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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. Campbell left her job in the summer of 1997, but she would later use Ghantt's feelings for her to her own advantage to get him to agree to carry out the multi-million-dollar heist. she asked. remove comments that contain spam, advertising, vulgarity, threats Twenty people were convicted of roles big and small in the massive 1997 armored-car warehouse heist in west Charlotte. The trainee didn't know to check to make sure it was closed. The woman on the phone was Kelly Jane Campbell, and David had a mad crush on her. Ghantt had worked with the branch since 1994, and had been promoted from a driver to the vault supervisor. The next day, before Mike was able to leave the country, the FBI arrested him in his hotel room. At 2:20 p.m., the phone rang; it was Kelly again. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. From there, the money was moved from the armored car to private vehicles. LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Remember why you were elected! According to Butcher, Campbells last official payment came in June 2021 when the government appears to have seized a tax refund of $81.24. It wasn't how much you stole that mattered most; it was that you had stolen in the first place. The site features a collection of unexplained, strange and odd mysteries. Each cart, holding about $2 million, was taking David seven or eight minutes to stack, push, and empty into the van, and there were about eight cartloads' worth in the vault. There are multiples of thousands of these things coming every year. Ghantt went to Mexico leaving the money with his cohorts, thinking that he could get his share back when he needed it. To the community, the Loomis Fargo heist was a big joke -- the largest hillbilly caper of all time. Its like, me and you sat down, I have access to pie, you like pie, all I want is my share of the pie. So we were able to figure out with all the denominations, it would require about 20 safe deposit boxes to store it all.. All but one of the defendants pleaded guilty. contact us to submit an unexplained mystery article, or to join the team on the email address below. "I'm busy," he said. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Learn about careers at Cox Media Group. 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. He worked close-by to where the van and over $3 million dollars had been ditched, and was friends with Steve Chambers. 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. It, too, has changed hands several times. There was a book published in 2002 as well, by author Jeff Diamant called,Heist! She will never get beyond the debt. In the parking lot, David sat in his pickup truck smoking a cigarette and waving good-bye as the trainee drove home. He would then have the bulk of his share sent south of the border. His collection case closes in two years. This technically made it abank robbery afederal offense. And then I realized that a lot of people knew who I was and they had followed the case.. Cool interesting stuff features everything odd, weird, bizzare, strange or unusual. The hillbilly outfit did more that just drop a few breadcrumbs. Now, at 7:45 p.m., with all the money finally inside the van, his aching muscles could take a breather. Some of that money is just gone. Ghantt reported to Chambers that his supply of money was running low, but Chambers sent Ghantt just $8,000. 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.. The police almost immediately called theFBI, since 95% of the money handled at the facility was owned by banks. As a privately owned web site, we reserve the right to edit or Tuesday marked 25 years since a group of buddies pulled off the third-largest money grab in U.S. history -- the Loomis Fargo heist. The FBI says Chambers hired a hitman to tie up the ultimate loose end -- Ghantt. David and the trainee left the warehouse. More than 2 million dollars are still missing to this day. 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. However, Chambers had no intention of following those rules, believing the FBI would never connect him to Ghantt. LeVaughn Kelly Campbell (born July 23, 1980 in Atlanta, Georgia) is a former football wide receiver. The loot would later be divided among David, Kelly, and Steve. Burks was also ordered to serve 15 years in prison, limiting his ability to balance his books. Four-wheeling. I ride motorcycles and fish -- normal guy, Ghantt told Counts. As it neared its end, David stealthily left the vault door ajar. Over 88% of the money has been recovered since the heist. The defendants received sentences ranging from probation for several relatives to over 11 years in federal prison for Steve Chambers. You have permission to edit this article. 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. If we can sit on the money for a year, maybe two, it could work.". But with Kelly's new idea on the table, several dark realities converged on him. 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 case had gotten national publicity and was the subject of numerous articles, documentaries and even a movie. He was on a budget for clothes, even for work boots; he had recently needed to check seven stores before finding a pair in his price range. Fourteen defendants were ordered to make restitution payments to Loomis Fargo totaling almost $19 million. Of course the most famous thing inside the home was a velvet Elvis portrait. 