"That would be living on the run, and I didn't want my kids to live that way. By Dustin Rowles | Film | September 30, 2016 |. Time passed, and Campbell eventually quit her job at Loomis Fargo. David, now 30, says he's sorry he abandoned his wife--who he says still loves him--and his family. Ghantt worked at Loomis Fargos regional office vault in Charlotte. It didnt take the local police long to put the pieces together. Restitution is a familiar part of sentencing in federal court. 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. These (Loomis) guys, not so much.. Directed by Jared Hess and written by Chris Bowman, Hubbel Palmer and Emily Spivey, the film stars Zach Galifianakis, Owen Wilson, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones and Jason Sudeikis.. Ghantt was caught on videotape loading large amounts of cash into a truck. The first weekday after the heist, Michele Chambers, co-conspirator Steve's wife, walked into a NationsBank branch with a briefcase containing $5,000. 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.. And though she had been made night shift supervisor at Allied Security, she still felt she would never make the money she needed. When he walked onto the plane, he was wearing big, tall cowboy boots, where hed stuffed a majority of the smuggled cash. One number is working in Campbells favor. They heard Michele brag about her $43,000 ring. Eric watched. Im on the phone with Kelly [Campbell], and Im like, Hey, I really was expecting a package to arrive. And then I realized that a lot of people knew who I was and they had followed the case.. In Campbells case, Gronquist says his client was buried in court-ordered debt despite the fact that she took responsibility for what she had done and cooperated with prosecutors and the FBI. Twice a week over the next 12 months, we will take you back to the winter of sheep cloning and the summer of Con Air. You can have your whole career and not have a case like that. It affects everybody different. Too many questions remained: Where was the cash? And then I could hear her laughing. 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. Tuesday marked 25 years since a group of buddies pulled off the third-largest money grab in U.S. history -- the Loomis Fargo heist. Its a farce that never farces; a comedy without jokes. 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. Ghantt, meanwhile, was losing his patience and starting to make threats. Kelly Loomis. Depression had led to smoking a lot of marijuana and taking Prozac, a combination she figures affected her judgment. In the meantime, the FBI was closing in looking to bust a total of 21 suspected accomplices. While the agents initiated their investigation, the Chambers spent money as quickly as they could. So the original gang was all totally shocked, Wydra said. This meant a bump in pay, up to $8.15 an hour. . The government does not run debtors prisons, says U.S. Loomis (formerly Loomis, Fargo & Co.) is a cash handling company. By the time the month concluded, the couple had purchased a 7,000-square-foot stone mansion in a gated country club community. Twenty people were convicted of roles big and small in the massive 1997 armored-car warehouse heist in west Charlotte. Guller was the attorney for Steven Chambers, who came up with the original idea for the Loomis theft. Thats one of my personality flaws. 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. And it turned Steve into he thought he was Don Corleone all of a sudden.. 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. Theres no way to get it back, Butcher told The Charlotte Observer. Steve led the planning. Why had he ever believed he'd get it? He didn't want to abandon his parents. In the wee hours of the morning, Chambers and the Erics drove back to the town of Vale, North Carolina, and holed up in a double-wide trailer while counting their cash. In the meantime, however, Chambers not only refused to wire money to Ghantt in Mexico, but ultimately hired a hitman (Jason Sudeikis) to take him out. 