Kelly relayed his message to Steve. They picked me, he says with a rueful tone. When he landed in Cancun, his first stop was Walmart. 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. Loomis officials--forced to break into their own vault because David had taken the keys with him--calculated that he had stolen $17,044,000, making the second biggest heist in U.S. history, following the $18.8 million theft of an armored car by another Loomis Fargo employee just six months earlier. Too stupid to be true? Five 'Masterminds' missteps that actually happened Scott didn't want to, but then he remembered the hundred-grand payday. Not a documentary. Ghantt was apprehended in Mexico and returned to the United States in custody. He rewarded Robert with $3,000 and vowed never to meet McKinney alone. When McKinney arrived in North Carolina, the plan had changed. Until, that is, he decided to hell with it he was going to pull-off the second largest heist in U.S. history. When Chambers and the two Erics were done loading the stolen millions into barrels, they abandoned the van in the woods. . Steve had another conversation with Kelly about killing David. Purchases included a pool table, jewelry (including a $43,000 diamond ring), a minivan, $20,000 worth of cigars, and the 7,000-square-foot home on the side of Cramer. "I've moved on with my life," he said Tuesday. This story was originally published October 3, 2016, 9:12 PM. On March 1, David Ghantt left his hotel to do some laundry. I was expecting her to kick me out of the house., Years later, after they married and had a child together, they watched a movie based on the whole ordeal. Soon, the couple would be paying for something else, too: a hitman. The whole town I was staying in was 98.9 percent Mexican, except for when the cruise ships were in, Ghantt recalls. See all of the stories here. Besides her prison sentence, Campbell must undergo mental health and drug treatment and spend two years in a supervised release program. Despite a mega-watt cast featuring Zach Galifianakis and a handful of some of Saturday Night Lives biggest current and former stars, Masterminds, the comedy about Loomis Fargo robbery completely tanked at the box office in its opening weekend, bowing in sixth place with just $6.6 million. He went deep-sea fishing. At the Halloween party, though, Kelly gave in to Steve, and agreed it had to be done. There are multiples of thousands of these things coming every year. There were times when I drank really heavily.". . She could spend time with her children and parents. I hit the local library the thing that we used to do before Google, Ghantt says with a small laugh. We got to the end of the day, and he was acting like he wanted to linger. Charlotte hotel chef who serves with a smile recognized as outstanding ambassador, Eritrean, Ethiopian restaurant owner was a big brother and father to many in Charlotte, Home tours: This wired-up Weddington smart home has a pool big enough for the neighborhood. In the dark, Scott inserted one key into the back door slot. "He showed me a lot of money," McKinney said. David told her he'd need help moving the money, getting a new ID and leaving the country. The authorities didn't know yet how much was missing from the armored-car company, but Steve did. I really enjoyed the little scuba diving trip. David Ghantt And The Loomis Fargo Heist: The Outrageous True Story ". ", "I wouldn't do it. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist. I knew that the news wouldnt break until later that morning. The barrels were Steves idea, Ghantt says. 'Masterminds' Review: Loomis Fargo Robbery Where Are They Now? - Pajiba What that says is, We will never forgive you for what youve done.. Steve now needed a hit man. Thats where they feel comfortable., This piece of information would become critical to his getaway plan. In the two days after the robbery, agents interviewed more than 100 people, most connected with David. 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. Then he and Campbell drove 90 miles to Columbia, South Carolina, where Ghantt planned to purchase a ticket to Mexico so he could be out of the country before news of the robbery broke the next morning. Field Operations; Corporate; Why Loomis. As it turned out, Ghantt was zipping up his scuba suit in Mexico. Our Benefits. It wouldn't work, Kelly told him. 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) In real life: True. Its really just a matter of timing, more than anything. And she says, How much do you think wed get out of there? I said, Ten to 15 million. But I didnt really know.. Thatd probably been the best thing for me to do, really. The platform is designed to engage citizens and government leaders in a discussion about what needs improvement across the country. 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. In a word, "Teamwork. Soon thereafter, he met Kelly Campbell, a co-worker at Loomis Fargo. "I was unhappy with my life. . She declined to take a lie-detector test. Meanwhile, Michele Chambers was laughing and saying, repeatedly, "Look at all this money!" They placed a bust of Caesar in the dining room. 