All but one of the defendants pleaded guilty. Jim Gronquist was Campbells defense attorney. He stayed at it until the vault was empty. [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]. Ghantt was the vault manager and was surrounded. Getting that off his chest calmed him some, and the conversation returned to the plan. All but one of the 24 defendants pleaded guilty, and the one who didnt take the deal was convicted. 1997 Loomis Fargo Robbery - Strange Unexplained Mysteries I pay (restitution to) thousands of people, but its in drips and drabs.. SEVEN NABBED IN CHARLOTTE HEIST\ - Greensboro News and Record The figures can be astounding. He says the Loomis case shows how the criminal justice system and the courts treat lower-income people differently. 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. Clerk of Court Frank Johns of Charlotte. Figure in Loomis Heist Gets Prison | AP News Its like, me and you sat down, I have access to pie, you like pie, all I want is my share of the pie. That movie, Masterminds, was filmed in 2014. >> PHOTOS: The Loomis Fargo heist, 25 years later. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.. Clear skies. In Florida, a Loomis Fargo employee had pulled a gun on his coworkers and gotten away with $18 million, a move that FBI agents theorize Ghantt, Campbell and other employees all sat around talking about - and what they would do with that amount of money - for a while. 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Marine Fisheries Commission advocates for water quality, North Carolina the only state allowing unnecessary killing of sea turtles, 'Pagan' bike gang leader in N. Carolina sentenced to prison, Deputy cleared in shooting death of Gloucester woman, Beaufort amends charter to allow four-year mayoral term. It should have been easy, but for some reason the gate didn't open for him. Except for the kiss in the pickup truck a few weeks before the heist, Kelly had kept things platonic. The real story behind the second largest bank heist in history, which 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 decided at that moment that if Kelly called again, he would go for it. 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. Although the FBI investigation was able to quickly connect Ghantt to Campbell, connecting Ghantt to Chambers was a more difficult task. Libraries without that edition should consider purchasing this entertaining and lightly edited version, which reads like a fast-paced novel. You cannot fine low-income people millions of dollars. 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. The towns booming construction industry attracts workers from around the country. EDITORIAL: Computer Science misses the need for digital literacy, N. Carolina legislators announce Medicaid expansion deal, EDITORIAL: Fighting political forces that sever family ties, Special-use to get overhaul: Commissioners, planners take a look, Cape Carteret seeking new police chief one month after hiring New Bern resident for post, How many in North Carolina are awaiting student loan debt relief? Ghantt said he believes in redemption, and that his mistake 25 years ago brought him all the things that are important in his life today. Investigators also found Ghantts pickup truck, abandoned at the warehouse. The FBI was inadvertently aided by the gang members extravagant spending. There are multiples of thousands of these things coming every year. This station is part of Cox Media Group Television. Masterminds (2016 film) - Wikipedia They kept several furnishings from the previous owners, including avelvet Elvis. 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.. David said he needed Kelly to drive to Loomis before the theft that night to remove a duffel bag from his parked pickup truck. Meanwhile, Ghantt's gang spent wildly and paid their family members and friends to hide money. "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. " In this outrageously entertaining book, Jeff Diamant, the Charlotte Observer's lead reporter on the case, offers the definitive inside account of this astonishing. Im married, I got one girl, shes 15 going on 30. Some of that money is just gone. It was released in 2016 and Wydra was invited to the premiere. He has a regular life now, but 25 years ago, Ghantt was the mastermind behind the third-largest bank robbery in U.S. history. He knew it would mean leaving Tammy. A connection between each suspect began to emerge slowly, and as the intensity of spending grew, suspicion did as well. He realized his life wouldn't improve unless he did something drastic. 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. Paying the money back has taken a lot longer, and time is running out for the U.S. government to collect. Youre supposed to get less time for cooperating, a lesser penalty, and instead, you see what she got hit with. Gronquist said. Now and again I run into blog posts that tends to make me want to get started on bloggin myself. Clerk of Court Frank Johns of Charlotte. Loomis Fargo Heist of 1997 - History and Other Things Sun, sand and beaches are all part of why Jacksonville is a popular destination. 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.. He is a graduate of Yale and has worked for the Connecticut Post, the Associated Press, and the Palm Beach Post. Next month, Payne will back in the Charlotte federal courthouse, this time to be sentenced from weapons and methamphetamine trafficking charges. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Lacking a college degree, he found that his army skills felt meaningless in the 1990s job market. Once they were in custody, the overwhelming task of clearing out possessions possibly purchased with the stolen money began. When Ghantt called Campbell asking for more money, a plan was set in motion to take him out. 