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. By late November, McKinney made a third trip to Mexico, saying he'd help David move to Mexico City. By using this website, you accept the terms of our Visitor Agreement and Privacy Policy, and understand your options regarding Ad Choices. Then, I started loading the van., Money, when bound in bulk and stacked in canvas bags, is heavier than you might expect. Campbell used to work for Loomis and continued the friendship with Ghantt,. Hed never really been in trouble, he wasnt a career criminal, said retired FBI agent John Wydra. These days, the 52-year-old husband and father lives in Jacksonville, Florida, where he works at a heavy equipment rental agency. All of the co-defendants were arrested the next day, about six months after the heist. The towns booming construction industry attracts workers from around the country. ALSO READ: Suspect from south Charlotte bank robbery found, CMPD says. To celebrate Halloween, about seven of Steve's friends, including Eric Payne and Kelly, gathered for a party at Steve's house. First, in January, he tried to get someone to take some millions down to Mexico. . In the two days after the robbery, agents interviewed more than 100 people, most connected with David. Two more defendants in the $17 million Loomis Fargo & Co. robbery last year have agreed to plead guilty, and a third person entered a formal plea in court. Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. 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.. Time passed, and Campbell eventually quit her job at Loomis Fargo. He covers culture, politics, race, and other perplexing mysteries for MEL. The property has changed hands several times since then. Even still, he was 27, married and struggling to provide for his family. He and his wife, Tammy, lived in a mobile home in Kings Mountain, N.C. Money was always tight. All rights reserved. "Every time my conscience would start bothering me," Kelly recalled, "I'd smoke another joint and forget about it.". But I thought this is me being hard-headed Im going to ride this thing to the ground. And so thats what I did.. 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. But you cant get blood from a stone, Johns said. Cool, I say. . . Clerk of Court Frank Johns of Charlotte. 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. He became the target of a nationwide FBI manhunt and was arrested five months later near the Mexican resort of Cozumel. It wasnt a big hit, but Ghantt, who was played by Galifianakis, gives it a rave review. And I think that makes it all the more funny, because it really offends my co-defendants. They picked me, he says with a rueful tone. It was late in 1996. They soon realized David had stolen more money than would fit in their 55-gallon barrels. Truth was, David wanted more than help leaving, he wanted company. 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. He didnt even really question me. 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. October was "a blast," he said. 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 partied, met women, drank, skied and hung out at the beach. I thought, Okay, if I get out of that bubble because the cops depend on that, even the feds my chances to get away go way up.. Mine did. Steve Chambers and Kelly Campbell, who had been friends on and off since growing up together in the mid-1980s, were at a cookout, playing cards and drinking Budweiser at Steve's Lincoln County, N.C., mobile home, Kelly recalled. Kelly Campbell, 29, a former company employee, entered guilty pleas earlier to bank larceny, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder charges. . He figured Tammy wouldn't go for it, and though his marriage had been troubled, he wasn't certain he wanted to leave her. In the first days after the arrests, agents recovered or accounted for all but about $2 million of the stolen money. But on Oct. 4, 1997, that no longer mattered and Ghantt took off with $17.3 million. On Feb. 27, agents listened in on a call from David to Kelly and learned David's location in Mexico. The money weighed as much as a compact car and he did it all by himself. It just happened to fall on my desk.. After a Gulf War stint in the Army, David got married in 1992. The last time he called me, he said, Hey Ghantt, I just saw a big Loomis Fargo truck. Michelle Chambers received seven years and eight months, while Steve Chambers was handed an 11-year sentence. My knee-jerk reaction was to be angry, and then the sarcastic ass side of me started laughing about it, Ghantt said. Thatd be the time to do it, Ghantt recalls. Im a very deliberate person. This is where it starts to unravel, Ghantt tells me with a wry laugh. Everybody seemed stunned. Theres less security. Haz clic en Gestionar ajustes para obtener ms informacin y gestionar tus opciones. 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. . When neighbors asked where they got their money, Steve said hed played in the NFL. (John D. Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP), Baltimore to Pay $6M in Latest Police Misconduct Settlement, Australia Family Hurt in Helicopter Crash Suing Vegas Firm, Massachusetts Governor Unveils Proposed $55.5B State Budget. Theyre meant to be trailer-park trash, but they come off as character experiments on a bad night at the Groundlings. See all of the stories here. 