. 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 6 that morning, FBI supervisor Rick Shaffer led 12 agents and several Gaston County police officers up a winding road on Cramer Mountain to Steve's home. . "As soon as you start, you realize there's no going back," David recalled. I said, It comes down to picking the right day, and the right time of the month, and all that good stuff. I even told her, It wouldnt be all that difficult. In the dark, Scott inserted one key into the back door slot. 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. For reasons that remain obscure, Robert spilled the beans to David. About 10 frantic minutes later, Scott found the right key. Steve solicited two others to help move cash during the theft. This is the person I counted as my friend. In real life: Mostly true. You might as well take it all, Ghantt tells me. But after a year, they'll cut it down to two agents. I was burned out and just didn't know it. 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. Until, that is, he decided to hell with it he was going to pull-off the second largest heist in U.S. history. All rights reserved. See all of the stories here. Ghantt pulled out $50,000 from the back of the unmarked Loomis Fargo van. She could visit friends. "It probably should bother me," he said. . Theres some things I want to do., Ghantt planned on traveling from Mexico to the Cayman Islands, bypassing customs along the way. Michele tells me you're in a financial bind. I think I always knew that, but lost my way for a while.". . There was, however, one problem with his plan. 2022 marks the 25th anniversary of the year that everything happened 1997. He was signed by the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 2002. I pay (restitution to) thousands of people, but its in drips and drabs.. "I felt that if I didn't do something, I was going to snap," David said. What concerned her was the chance of getting caught. Few who were living in the area at the time can forget the "Velvet Elvis" painting Chambers had hanging in his mansion or the tales of cosmetic surgery, BMW convertibles and other signs of excess. Or that hed gotten lucky gambling. Question: What made you, Chambers and the others think you could get away with this? 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. He covers culture, politics, race, and other perplexing mysteries for MEL. It wasnt a big hit, but Ghantt, who was played by Galifianakis, gives it a rave review. She didn't plan to move to Mexico. Kelly's company. It will be some time before she can commune with domestic animals again. Michelle Chambers paid off only $27,000. Too stupid to be true? Five 'Masterminds' missteps that actually happened "I was thinking, 'They aren't paying me enough,' " McKinney recalled. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist (No Ratings Yet) . "Think of how many women would have stood by. Steve also offered $100,000 to his 26-year-old cousin. Job Search - Career Portal - Dayforce HCM His name was Corey. Ghantt spent a solid hour moving what ended up being 2,700 pounds of cash more than an actual ton into an unmarked company van. I loved it. The agents tapped the phone, and it didnt take long to locate Ghantt after that. It had been drilled into my head that if you give me a team of five good people, I can go anywhere, do anything," David explained. Scott didn't want to, but then he remembered the hundred-grand payday. By late November, McKinney made a third trip to Mexico, saying he'd help David move to Mexico City. The FBI, in fact, obtained the evidence they needed to bring down the major players, including Chambers, after catching them talking about the murder plot on the telephone via wiretap. "But, I hate to admit it, it doesn't faze me one bit. About 5:45 a.m., he got into his pickup and began the 45-minute drive to work in Charlotte. By March, Steve Chambers decided he needed to do something more drastic about Ghantt, making plans to send a hitman to Mexico to silence him for good. Kelly had resisted this suggestion before the heist: She and David were friends. Hed be in contact. Three weeks after the theft, Steve and Michele moved from their Lincoln County mobile home to a $635,000 house in a gated Cramerton, N.C., neighborhood. One night in a small North Carolina town, a down-on-his-luck guard at Loomis Fargo manages to steal $17 millionliterally more than one ton of cash. Depression had led to smoking a lot of marijuana and taking Prozac, a combination she figures affected her judgment. Almost 19 years after Ghantt and a group of friends from Gaston County pulled off one of the largest cash heists in U.S. history, the movie "Masterminds" will play up the caper for laughs. But it wasnt. Question: Should people go see this movie? She laughed for like 45 minutes. He rewarded Robert with $3,000 and vowed never to meet McKinney alone. The bash had a Cinderella theme, with a three-tiered cake that looked like a castle. Given the presence of the surveillance tapes and a gun belonging to Ghantt, they started with Ghantts phone and pager records and discovered a pattern they attributed to an accomplice. In real life: Yes and no. That's the kind of movie they wanted to make. Not a documentary. Careers. ". She was devastated, Diamant said. Before David left for the airport, he had handed Scott an eight-inch key ring. I mean, it was dark, Ghantt explains. Scott, 26, had a larceny conviction as a teenager, but he'd since cleaned up his act and now had a steady job, a daughter and a girlfriend. Or as he tells me, How many people in the United States havent thought about robbing a bank? Then another. There, Scott and Eric paced the floor as Steve tried to calm them down. Because surprise! In real life: True. "I'm glad I've grown out of that.". Money'll turn your head, I don't care who you are. 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) We need to set up some way for me to get my money. She said, We got it all worked out. They decorated their 6,000-square-foot stucco house with antiques, paintings and statues, including a six-foot wooden Indian that Michele had bought for $600. When McKinney realized Ghantt was wanted for the Loomis Fargo robbery, he backed off personally because he didnt want to be anywhere near a federal investigation. I just want people to go to the movies and have a good laugh, even if it's at my expense. [Kelly] told me, 'Just think about it.' "A lot of people out there had it worse than me, but . Ghantt went on to explain that he rarely even looks at his debt statement to the government, but believes the IRS says he still owes them $3.8 million. Down in Jacksonville, a Loomis Fargo employee took $18 million from an armored van he was driving. Loomis - Home He pocketed the money and told Chambers and Campbell to send him his cut in Mexico. Heist!: The $17 Million Loomis Fargo Theft - amazon.com At the Halloween party, though, Kelly gave in to Steve, and agreed it had to be done. He'd even bragged that he'd killed people. 