Loomis Fargo Heist of 1997 - History and Other Things Later that year, he saw a newspaper ad for a job at Loomis Fargo. FBI video shows agents searching the Cramer Mountain home and finding stacks of cash. LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Remember why you were elected! She had attitude. >> PHOTOS: The Loomis Fargo heist, 25 years later Ghantt, his former co-worker Kelly Campbell and her friends Steve and Michelle Chambers, carried out the Loomis Fargo heist on Oct.. The bizarre true story of the criminals behind the second-largest bank heist in American history. just generally being a jerk. Anybody who gets caught up in the system is getting chewed up by it, the now-retired Gronquist told the Observer.
"I was unhappy with my life. Anybody who gets caught up in the system is getting chewed up by it, the now-retired Gronquist told the Observer. A former FBI agent who helped crack the case sat down with Channel 9 Reporter Glenn Counts to talk about the clues that led to solving the crime, and how the group got caught. But you cant get blood from a stone, Johns said. Its in the ether. remove comments that contain spam, advertising, vulgarity, threats In the first couple of weeks, they had heard both Steve and Shelley bragging about their new-found fortune, and spending remarkable amounts of money. It was the second-largest. 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. What that says is, We will never forgive you for what youve done. He put on his best pair of jeans, a button-down shirt, and his nicest cowboy boots. Steve and Michelle Chambers, who had lived in a mobile home, bought a mansion in Cramer Mountain. Federal law stops government collection efforts 20 years after a defendant leaves prison. Nathan, Steves cousin, was found in a mobile home the Chambers had abandoned. But after a year, they cut it down to two agents. There was a book published in 2002 as well, by author Jeff Diamant called,Heist! [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]. Low 46F. He knew his mother would be traumatized, shocked, and appalled. Just after the last employees left that day, surveillance footage shows a man enter the vault, and begin to load more than 2,740 pounds in cash into a nearby van, totaling around over $17 million. 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 Loomis defendants face no additional legal jeopardy for not paying off their debts. 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. He and his wife, Michele, moved from theirmobile homeinLincoln Countyto a luxury house in the wealthy Cramer Mountain section ofCramerton. 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. The Loomis defendants face no additional legal jeopardy for not paying off their debts. That sounds like a lot of money until its compared to the $18,930,201.26 the group was ordered to pay. Hed never really been in trouble, he wasnt a career criminal, said retired FBI agent John Wydra. You cannot fine low-income people millions of dollars. (John D. Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP) All of the primary players got fined millions of dollars --for example, Kelly Campbell was hit with more than $4 million, an amount that she will never come close to paying. This website uses cookies and some data tracking to improve your experience and serve adverts, We assume you're ok with this, you can opt-out if you wish. Diamant, a journalist who reported on the case at the time, goes into meticulous detail on how the heist was pulled off and its aftermath. If we can sit on the money for a year, maybe two, it could work.". As it neared its end, David stealthily left the vault door ajar. An additional tip reached the FBI when Michelle Chambers made a large deposit at a bank. personal/abusive/condescending attacks on other users or goading How he and his wife had trouble communicating. Over the next two weeks, David thought about it. The FBI began to question past and current employees of Loomis Fargo. One number is working in Campbells favor. 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. Thirty years! From my standpoint, it was just a business deal, Ghantt said. Conversations about stealing from the company weren't rare for Loomis employees. Discover some of the worlds strangest ancient places. All but one of the 24 defendants pleaded guilty, and the one who didnt take the deal was convicted. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. By now, you probably know the names -- David Ghantt, Steve Chambers and his wife Michelle, and Kelly Campbell.
Channel 9 speaks with the man at the center of Loomis Fargo heist 25 But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. What purpose does that serve other than to denigrate that person into abject poverty?.
'Masterminds' Review: Loomis Fargo Robbery Where Are They Now? - Pajiba 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. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account.
