomis van. Enabling JavaScript in your browser will allow you to experience all the features of our site. Burks was also ordered to serve 15 years in prison, limiting his ability to balance his books. uncanny, eerie, unnatural, preternatural, supernatural, unearthly, other-worldly, unreal, ghostly, mysterious, mystifying, strange, abnormal, unusual. After discussing his job, his marriage, and his everyday struggles, they joked about Loomis and about how easy it would be to steal from the place. A parrot tattoo on her right ankle. David Ghantt was just an average Joe with an average low-wage job. The Loomis defendants face no additional legal jeopardy for not paying off their debts. On Oct. 5, the Loomis heist celebrates its 25th birthday. Kelly Campbell, who one day visited a Toyota dealership to purchase a minivan with twenty-dollar bills. The friend was Steve Chambers, and Kelly said he knew his way around the world of crime. But after one visit, she asked a teller How much can I deposit before you have to report it to the feds? followed by Dont worry, it is notdrug money, the bank filled out asuspicious activity report, which ultimately reached the FBI. CHARLOTTE (AP) During one overnight shift, a bumbling conspiracy of thieves just west of Charlotte stole more than $17 million from Loomis Fargo. As an adult, he preferred Shakespeare, Tom Clancy, and any book he could find about the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In all, they recovered $6.6 million. "Don't double-cross us," the woman on the phone told David Ghantt. "Do you know how much there's gonna be?" You cannot fine low-income people millions of dollars. The hillbilly outfit did more that just drop a few breadcrumbs. Then, he proceeded to load 2,800 pounds of cash into a van. Outside of the building, Ghantt met up with Campbell, Chambers, and others who were involved in the plot, and drove off to a printing business called Reynolds & Reynolds in northwest Charlotte. In the parking lot, David sat in his pickup truck smoking a cigarette and waving good-bye as the trainee drove home. 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. He knew it would mean leaving Tammy. "So he stays behind and moving over two thousand pounds of . For people earning $8.15 an hour David's salary the jokes came naturally. In addition to their extravagant spending, Michelle Chambers made the mistake of loudly asking a bank teller how much cash she could deposit in her account without it being reported to the feds, and then said, its not drug money.. The True Story of David Ghantt and the Loomis Fargo Heist - PrepScholar That movie, Masterminds, was filmed in 2014. He tried again to make the back gate rise, to no avail. JACKSONVILLE, Fla. This month marked 25 years since one of the biggest armored car heists in U.S. history. A more immediate need was securing help to move the stolen money to safety the night of the crime. There are multiples of thousands of these things coming every year. Since then, there have been numerous articles, books, documentaries and even a movie about this gang -- the gang that couldnt shoot straight. 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Campbell led Ghantt to think she loved him and they would flee to Mexico together, but she actually wanted to make a better life for herself in the U.S. With the plan in place, Ghantt sent a newly hired employee he had been assigned to train home early (reportedly, at 6 p.m.) and then proceeded to load a little more than $17.3 million in cash (approximately $11 million of which was in$20 bills) into the back of a company van. Seven p.m. came and went, and so did 7:20. How many people have walked the red carpet at a movie premiere in a case that was yours?. VERDICT The first edition of this work was published in 2002. The October 4 shift was lasting longer than expected, due to delays involving pickups and deliveries. David knew this was important from having followed the recent news about a Florida man who had brazenly committed the biggest heist from an armored-car company in United States history, a loner named Philip Noel Johnson, who also had worked for Loomis. The FBI became more suspicious after they interviewed Campbell for the third time. David didn't appreciate her tone. I made a joke once that was the hardest Id ever worked for Wells Fargo -- yeah, its a lot of work, Ghantt said. Well they were in some sense celebrities, Gronquist said. Steve decided to send his cousin, Nathan with money down to Mexico as a ruse, while Mike the bodyguard would follow behind to take care of Ghantt. In order to receive more evidence, the FBI decided to listen. More than half of the amount came from the seizure of a luxury home purchased by husband-and-wife defendants during their post-heist spending spree. The biggest restitution numbers for victims of financial crimes generally involve Ponzi schemes or sweepstakes fraud, not cash thefts. Chambers had no intention of wiring any money to Ghantt and intended to have him killed to keep him from implicating the others. Expanded two-hour true crime story about the 1997 Loomis-Fargo armored car heist in North Carolina and the serio-comic fate of its bumbling underdog perpetra. 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. He had since served time in prison for the crime and told our sister station WSOC-TV Channel 9s Glenn Counts he learned a valuable lesson while behind bars. He quickly found out when you have money, you just have different problems, Wydra said. Michelle Chambers paid off only $27,000. These (Loomis) guys, not so much.. Twenty people were convicted of roles big and small in the massive 1997 armored-car warehouse heist in west Charlotte. 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. So we were able to figure out with all the denominations, it would require about 20 safe deposit boxes to store it all..