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. A third surveillance tape was carelessly left behind, and the company was able to identify the man who robbed the vault as David Ghantt. Asked the purpose of his visit, Johnson had replied, "To visit friends. That first day in prison was scary, Ghantt said. 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. Sunny. The supervisor liked him and gave him the job. The towns booming construction industry attracts workers from around the country. They swept the surrounding counties, locating Kelly Campbell and Eric Payne in their homes. In August 1997, Campbell informed Ghantt about an old high school friend of hers named Steve Chambers, who could assist Ghantt to execute a massive cash robbery of the Loomis Fargo vault in one night. He knew they were nervous outside waiting for him, but he also knew he wouldn't stop stealing until he had taken everything. Instead he became paranoid, especially after Steve Chambers put a contract out on his life. uncanny, eerie, unnatural, preternatural, supernatural, unearthly, other-worldly, unreal, ghostly, mysterious, mystifying, strange, abnormal, unusual. So the original gang was all totally shocked, Wydra said. David said he needed Kelly to drive to Loomis before the theft that night to remove a duffel bag from his parked pickup truck. So they went to Mexico and arrested Ghantt in order to protect him. It all seemed unfair. Who was she to be pressuring him? Its a once-in-a-lifetime thing, and I went down and talked to them, got to meet Zach Galifianakis and the director, Ghantt said. Jim Gronquist, Campbells defense attorney during the Loomis case, says the financial penalties levied against his client and her co-defendants are grossly excessive and unjust, particularly since most of the stolen Loomis money was actually recovered. One number is working in Campbells favor. So we were able to figure out with all the denominations, it would require about 20 safe deposit boxes to store it all.. Unexplained Mysteries and Strange Things,Cool Interesting stuff has been online since early 2011. In preparation for what lay ahead, David had backed an unmarked company Ford Econoline van near the vault entrance and opened the van's back door. While Ghantt waited for the heat from the robbery to die down, Chambers would send Ghantt small amounts of money. Ghantt, in order to conserve this money, curtailed his spending. We are happy to work with other website publishers. I made a joke once that was the hardest Id ever worked for Wells Fargo -- yeah, its a lot of work, Ghantt said. In his youth, his mother had taken him to Sears and JCPenney, but as a man he shopped at Walmart, and while he knew there was nothing wrong with that, he wished he could afford more. FBI video shows agents searching the Cramer Mountain home and finding stacks of cash. 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. In Gastonia, David would run into high-school classmates who had never struck him as especially smart. The only other employee with him on this day was a trainee. Theres no way to get it back,, And with Loomis, were looking at only one case. Join thousands already receiving our daily newsletter. In the movie: Campbell invites Ghantt to a restaurant under the auspices of a date, but then springs the idea of the heist on him, as Chambers and two associates join the conversation from an . Ghantt, his former co-worker Kelly Campbell and her friends Steve and Michelle Chambers carried out the Loomis Fargo heist on Oct. 4, 1997. If the American Dream involved being better off as adults than your parents were, David was experiencing a version of the American Nightmare. There are multiples of thousands of these things coming every year. His collection case, which closes in November 2026, got credit for the couples $540,000 house on Cramer Mountain in Gaston County, Butcher says. But on Oct. 4, 1997, that no longer mattered and Ghantt took off with $17.3 million. About the worst he had done as a teenager was stealing a construction company's Porta-Jon with a friend, tying it to the back of a pickup truck, and driving around for about fifteen minutes. CHARLOTTE (AP) During one overnight shift, a bumbling conspiracy of thieves just west of Charlotte stole more than $17 million from Loomis Fargo. So that was kind of like this once-in-a-lifetime thing, Wydra said. 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.. "So he stays behind and moving over two thousand pounds of . The Loomis case is another example where the amount of restitution ordered vs. what is actually paid are two dramatically different numbers. And after two years, the case is just a file. Ghantt didnt know the full extent of what was happening back home -- how that lay low plan turned into a flurry of extravagant spending. Hes a family man with a wife and daughter. 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. The plan was still on, but David remained steamed. After marrying Tammy in 1992, he worked fueling airplanes at the airport in Hilton Head, South Carolina. He had approached her inside the chain-link fence that surrounded the building and said with a flirty smile, "If you give me a cigarette, I'll be your friend. Clerk of Court Frank Johns of Charlotte. In the end, the FBI was able to capture the original gang in five months, snaring 21 individuals for their participation in the crime. These cookies do not store any personal information. 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. Some of that money is just gone. 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. David was supposed to be showing him the ropes of the job, which included cash pickups and deliveries. LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Is this really about the needs of the poor? Charlotte Observer"more than a crime story, and one that's worth reading." Kelly Campbell, who one day visited a Toyota dealership to purchase a minivan with twenty-dollar bills. 