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) At 7:45, David had finished loading. Although David was in on most of the planning, one discussion between Steve and Kelly was kept a secret. Question: You went to Mexico. I would call us friends. When I call Ghantt to discuss his involvement in the Loomis Fargo heist, he confesses that hes feeling a bit tired from a day of honest labor. "I said, 'Yeah, sure.' Loomis Fargo Defendants Owe as Much as They Stole in 1997 In the following months, Steve persisted, even floating the notion of placing phony hand grenades on a Loomis truck to scare away the drivers, Kelly said. Hes well thought-out. They discussed it further, and Campbell asked him when they should do it. I didn't think I had the guts. . DUMB & - The Washington Post The cash was covered with dog food. But McKinney never stopped trying to kill Ghantt although, initally, McKinney thought Chambers had paid for the hit over a drug deal gone bad, Diamant said. I couldn't understand why I hadn't been more successful," David said. At one point, the hoodlum shows up and Ghantt is wearing a Jerome Bettis Pittsburgh Steelers jersey; the hoodlums favorite team is the Steelers, and he caves and tells Ghantt that McKinney wants him dead. Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. As soon as Corey left, I pretended like I was leaving. The next week, they heard Steve plan to send Mike McKinney to Mexico to kill David Ghantt. This is where it starts to unravel, Ghantt tells me with a wry laugh. He recalled that another agent, Phil King, said, "Hey, there was an article in the [Charlotte] Observer about beeper codes. Scary. I told the lead investigator I was glad to see him.. She laughed for like 45 minutes. 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 pay back more than $4 million. Come for the Chumbawamba, and stay for the return of the Mack. 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. ". Down in Jacksonville, a Loomis Fargo employee took $18 million from an armored van he was driving. Ghantt says he operates a bulldozer for a small company. Filming in the Asheville area starting in early July, and is. I think I always knew that, but lost my way for a while.". Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. So I was glad it was over. Steve told me to tell [David] whatever was necessary to keep him happy.". Should David be killed after he gave them the money? David was living under the name Mike McKinney on a phony ID. Will Vin Sant Leave You Jacked or Scammed? He couldn't even bear to stick around for the final tally--though when he left he didn't forget to take $6,000, the first cut of his expected $100,000 share. And after two years, you're just a file." 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 hadnt checked ahead of time if the airport had any available flights, let alone if it would even be open. . Ghantt started at Loomis Fargo in 1994, and soon worked his way up from an armored car driver to a vault supervisor. Kelly told the FBI she had done drugs with David but denied knowing about the theft. Scott Grant said he hesitated, but agreed if no guns would be involved. And it turned Steve into he thought he was Don Corleone all of a sudden.. Man at the center of Loomis Fargo heist 25 years ago now a 'normal guy But agents weren't ready to arrest Kelly and Steve. "I felt that if I didn't do something, I was going to snap," David said. Ghantt and one other employee were the last to leave. "I was dumb," Ghantt said Wednesday, the eve before the movie hits screens nationwide. About the same time, Kelly and McKinney received phone calls from agents who told them to open their doors. You can seize property. At that same time, Steve was growing sick of the calls to send more money to Ghantt, and was looking for a way to end that issue. His wife, Tammy, was as shocked as Loomis officials. Note: No quotes were altered, although in some cases additional quotes were added to the questions as Ghantt expanded on his thoughts. His name was Corey. They also left behind a life-changing fortune in small bills $3.3 million in fives and ones that they overlooked and the two videotapes that Ghantt had pulled from the security cameras at the bank. 