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) Now he offered to pay him to carry cash to David--Steve said he was a friend hiding out after a bad drug deal, McKinney recalled. 2022 marks the 25th anniversary of the year that everything happened 1997. He approached a longtime friend, Eric Payne, who lived in a mobile home south of Belmont, N.C. Steve offered him $100,000 to help. The initials on the money wrapper belonged to a Loomis employee who hadn't worked there since before the heist. There was a little voice in my head that said, 'Don't do it. There were times when I drank really heavily.". I studied up on the FBI. Username. Things were spiraling fast. She later hired someone to kill Ghantt, though the murder never took place. Though David had said earlier he thought there was $15 million in the vault, the sight of that much cash held them spellbound. Come for the Chumbawamba, and stay for the return of the Mack. The biggest restitution numbers for victims of financial crimes generally involve Ponzi schemes or sweepstakes fraud, not cash thefts. Of course the problem was, the money belonged to someone else. Called Masterminds, the 2016 film stars Zach Galifianakis, Kristen Wiig and Owen Wilson. Ghantt had fled to Mexico with $50,000 in cash, leaving the rest of the money with Steve Chambers. It was an ear-biting, Pierce Brosnan-loving, comet-obsessed world, and were here to relive every minute of it. A third tape he didn't know about kept recording. [Kelly] told me, 'Just think about it.' But first they wanted to know if it was a robbery or a robbery-homicide. Ghantt simply got ready for work one morning knowing it would be his last day on the job. . Federal law stops government collection efforts 20 years after a defendant leaves prison. He realized that if they met the minimum monthly payments, the bill would take 30 years to pay. I hit the local library the thing that we used to do before Google, Ghantt says with a small laugh. The case had gotten national publicity and was the subject of numerous articles, documentaries and even a movie. He pocketed the money and told Chambers and Campbell to send him his cut in Mexico. "He was speechless," said Sandra Floyd. On the radio, the "John Boy and Billy" show played the song "Take the Money and Run. Steve Chambers has told agents the missing cash was stolen from a shed in Lincoln County. They bought a BMW roadster. Ghantt was the vault manager and was surrounded. In a word, "Teamwork. In early December, Steve and Michele invited relatives to their daughter's sixth birthday party. While Ghantt trusted Chambers enough to leave his cut behind, Chambers had other plans. I'd probably change jobs. She laughed for like 45 minutes. 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. He allegedly hired a hitman to take Ghantt out, tying up the ultimate loose end. I had to go in there and tell her the whole story, and she was real cool about it. I had a four-hour layover there, and then from New Orleans to Cancun.. and "I'm rich!". Like David, Kelly was frustrated with her marriage. He hated his job, with its 12-hour shifts. To its credit, Masterminds does nail down the broad strokes of the real story, although there were a couple of noteworthy details the film left out. 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. Steve Chambers would keep the rest. Based on the October 1997 Loomis Fargo robbery. When he landed in Cancun, his first stop was Walmart. "I thought he was goofing around.". The FBI heard about the plot and agents knew they could no longer wait. Ghantt was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison. All of the defendants are out of prison -- the longest sentence was 11 years. Al hacer clic en Aceptar todo, aceptas que Yahoo y nuestros socios procesarn tu informacin personal y utilizarn tecnologas como cookies para presentarte anuncios y contenido personalizados, evaluar anuncios y contenido, obtener datos clave sobre la audiencia y desarrollar productos. What made her do it? Kelly Campbell arrested 11) Finally, the FBI successfully tracked down Ghantt and arrested him at Playa del Carmen. Then, he proceeded to load 2,800 pounds of cash into a van. But being the vault supervisor at Loomis Fargo had one perk -- exposure to tons of cash. You might as well take it all, Ghantt tells me. I was relieved emotionally because I knew there was a good chance my luck might run out, Ghantt said. Michele told her mother she and Steve had been saving gambling winnings for the down payment. Arrested five months later near the Mexican resort of Cozumel third-largest money in. Drank really heavily. `` attorney for Steven Chambers, who was played by Galifianakis gives... 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