Some of that money is just gone. Soon, the couple would be paying for something else, too: a hitman. the Loomis Fargo heist Florida Gov. 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. Get the latest articles and test prep tips! Ghantt would pocket the $50,000 and head to Mexico with Campbell, where hed stay until it was safe to come back. The next day, the Chambers, Campbell, and some other notable parties were arrested in Charlotte. Or that it was an inheritance. In 1997, six men pulled off what remains the biggest cash heist in the history of the United States. And I was thinking about just showing up there. 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. 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. If you want to go ahead and go, I got it. Things went from bad to worse when, in November, Michelle strolled into a bank with a briefcase filled with 200 grand and asked the manager, How much can I deposit without the bank reporting the transaction? When she showed the bank manager that she really had the money to invest, the cash was still bound in Loomis Fargo wrappers. When asked what the dumbest thing was that Ghantt spent money on, he admitted: The 4 pairs of boots I bought in one day [shrug] what can I say they were nice and I was impulse shopping.. That was great. Ghantt called Chambers asking for more money, and was promptly arrested near Comuzel, which was a good thing for Ghantt, who had been targeted by a hitman hired by Chambers. And youre like, Come on parachute. I threw you out, and then threw the parachute after you. I had to go in there and tell her the whole story, and she was real cool about it. Oxygen Insider is your all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more. 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. The robbers went on a huge spending spree, buying a massive home, artworks, big-screen TVs, expensive cars, pickup trucks, minivans, two boats, six motorcycles and several tanning beds. Michele Chambers 1998 BMW for sale following the prosecutions of the Loomis Fargo heist conspirators. When neighbors asked where they got their money, Steve said hed played in the NFL. The move bought him a little extra time to make his escape. Inside the truck, they found Ghantt's ring and surmised this was a sign of Ghantt's intention to end his relationship with his wife. Across the border in Mexico, Ghantt was also living it up. Two days after theyd robbed the Loomis Fargo truck the very same day the police found the abandoned van in the woods Steve and Michelle Chambers walked into a bank and deposited their cut of the stolen money into their account. Retro CharlotteFBI security footage of David Ghantt in the midst of the Loomis Fargo heist. The case resurfaced in the federal courts on Thursday, Sept. 1, when the U.S. Attorneys Office in Charlotte posted a public reminder in the case file of Loomis defendant Kelly Campbell that she had fallen behind in her restitution. ];Kelly Jane Campbell [Misc. Im a very deliberate person. You cannot fine low-income people millions of dollars. Heist: The Oddball Crew behind the $17 Million Loomis Fargo Theft Jeff Diamant 12 Audio CD 9 offers from $5.86 About the Author Jeff Diamant covered the heist for the Charlotte Observer. Was that really what it was about? The True Story of David Ghantt and the Loomis Fargo Heist, Get Free Guides to Boost Your SAT/ACT Score, check out some of these books on our AP History Exam reading list. He and his wife, Michelle, moved from their mobile home in Lincoln County to a luxury house in the wealthy Cramer Mountain section of Cramerton. Although the history of the predecessor Wells Fargo & Company dates back to 1852, Loomis Fargo & Company was established in 1997 by the consolidation of Wells Fargo Armored Service and Loomis Armored Inc.; the resulting corporation employed 8,500 people and provided armored transportation, cash handling services, and automatic teller machine maintenance. The platform is designed to engage citizens and government leaders in a discussion about what needs improvement across the country. They discussed it further, and Campbell asked him when they should do it. David Ghantt was a technical consultant for the film, but due to outstanding court-ordered restitution for his part in the heist he was not paid. WebTwo days after the heist, the FBI found the missing van with $3.3 million of cash left in it. Tags: Associated Press, courts, crime, North Carolina. Ghantt sent home a new employee and quickly loaded the money into the back of a bank van. Ghantt simply got ready for work one morning knowing it would be his last day on the job. You can read more at, Dilworth Coffee is coming to the Fifth Third Center. Campbell was released from federal custody in 2004 after serving five years, meaning her collection case will age out in December 2024. Campbell used part of her share of the money to buy a Toyota Sienna minivan in two cash installments. The next morning, Loomis Fargo employees were unable to open the vault. The Chambers, however, didnt fit in with the other members of the gated community. 