Seven Charged In $17M Heist - CBS News them. Ghantt went to Mexico leaving the money with his cohorts, thinking that he could get his share back when he needed it. Kristen Wiig plays Kelly, who really wasn't that into David, but convinced him to take a fortune from Loomis Fargo in the fall of '97. Enabling JavaScript in your browser will allow you to experience all the features of our site. Criminals dont usually get high-paying jobs after leaving prison. The 2016 comedy movie, Masterminds is based on the story of the Loomis Fargo Heist. Burks was also ordered to serve 15 years in prison, limiting his ability to balance his books. The unsolved mystery of the Van Meter Visitor a winged creature! There are multiples of thousands of these things coming every year. By then, the FBI had become greatly concerned for Ghantts personal safety; they had learned of Chambersmurder for hirescheme. "I don't have time to mess with you. 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. 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. Theres no way to get it back, Butcher told The Charlotte Observer. None of the suspects had been in any serious trouble before this. Now and again I run into blog posts that tends to make me want to get started on bloggin myself. The stated plan was for her to move to Mexico to be with him after the theft. Except for the kiss in the pickup truck a few weeks before the heist, Kelly had kept things platonic. His eyes widened and he stopped breathing as he realized that something as mundane as a malfunctioning gate might ruin their entire plan. They knew Steve Chambers had worked as an informant in the past, and were nervous he would smell out an undercover. The towns booming construction industry attracts workers from around the country. The $17 million Loomis Fargo heist in Charlotte, North Carolina, was the second largest armored car robbery in U.S. history. 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. Its like, me and you sat down, I have access to pie, you like pie, all I want is my share of the pie. And Kelly thought he was funny. A couple by the names of Steve and Shelley Chambers also became people of interest in the investigation due to their extreme sudden increase in spending. 12) Loomis Fargo heist- The aftermath Ultimately, eight co-conspirators were indicted for the Loomis Fargo bank heist. Some of that money is just gone. Working by himself, Ghantt would commit the robbery and then flee for Mexico, leaving the bulk of the cash with Chambers. He and co-worker Kelly Campbell, 27, had developed a close relationship and were spending time together outside of work. Im married, I got one girl, shes 15 going on 30. Thank you so much. Yet their lives seemed far easier and better than his. Another time, the day after a Christmas in the late 1980s, David and some friends planted all the discarded Christmas trees from the area in one neighbor's front yard. At that point, Kelly and David had known each other for two years. 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,.
Heist: The Oddball Crew Behind the $17 Million Loomis Fargo Theft The plan was to maintain a low profile and wait for things to cool off, allowing Ghantt to return to the states and collect his cut. 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. Chambers had no intention of wiring any money to Ghantt and intended to have him killed to keep him from implicating the others. Butcher says the federal courts in the Western District of North Carolina have never handled a case quite like Loomis. The FBI was inadvertently aided by the gang members extravagant spending. (John D. Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP). Change). Another name the FBI had become very interested in is Eric Payne. If the American Dream involved being better off as adults than your parents were, David was experiencing a version of the American Nightmare. The Charlotte area's economy was booming all around him, and he felt passed over. Most people are going to forgive you. You Save 23%. Paying the money back has taken a lot longer, and time is running out for the U.S. government to collect. be blocked or permanently banned without warning. I dont know if Steve would have done it himself, but he definitely was capable of buying someone to do it for him and I think that was going to happen if we didnt step in and arrest Ghantt, Wydra said. "About fourteen or fifteen million dollars," he said. He played high school football at Mays High School in Atlanta, and college football at Georgia Tech . 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.
Fact check: Is there much truth to the new 'Masterminds' movie? 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 example, Steve Chambers and his wife were living in a. Jim Gronquist was Campbells defense attorney. Copyright The Nashua Telegraph | https://www.nashuatelegraph.com | 110 Main St, Ste 1, Nashua, NH 03060 | 603-882-2741, Loomis Fargo defendants owe as much as they stole in 1997, Thats pretty standard in restitution matters. Loomis, Fargo offered a $500,000 reward for his arrest and conviction. He added that money can be a motivator for anyone. The affidavit described Chambers as a former FBI informant who had provided information on another Loomis armored car robbery that never materialized.
How Did David Ghantt, Kelly Campbell, Steve Chambers Steal More Than Investigators also found Ghantts pickup truck, abandoned at the warehouse. If a prank seemed dangerous, David backed out. To visit friends.". Then one day, while reviewing his and Tammy's credit card bill, he did some quick math and realized that even if they met the minimum monthly payments, the bill would take thirty years to pay. Ghantt was the vault manager and was surrounded. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Javascript is not enabled in your browser. Ghantt had fled to Mexico with $50,000 in cash, leaving the rest of the money with Steve Chambers. RELATED: When you have money, you just have different problems: The Loomis Fargo heist, 25 years later, How I held it together is beyond me, Ghantt said. They hadn't slept together or even fooled around much, but he was ready to commit. 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. Of course the problem was, the money belonged to someone else.