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. Heist: The Oddball Crew Behind the $17 Million Loomis Fargo Theft And they could barely afford the minimum payments, given the power bills, phone bills, car insurance bills, and home payments they had to meet. In the end, the FBI was able to capture the original gang in five months, snaring 21 individuals for their participation in the crime. Her case closes in 2025. He wanted to leave his wife for her, and Kelly, who also was married, let him think she wanted the same. 25th anniversary of the incredible Loomis Fargo bank heist | wcnc.com (LogOut/ He and Tammy could have one or two meals each week that he really liked, but the rest were hot dogs or Hamburger Helper. The supervisor liked him and gave him the job. Campbell used part of her share of the money to buy aToyota Siennaminivanin two cash installments. At 2:20 p.m., the phone rang; it was Kelly again. (LogOut/ And Kelly thought he was funny. Criminals dont usually get high-paying jobs after leaving prison. 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. Loomis Fargo Defendants Owe as Much as They Stole in 1997 When some friends stole a stop sign from a busy intersection, David made them put it back. They involve Loomis armored car driver David Scott Ghantt. Current price is $11.49, Original price is $14.99. These (Loomis) guys, not so much.. 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. 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. The same applies to trolling, the use of multiple aliases, or And once he started, he didn't stop with one cartful. CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) During one overnight shift, a bumbling conspiracy of thieves just west of Charlotte stole more than $17 million from Loomis Fargo. Getting restitution, its like pulling teeth., White-collar criminals are pretty good at hiding their money,, Youre supposed to get less time for cooperating, a lesser penalty, and instead, you see what she got hit with., She will never get beyond the debt. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You cannot fine low-income people millions of dollars. The True Story of David Ghantt and the Loomis Fargo Heist - PrepScholar A woman by the name of Kelly Campbell had worked there in 1996, and she and Ghantt had become friends in that time. Cool interesting stuff features everything odd, weird, bizzare, strange or unusual. 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. Loomis Fargo defendants owe as much as they stole in 1997 Kelly called, using David's own cell phone, to ask where he was already, because she and the others were waiting outside for him. If we can sit on the money for a year, maybe two, it could work.". NASCAR. He even had to watch what he bought at the grocery store. 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. Ghantt had fled to Mexico with $50,000 in cash, leaving the rest of the money with Steve Chambers. 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. If it didn't work out, he could return to the United States later with a new identity. While David Ghantt trusted Steve Chambers enough to leave his cut behind, Chambers had other plans. >> PHOTOS: The Loomis Fargo heist, 25 years later. Their most important conversation occurred one afternoon in August 1997 after Kelly paged him at work. 12) Loomis Fargo heist- The aftermath Ultimately, eight co-conspirators were indicted for the Loomis Fargo bank heist. 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 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. Butcher says the federal courts in the Western District of North Carolina have never handled a case quite like Loomis. Johnson had stolen $18.8 million earlier in the year, on March 19, 1997, only to be caught five months later, in late August, while crossing into Texas from Mexico to retrieve some of the money, which he'd hidden in a shed in mountainous western North Carolina. She will never get beyond the debt. Prosecutors say a vault. uncanny, eerie, unnatural, preternatural, supernatural, unearthly, other-worldly, unreal, ghostly, mysterious, mystifying, strange, abnormal, unusual. Inside the truck, they found Ghantts ring and surmised this as a sign of Ghantts intention to end his relationship with his wife. ALSO READ: 14-year-old boy robbed at gunpoint while waiting for bus in east. 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. Ghantt had struck up a relationship with a fellow Loomis Fargo employee, Kelly Campbell; they continued to maintain contact even after Campbell left the company. Federal law stops government collection efforts 20 years after a defendant leaves prison. CHARLOTTE If you didnt live in the Charlotte area 25 years ago, you might not believe it. Nathan, Steves cousin, was found in a mobile home the Chambers had abandoned. 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. "Are you serious?" The bag held his mobile phone and handgun. This was several years before the advent of smartphones and the post-9/11 increase in federal surveillance of electronic communications, and public knowledge about this tracking was less widespread. Chambers had told Campbell to do whatever she needed to do to get Ghantt to commit the robbery. He and co-worker Kelly Campbell, 27, had developed a close relationship and were spending time together outside of work. It was the second-largest. Moving the money into the van quickly proved an onerous task. Steve had hired a bodyguard named Mike McKinney. These (Loomis) guys, not so much.. 