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. Who all wanted a Rambo movie which explored his time training as a green beret and his time serving in Vietnam as a prequel to first blood WATCH Antebellum 2020 FULL MOVIE. Booklist "Librariesshould consider purchasing this entertaining and lightly edited version, which reads like a fast-paced novel." These (Loomis) guys, not so much.. 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. Fourteen defendants were ordered to make restitution payments to Loomis Fargo totaling almost $19 million. Getting restitution, its like pulling teeth.. Chambers had no intention of wiring any money to Ghantt and intended to have him killed to keep him from implicating the others. Updated: 11:31 AM EDT October 4, 2022 CHARLOTTE, N.C. Tuesday is the 25th anniversary of the infamous Loomis Fargo heist in Charlotte, where a bank worker, with the help of two accomplices,. 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. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Available on Compatible NOOK Devices and the free NOOK Apps. The theft at the time the second-largest cash robbery in U.S. history has been the brunt of mocking movies and books, mostly on how the thieves, who had little money to begin with, could not control their spending habits once they did. Was the temptation too much? Jeff Diamant was a reporter for the Charlotte Observer when the heist took place. 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. 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. Despite being caught on camera wheeling the money from the vault to the getaway van, David Ghantt makes off to Mexico before the FBI can blink. 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. The movie was called Masterminds and stars Zach Galifianakis, Kristen Wiig and Owen Wilson. But he wasn't finished. He says the Loomis case shows how the criminal justice system and the courts treat lower-income people differently. After hanging up on her, David returned to work. Stealing from Loomis Fargo could make him rich, if he got away with it. How he and his wife had trouble communicating. I appreciate your kind words! She had previously been making frequent small deposits to avert suspicion. She'd left Loomis in November 1996 to take a job elsewhere as a security guard. Thank you! Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. By then, the FBI had become greatly concerned for Ghantts personal safety; they had learned of Chambersmurder for hirescheme. Spunk. Criminals dont usually get high-paying jobs after leaving prison. Anybody who gets caught up in the system is getting chewed up by it, the now-retired Gronquist told the Observer. What that says is, We will never forgive you for what youve done. 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. Of course, this would all be a radical departure for him, and thoughts of his wife and parents did give him pause. - 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. Enforcement of this policy is at the Have a youtube channel or website similar? she asked again. That way, outsiders couldn't see money being loaded. Growing up, David had been a nice kid, a decent student who was at worst a minor troublemaker and prankster. 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. They didnt expect it.. Except for the kiss in the pickup truck a few weeks before the heist, Kelly had kept things platonic. Punishment needs to be fair and realistic. The Loomis case is another example where the amount of restitution ordered vs. what is actually paid are two dramatically different numbers. Twenty people were convicted of roles big and small in the massive 1997 armored-car warehouse heist in west Charlotte. It was the second-largest. You can have your whole career and not have a case like that. Jim Gronquist was Campbells defense attorney. But you cant get blood from a stone, Johns said. Well they were in some sense celebrities, Gronquist said. "its a great readsuspenseful, often funny, just the thing for those wondering what it might feel like to have, as these hapless, small-town criminals did, literally too darn much cash lying around. " [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]. Paying the money back has taken a lot longer, and time is running out for the U.S. government to collect. David got a kick out of her. But you cant get blood from a stone, Johns said. It was released in 2016 and Wydra was invited to the premiere. By using this website, you accept the terms of our Visitor Agreement and Privacy Policy, and understand your options regarding Ad Choices. The 2016 comedy movie, Masterminds is based on the story of the Loomis Fargo Heist. It should have been easy, but for some reason the gate didn't open for him. According to Butcher, Campbells last official payment came in June 2021 when the government appears to have seized a tax refund of $81.24. The actual crime itself required none of Hollywood's imagination. As an adult, he preferred Shakespeare, Tom Clancy, and any book he could find about the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 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. Campbell used part of her share of the money to buy aToyota Siennaminivanin two cash installments. 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. How did they get away with stealing more than $17 million? 