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. [3][4] Its Charlotte office would be the victim of David Scott Ghantt and his confederates later that year. Ultimately, though, the heist wasnt Ghantts idea, which meant he didnt decide who else was involved. The robbery was committed by Loomis vault supervisor David Scott Ghantt, his married girlfriend Kelly Campbell (a former Loomis co-worker), Steven Eugene Chambers (a one-time FBI informant), his wife Michelle Chambers, Michael Gobbies, and four other co-conspirators. Chambers and two accomplices, making their way to Vale in order to put the barrels in his home, left behind the staggering $3.3 million that didnt fit and the two security tapes in the Loomis Fargo van that Ghantt had driven. 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. He also took various measures to change his appearance, such as shaving, after a patron at a restaurant pointed out to him that he "looked like the man who robbed a bank of $20 million. I told them, Take it, box it up, and youll be able to ship it to me in Mexico. Back in the 1990s, you couldve probably boxed up a hot pink elephant and shipped it to Mexico; no one wouldve ever noticed. WebThis real-life . When he landed in Cancun, his first stop was Walmart. (I) bought jewelry, bought a van, Campbell recalled of her own spending. WebNo products in the cart. An additional tip reached the FBI when Michelle Chambers made a large deposit at a bank. ACT Writing: 15 Tips to Raise Your Essay Score, How to Get Into Harvard and the Ivy League, Is the ACT easier than the SAT? Youre supposed to get less time for cooperating, a lesser penalty, and instead, you see what she got hit with. Gronquist said. According to an Observer report, this was seven times larger than their trailer. All rights reserved. WebWas Loomis Fargo heist real? But I thought this is me being hard-headed Im going to ride this thing to the ground. And so thats what I did.. At first, I just blended in with the tourists and picked up a few translation books, Ghantt explains. WebThe Loomis Fargo Bank Robbery was the $17.3 million cash robbery of the Charlotte, North Carolina, regional office vault of Loomis Fargo & Company on the evening of And it turned Steve into he thought he was Don Corleone all of a sudden.. In 2020, the television show Super Heists portrayed the heist in Episode 3, "Van Full of Dollars". I told the lead investigator I was glad to see him.. Ghantt worked at Loomis Fargos regional office vault in Charlotte. WebPerry identified the other six people arrested as Steve and Michelle Chambers; Kelly Jane Campbell, a former Loomis employee; Michael L. McKinney; Thomas Nathan Grant; The FBI was also surveilling Kelly Campbell and followed her to a pay phone that she used to place calls to Mexico. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. Steve bought a truck, a Rolex and a motorboat. According to local author David Aaron Moore, the plan went like this: Ghantt would go to work as normal, leave at the same time as the last employee and return to the vault, where he would load carts with bags of money before puttingthem into a van. He stayed at a luxury hotel and took scuba diving lesson. Eventually, Ghantt would return to the United States and the full sum would be split up between the conspirators. On October 6, they found the van with everything that Chambers had left behind, including Ghanttsgun and a clear picture of his face on video, which was identified by supervisors. Chambers and his wife Michele moved out of a trailer and into a luxury mansion in a nice neighborhood. Criminals dont usually get high-paying jobs after leaving prison. Ghantt, meanwhile, was losing his patience and starting to make threats. In addition to her work for PrepScholar, Hayley is the author of Museum Hack's Guide to History's Fiercest Females. Chambers would hold on to most of the remaining cash and wire it to Ghantt as needed. They had initially agreed to control their spending for a year or two, in the belief that the government would vigorously track the spending habits of any and all suspects for at least a year before relenting. [1] Tips had led the FBI to begin monitoring Chambers's (and his wife's) activities, but it was not until the FBI recorded a phone call from Ghantt in Mexico that the final connection was made. The FBI quickly connected Ghantt to Campbell, who was a former Loomis Fargo employee. Dont worry, its not drug money.. On July 10, Jon Daly joined the cast of the film to play an FBI agent. Back in North Carolina, Ghantts former accomplices were living high on the hog. Together with his wife, Chambers bought a new luxury home (upgrading from his mobile home), a BMW Z3, and some extravagant furnishings. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LCR9zyGkbo. Ghantt and his compatriots, it turns out, had underestimated how bulky money is. So I was glad it was over. Or as he tells me, How many people in the United States havent thought about robbing a bank? Best States is an interactive platform developed by U.S. News for ranking the 50 U.S. states, alongside news analysis and daily reporting. It was an open-and-shut case and all authorities had to do now was to find the culprit and identify Ghantts accomplices. You can garnish wages. So yeah, Ghantt continues, I took a bus from there to Atlanta, and then I hopped a cab from the bus station to the airport in Atlanta., Back in North Carolina, his accomplices were working as fast as they could to hide the $17 million. Campbell made her way back to Charlotte (Ghantt was told by Chambers to head to Atlanta and catch a flight from there), where the money had since been moved into barrels and into another van. The FBI investigation was aided by the gang's extravagant spending. Inside without a hiccup, he placedthe $17 million cash, in bags that altogether weighed more than 2,700 pounds, onto carts and into a van. I really enjoyed the little scuba diving trip. I knew it was over then, Ghantt said. On Oct. 5, the Loomis heist celebrates its 25th birthday. Theres some things I want to do., Ghantt planned on traveling from Mexico to the Cayman Islands, bypassing customs along the way. Ghantt was the vault manager and was surrounded daily by millions of dollars-worth of temptation. When he walked onto the plane, he was wearing big, tall cowboy boots, where hed stuffed a majority of the smuggled cash. What purpose does that serve other than to denigrate that person into abject poverty?. kellis@gastongazette.com View Comments 0:03 1:14 On Oct. 4, 1997, former Kings Mountain resident David Scott Ghantt finished his shift as a vault supervisor for Loomis Fargo in Charlotte. David Ghantt had been a model employee for an armored car company before pulling off It was an ear-biting, Pierce Brosnan-loving, comet-obsessed world, and were here to relive every minute of it. The conversations werent made up of much more than daydreams that took the vague shape of plansuntilCampbell mentioned that she had a high school friend with connections that could actually get it done. The next day, the Chambers, Campbell and other members of the ring were arrested. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Unfortunately, he failed to disable the third camera. The best states in the U.S. come from coast to coast. The first is that this was the same year, 1997, that the largest cash robbery in history took place within the same company. It all went down in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the man at the center of that heist, David Scott Ghantt, now lives in Jacksonville. 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. Fourteen defendants were ordered to make restitution payments to Loomis Fargo totaling almost $19 million. The Antwerp diamond heist, dubbed the heist of the century, was by far the largest diamond heist.Antwerp diamond heist. Learning about US history? In total, 24 people were convicted and all but one of the Ghantt has never explained where that money went. Thats one of my personality flaws. Generally, the events of the film are fairly close to reality when they follow the broad details of the case. Fed up, exhausted, and seeing a way out, Ghantt agreed. Wyatt Redd is a freelance writer from Nashville, Tennessee. She will never get beyond the debt. Soon everyone would know about the arrests in the $17 million Loomis Fargo heist. cheap beachfront property for sale in italy. About 20 ago, Campbell sent him a letter of apology, but he never responded. Him and I still talk every now and then. After meeting up with Chambers, Campbell, and some other co-conspirators, Ghantt hightailed it to Mexico with $50,000 in cash in his car. The plan was for Ghantt to commit the robbery and then quickly leave the country for Mexico but to leave the bulk of the cash with Chambers. To invest, the Chambers, however, didnt fit in with the other of. Redd is a freelance writer from Nashville, Tennessee of dollars-worth of temptation your all-access pass never-before-seen... 25Th birthday a letter of apology, but he never responded his patience and starting to make.. 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