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. Butcher says the federal courts in the Western District of North Carolina have never handled a case quite like Loomis. The Evergreen State takes the top spot again in the U.S. News Best States ranking on the strength of its tech sector and other industries. When he was done, the man drove off to a nearby printing press, where the money was distributed into private vehicles amongst a handful of people. Loomis, Fargo offered a $500,000 reward for his arrest and conviction. Loomis employees drive the very core of our business. Military + Veterans. He partied, met women, drank, skied and hung out at the beach. Ghantt:I've always known that story had potential to be a comedy or a drama. "I missed my family. He figured Tammy wouldn't go for it, and though his marriage had been troubled, he wasn't certain he wanted to leave her. At the time, it was the largest cash heist in history. After years of reflection and time in prison to work on himself, Ghantt was able to find a way to a better version of himself. Her only brush with the law had been a DUI arrest. "I'm glad I've grown out of that.". Ghantt would go on to spend six and a half years in federal prison. About 5:30 the next morning, McKinney knocked on David's door and dropped $8,500 on the bed. Then another. I don't blame him.". Dental plans . And so, he told her, Google my name. She asked about the limit for a cash deposit before "paperwork" was required. Did you get paid? But former Kings Mountain resident David Scott Ghantt can. It was the first Saturday in October. Back then, it was one of the hotspots for hiding money. Ghantt planned to live off the interest for the rest of his life. . 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. But because David's relationship with his Loomis bosses had been rocky, he says, he doesn't feel sorry about what he did to the company. David didn't even know Steve's name. 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. The biggest restitution numbers for victims of financial crimes generally involve Ponzi schemes or sweepstakes fraud, not cash thefts. He said every year he files his taxes and the IRS takes all of his tax return. He flew in an ultra-light plane. Mexican police, Interpol officers and an FBI agent were watching him. But he tried to keep his face averted, so David wouldn't be able to ID him. The only person not to plead guilty in the case, former Gastonia attorney Jeff Guller, ended up doing eight years for money laundering. Or as he tells me, How many people in the United States havent thought about robbing a bank? . Just under $14 million sat in an outbuilding behind his home, inside blue steel barrels. Restitution is a familiar part of sentencing in federal court. An Ohio police officer who shot and killed a Black man as he lay in bed in his home last summer is no longer on the force, Three Kansas City police officers who were shot while serving a search warrant have been released from the hospital, Officials say one passenger died when a business jet experienced severe turbulence, forcing a landing at Bradley International Airport in Connecticut. . Agents noticed it two months later when it flowed to them through official channels, along with hundreds of similar reports involving other people. SEVEN NABBED IN CHARLOTTE HEIST\ - Greensboro News and Record Was Queen Charlotte Black? 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. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist. Inside were, along with other personal items, his keys and wedding ring. It changes you. Looking for Kelly Loomis? At the party, Steve invited Michele's stepfather, truck driver Dennis Floyd, to the basement to play pool. A week later, another informant told the FBI that Eric Payne had quit his job at a printing company soon after the heist and was spending money he probably hadn't earned legally. It was unclear whether anyone will get that money, authorities said. She was devastated, Diamant said. So the last third of the movie is almost entirely fiction. Here's what Floyd recalls: After two games of pool, Steve told him, "You know, we do a lot of gambling. Steven Chambers [Misc. Paying the money back has taken a lot longer, and time is running out for the U.S. government to collect. ". David complained it wasn't enough. Kelly Campbell - Wikipedia It wasn't known whether anyone would receive it. In real life: Yes and no. Basic and voluntary life insurance plan. Three weeks later, the couple purchased, in cash, a $635,000 stone mansion. Kelly's company. Some of that money is just gone. The name she gave the pup is apropos. She also assured the teller her cash wasn't drug money. 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. Kelly had resisted this suggestion before the heist: She and David were friends. Question: What made you, Chambers and the others think you could get away with this? Then, I started loading the van., Money, when bound in bulk and stacked in canvas bags, is heavier than you might expect. Given his position at the bank, hed be the one to pull off the robbery, and he intended to be ready. 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. At the sight of all that money, Scott and Eric had the same thought: They'd made the worst mistake of their lives. The next day, he was sitting next to FBI agent Mark Rozzi on a US Airways flight to Charlotte. Thats pretty standard in restitution matters. 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.

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