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. OWLS director fired in wake of new board taking over, New rules will require flood history disclosure in real estate, North Carolina recreational spring flounder season canceled for 2023, Supreme Court seems ready to sink student loan forgiveness, Beach commission gets update on search for new sources of sand for beach nourishment. 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. His collection case, which closes in November 2026, got credit for the couples $540,000 house on Cramer Mountain in Gaston County, Butcher says. In addition, he also rented Mike his own apartment, paid him $400/weekly and bought him a gun. She had attitude. Discover some of the worlds strangest ancient places. Authorities were notified of the robbery in the morning, when employees couldnt open the vault. He'd already done enough, he realized, to get himself fired and arrested, even if the gate prevented him from moving the money outside the building. Loomis has received $978,983.79, according to Sally Butcher, an assistant clerk in the federal courts of the Western District of North Carolina who specializes in criminal debt. Over the next two weeks, David thought about it. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. To be brutally honest, it was that morning, Ghantt replied. 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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. Besides her prison sentence, Campbell must undergo mental health and drug treatment and spend two years in a supervised release program. By using this website, you accept the terms of our Visitor Agreement and Privacy Policy, and understand your options regarding Ad Choices. And with Loomis, were looking at only one case. 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.. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. In Reservoir Dogs, released just five years earlier, the pawns in a robbery knew each other only by assigned colors: Mr. You Save 23%. But what the bank didnt tell Michelle, and Michelle didnt know, was that one of those forms get filled out if you ask about it, or if its close to $10,000 or if they suspect that any part of that transaction is suspicious, Wydra said. That sounds like a lot of money until its compared to the $18,930,201.26 the group was ordered to pay. The Loomis defendants face no additional legal jeopardy for not paying off their debts. 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. ", Johnson said, "Yeah, that's it. There's just one hitch: Ghantt has entrusted the money to an oddball crew of accomplices who had wooed him into committing this massive theft in the first placeand who, he soon learns, are trying to take him out. Once they were in custody, the overwhelming task of clearing out possessions possibly purchased with the stolen money began. There are multiples of thousands of these things coming every year. All but one took plea deals, including Ghantt, who was sentenced to seven years in prison. He also stole both existing sets of vault keys and hurried into the manager's office, where three TV security screens and two VCRs were visible. 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So we were able to figure out with all the denominations, it would require about 20 safe deposit boxes to store it all., WSOC TV facebook feed(Opens a new window), Part 2: Channel 9 speaks with the man at the center of Loomis Fargo heist 25 years ago, ALSO READ: 14-year-old boy robbed at gunpoint while waiting for bus in east Charlotte, mom says, ALSO READ: Leader of $3M check theft, bank fraud scheme in Charlotte area sentenced to prison, ALSO READ: Man released from jail, accused of robbing banks while wearing electronic monitor, police say, ALSO READ: Suspect from south Charlotte bank robbery found, CMPD says, NCSHP arrest driver accused of nearly hitting 2 students at bus stop in Statesville, CMS delays opening of new school meant to ease overcrowding, Mooresville orders removal of memorial at park after teens death, Chick-fil-A announces app data breach, tells customers how to protect personal information, Charlotte woman celebrates $1 million scratch-off prize, WSOC - TV Public File Contact / Program Director, WAXN - TV Public File Contact / Program Director. Its in the ether. Jim Gronquist, Campbells defense attorney during the Loomis case, says the financial penalties levied against his client and her co-defendants are grossly excessive and unjust, particularly since most of the stolen Loomis money was actually recovered. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. Former Loomis employee David Scott Ghantt is accused of stealing the money. In fact, he had recently finished a book about the FBI and felt it provided insight into the agency's investigative techniques, insight he thought could help the little gang succeed. They also found several stacks of money with Loomis bands still attached throughout all the homes searched. Notifications from this discussion will be disabled. Later that year, he saw a newspaper ad for a job at Loomis Fargo. He put on his best pair of jeans, a button-down shirt, and his nicest cowboy boots. Many of the lesser players in the conspiracy have been the most effective in paying their debts. Chambers would then occasionally wire Ghantt money and see to his basic financial needs; when the heat was off, Ghantt was to re-enter the U.S. and the money would be split up among all of the co-conspirators. "Are you serious?" None of the suspects had been in any serious trouble before this. 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. The FBI heard about the plot and agents knew they could no longer wait. Down in Jacksonville, a Loomis Fargo employee took $18 million from an armored van he was driving.