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.
The True Story of David Ghantt and the Loomis Fargo Heist - PrepScholar : The .17 Million Loomis Fargo Theft [Jeff Diamant] on Amazon.com. 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. From there, the money was moved from the armored car to private vehicles. 2023 Cox Media Group. Now one of the most wanted men in America with the FBI hot on his heels, Ghantt must figure out how to get his money, get away from a hit man, and get even. He deserved better. 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. 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. He hated his job and his bosses, he'd lost hope in his marriage, he wasn't going to advance at Loomis, and he couldn't afford to quit to enroll in college. NASCAR. Library Journal "highly entertaining." Asked the purpose of his visit, Johnson had replied, "To visit friends. He would then have the bulk of his share sent south of the border. So its one thing to go from up here, thought, to action, he said. Seven p.m. came and went, and so did 7:20. Youre supposed to get less time for cooperating, a lesser penalty, and instead, you see what she got hit with. Gronquist said. All but one of the defendants pleaded guilty. "Don't double-cross us," the woman on the phone told David Ghantt. Ghantt reported to Chambers that his supply of money was running low, but Chambers sent Ghantt just $8,000. she asked again. (LogOut/ Heist! 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. Inside the truck, they found Ghantts ring and surmised this as a sign of Ghantts intention to end his relationship with his wife. (LogOut/ Thats pretty standard in restitution matters. They succeeded in removing $17 million from the safe. 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. Pink, Mr. Blue, Mr. Orange, Mr. Blonde. White-collar criminals are pretty good at hiding their money, she said. So that was kind of like this once-in-a-lifetime thing, Wydra said. It just happened to fall on my desk.. Her case closes in 2025. He shut the empty vault and set its timer so the vault could not be opened for two or three days. Have a youtube channel or website similar? Theres no way to get it back, Butcher told The Charlotte Observer. Some of that money is just gone. Chambers had broached the possibility of a robbery to Campbell earlier in the summer. He even had to watch what he bought at the grocery store. Kelly called, using David's own cell phone, to ask where he was already, because she and the others were waiting outside for him. Steve had hired a bodyguard named Mike McKinney. Ghantt studied how to rob his employer and advised the others not to spend the money lavishly. White-collar criminals are pretty good at hiding their money, she said. David's share would be sent to Mexico, where he planned to hide and where he expected Kelly to join him. Spunk.
SEVEN NABBED IN CHARLOTTE HEIST\ - Greensboro News and Record Masterminds (2016 film) - Wikipedia I pay (restitution to) thousands of people, but its in drips and drabs.. They also purchased expensive cars, jewelry and a breast enhancement or two. 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. When I put that cash in the back of the car, by the time I got to the office the whole car smelled like that. While David Ghantt trusted Steve Chambers enough to leave his cut behind, Chambers had other plans. If it didn't work out, he could return to the United States later with a new identity.
The real 'Masterminds' Their most important conversation occurred one afternoon in August 1997 after Kelly paged him at work. He stayed at it until the vault was empty. 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 .
David Ghantt And The Ridiculous Loomis Fargo Heist To the community, the Loomis Fargo heist was a big joke -- the largest hillbilly caper of all time. 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. He knew they were nervous outside waiting for him, but he also knew he wouldn't stop stealing until he had taken everything. One day, Campbell was speaking to an old friend named Steve Chambers. https://www.charlotteagenda.com/67457/loomis-fargo-heist-masterminds-movie/, http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/state/article104506876.html, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_1997_Loomis_Fargo_robbery#Company, http://retroclt.blogspot.com/2014/07/loomis-fargo-heist.html, . All of the co-defendants were arrested the next day, about six months after the heist. Records show the government has garnished his Social Security checks. When you have money, you just have different problems: The Loomis Fargo heist, 25 years later.