6-Year Sentence For Kelly Campbell | The Seattle Times I told the lead investigator I was glad to see him.. Records show the government has garnished his Social Security checks. Some amateur thieves might turn to movies and TV shows for lessons on criminal behavior. A report by the General Accounting Office found that as of budget year 2016, $110 billion in restitution ordered by the federal courts was outstanding and that more than 90% of the amount had been classified as uncollectible.. Ghantt knew Chambers as Steve, but didnt find out that his last name was Chambers until the arrests were made. So he convinced a local hoodlum in Mexico to try to kill Ghantt. FBI agents recall surreal story of heist that inspired - WLOS Now worried about both the FBI and McKinney, he spent even more time alone in his room. 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. how to match 8 hypercubes in bejeweled. "I'd been told all my life, money will not make you happy," Kelly said. . More agents waited outside to arrest them. Burks was also ordered to serve 15 years in prison, limiting his ability to balance his books. His mobile home was nicely furnished, on eight acres with a stream in the back. Now two NC men face prison. To say nothing of their art purchases like the aforementioned velvet Elvis portrait and a painting of a bulldog dressed as General George S. Patton. David was living under the name Mike McKinney on a phony ID. Campbell, a mother of two, was in the process of divorcing her. Michele received the best gift of the night. There are multiples of thousands of these things coming every year. He had stolen $17 million from Loomis Fargo. Contact Us | Loomis US He'd stay up all night, boosted by coffee, waiting for the sunrise over the ocean. I had to go in there and tell her the whole story, and she was real cool about it. Then Steve pushed Scott inside, and he began throwing plastic-wrapped bundles of tens, twenties, fifties and hundreds to Eric and Steve, who placed them in three blue 55-gallon barrels. She was a wife and mother with two children. But you cant get blood from a stone, Johns said. Steve had another conversation with Kelly about killing David. I hear her typing. 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. Inside the Mazda, Steve told Scott Grant to get out and help David. . Basic and voluntary life insurance plan. By then Id figured out that Bruno was up to no good, and that Id probably never seen any more of my money. She tried to apologize for the murder plot. ". When Ghantt was on the plane home from Mexico with the FBI, he admitted to the agents that while Campbell had been integral to why hed done it and that he did indeed have a crush on her it was never his true motivation. You have to remember that it's Hollywood and they'll take what was a minor event and they'll blow it up and make it as funny as they can.". Thatd probably been the best thing for me to do, really. On the evening of October 4, 1997, one man loaded $17.3 million in cash from the vaults of Loomis, Fargo & Co. into the back of a van. Man at the center of Loomis Fargo heist 25 years ago now a 'normal guy Ghantt says he operates a bulldozer for a small company. Loomis Fargo Defendants Owe as Much as They Stole in 1997, 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. Twenty-five years ago, a small group of rural North Carolinian amateur bank robbers pulled off the second-largest heist in American history. A third tape he didn't know about kept recording. Im on the phone with Kelly [Campbell], and Im like, Hey, I really was expecting a package to arrive. At 7:45, David had finished loading. On Nov. 12, a confidential informant told the FBI about Steve Chambers's move from mobile home to mansion. 25th anniversary of the incredible Loomis Fargo bank heist | wcnc.com Actor Owen Wilson plays him in the movie, which includes the real names of all the major players. "I missed my family. "I've learned that I'm a fortunate man," he said. Loomis Fargo Heist of 1997 - History and Other Things The Loomis defendants face no additional legal jeopardy for not paying off their debts. Or is the loot buried in somebody's yard? It was an ear-biting, Pierce Brosnan-loving, comet-obsessed world, and were here to relive every minute of it. Our Benefits. Meanwhile, Steve was keeping a close eye on Kelly. I studied up on the FBI. They involve Loomis armored car driver David Scott Ghantt. 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. According to Butcher, Campbells last official payment came in June 2021 when the government appears to have seized a tax refund of $81.24. He had even scheduled a follow-up appointment at the dentist. The true crime behind Asheville-based Galifianakis film They ditched the Loomis van, then drove the cash-heavy Budget van to Steve's mobile home in Lincoln County, where his wife, Michele, waited with a calculator and rubber bands. Ghantt was missing and no one, not even his wife, knew where he was. Should David be killed after he gave them the money? He had just returned to his home in Jacksonville, Fla., when he agreed to talk about the heist, his life now and what went wrong when a group of friends who thought they could get away with stealing $17 million cash. You might as well go all the way now.". In real life: True. Her marriage--at which she was making another ambivalent effort after multiple separations--and even the jobs she'd been able to get with a diploma couldn't come close to providing the kind of life she dreamed about, the life she felt she deserved: a house in the country, a swimming pool, and enough cash so she didn't need to rely on men. He realized that if they met the minimum monthly payments, the bill would take 30 years to pay. Restitution is a familiar part of sentencing in federal court. When Chambers and the two Erics were done loading the stolen millions into barrels, they abandoned the van in the woods. It was one of those things everyone (at Loomis Fargo) joked about, but in time, it became serious. We spoke to the FBI agents who investigated the case who say the real-life.
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