Loomis Fargo defendants owe as much as they stole in 1997 While Ghantt trusted Chambers enough to leave his cut behind, Chambers had other plans. The property has changed hands several times since then. 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. 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. She had attitude. David didn't appreciate her tone. That was the thing that sticks in my mind to this day.. On the evening ofOctober 4, 1997, the Loomis Fargo & Co branch in Charlotte, North Carolina was in the process of being plundered. I gotta go.". Discover the truth behind unexplained ancient mysteries, UFO mysteries, secret locations and paranormal events. 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. : The $17 Million Loomis Fargo Theft. 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. 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. My knee-jerk reaction was to be angry, and then the sarcastic ass side of me started laughing about it, Ghantt said. 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. 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. David's vision for all of this actually derived more from books than from movies. The woman on the phone was Kelly Jane Campbell, and David had a mad crush on her.
America's Dumbest Heist! (True Crime Documentary) | Real Stories "Just think about it," she said.
'When you have money, you just have different problems': The Loomis He wanted to leave his wife for her, and Kelly, who also was married, let him think she wanted the same. I actually loved reading through this post. Since then, there have been numerous articles, books, documentaries and even a movie about this gang -- the gang that couldnt shoot straight. He decided at that moment that if Kelly called again, he would go for it. JACKSONVILLE, Fla. This month marked 25 years since one of the biggest armored car heists in U.S. history. Get an email notification whenever someone contributes to the discussion.
Heist!: The $17 Million Loomis Fargo Theft - amazon.com A third surveillance tape was carelessly left behind, and the company was able to identify the man who robbed the vault as David Ghantt. You can seize property. Campbell was released from federal custody in 2004 after serving five years, meaning her collection case will age out in December 2024. 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. Husband and wife Steven and Michelle Chambers, whose conspicuous consumption of a luxury home, a BMW convertible, breast implants and a $600 wooden Indian, among other purchases, helped the FBI solve the crime, were assessed $3.81 million and $4.8 million, respectively. Many of the lesser players in the conspiracy have been the most effective in paying their debts. The biggest restitution numbers for victims of financial crimes generally involve Ponzi schemes or sweepstakes fraud, not cash thefts. VERDICT The first edition of this work was published in 2002. Instead he became paranoid, especially after Steve Chambers put a contract out on his life. 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. As a child, he had preferred reading to playing sports, and he would say, as an adult, that although he couldn't have told you "who was on first," he knew as a kid who the Egyptian god of the dead was. 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. Holding her hands behind her back, Michele Chambers was sentenced Tuesday to seven years and eight months in prison for her role in the $17 million heist from Loomis, Fargo & Co. She was also. But that only tells part of the story. 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. Ghantt was the vault manager and was surrounded daily by millions of dollars worth of temptation. Criminals dont usually get high-paying jobs after leaving prison.
How Did A Model Employee Manage To Steal More Than $17 Million - Yahoo! That first day in prison was scary, Ghantt said. Thats pretty standard in restitution matters. 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. 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.. Perry identified the other six people arrested as Steve and Michelle Chambers; Kelly Jane Campbell, a former Loomis employee; Michael L. McKinney; Thomas Nathan Grant; and Eric Haley Payne.. The trainee didn't yet know how the place worked, a fact David planned to use to his advantage. 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. She will never get beyond the debt. 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. Action News Jax facebook feed(Opens a new window), Action News Jax twitter feed(Opens a new window), Action News Jax youtube feed(Opens a new window), JSO K9 escapes kennel, bites three people in Jacksonville neighborhood, To know Nancy was to love Nancy: St. Johns County woman killed in suspected DUI crash, JSO says missing child alert results in deadly drowning, Senator proposes bill giving state emergency jurisdiction over custody of kids with trans parents, Florida woman accused of killing terminally ill husband released from jail. Human nature is a flexible part of life, Gronquist said. "Everything's gonna be all right," she told him. Also charged with money laundering were innocent relatives and friends who had co-signed safe deposit boxes. Even with several vehicles, they underestimated how much space they would need and they had to leave $3 million behind. I appreciate your kind words! David said he needed Kelly to drive to Loomis before the theft that night to remove a duffel bag from his parked pickup truck. The defendants received sentences ranging from probation for several relatives to over 11 years in federal prison for Steve Chambers. "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. "
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