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. Ghantt, his former co-worker Kelly Campbell and her friends Steve and Michelle Chambers, carried out the Loomis Fargo heist on Oct. 4, 1997. 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. His collection case, which closes in November 2026, got credit for the couples $540,000 house on Cramer Mountain in Gaston County, Butcher says. To visit friends.". On Oct. 5, the Loomis heist celebrates its 25th birthday. By then, the FBI had become greatly concerned for Ghantts personal safety; they had learned of Chambersmurder for hirescheme. They succeeded in removing $17 million from the safe. That was taking the long view. LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Is this really about the needs of the poor? : The .17 Million Loomis Fargo Theft [Jeff Diamant] on Amazon.com. The loot would later be divided among David, Kelly, and Steve. So its one thing to go from up here, thought, to action, he said. What that says is, We will never forgive you for what youve done.. Pink, Mr. Blue, Mr. Orange, Mr. Blonde. Who was she to be pressuring him? 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,. contact us to submit an unexplained mystery article, or to join the team on the email address below. 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. Why do we feel its so necessary to treat people like this, to say, OK, well just ruin the rest of your life because you made a bad decision., Punishment should not last a lifetime. Hes a family man with a wife and daughter. Ghantt, his former co-worker Kelly Campbell and her friends Steve and Michelle Chambers carried out the Loomis Fargo heist on Oct. 4, 1997. It took me going to prison to realize I was a bag of worms, and it took me years of work to be somebody worthy to come back into our society, he said. "I've got a friend," she said, "who can hook you up with a new ID.". We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. They swept the surrounding counties, locating Kelly Campbell and Eric Payne in their homes. Heist! The site features a collection of unexplained, strange and odd mysteries. Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live. ", "I don't need any more friends," she'd shot back. 'When you have money, you just have different problems': The Loomis David got a kick out of her. The Loomis Fargo Heist Over the next months, Ghantt, Campbell, and Chambers developed a plan. Available on Compatible NOOK Devices and the free NOOK Apps. Heist! By now, you probably know the names -- David Ghantt, Steve Chambers and his wife Michelle, and Kelly Campbell. 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 could even be famous, perhaps joining the ranks of legendary master thieves. Its attracted workers like Ghantt. 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, . Have a youtube channel or website similar? He played high school football at Mays High School in Atlanta, and college football at Georgia Tech . He worked close-by to where the van and over $3 million dollars had been ditched, and was friends with Steve Chambers. 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. Chambers had no intention of wiring any money to Ghantt and intended to have him killed to keep him from implicating the others. Punishment needs to be fair and realistic. Since then, there have been numerous articles, books, documentaries and even a movie about this gang -- the gang that couldnt shoot straight. They also purchased expensive cars, jewelry and a breast enhancement or two. 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. His collection case closes in two years. 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.. Aprs de nombreux seconds rles comiques au cinma, elle parvient percer en co-crivant et tenant le rle principal de la 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. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. The world is full of unexplained events, strange mysteries, and mysterious legends. Asked the purpose of his visit, Johnson had replied, "To visit friends. 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. All of the co-defendants were arrested the next day, about six months after the heist. What kind of surprised me is how much the car smelled like money, like if you ever hold money up to your nose it has a distinct smell, Wydra said. She had previously been making frequent small deposits to avert suspicion. As a privately owned web site, we reserve the right to edit or Though Wydra is retired, 25 years ago, he was an agent with the FBI. 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. 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. After marrying Tammy in 1992, he worked fueling airplanes at the airport in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Only a nickel on every dollar have been collected so far. 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. Authorities were notified of the robbery in the morning, when employees couldnt open the vault. 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.. Former FBI agent John Wydra, 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. Campbell was released from federal custody in 2004 after serving five years, meaning her collection case will age out in December 2024. The Loomis Fargo heist: 25 years later 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. Well she was a pretty happy-go-lucky person, he said. 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. Former Loomis employee David Scott Ghantt is accused of stealing the money. Afterward, everything became comical. He couldn't understand the gap, why he wasn't more successful, why he couldn't at least match the financial stability of his father, who earned a comfortable salary driving a truck. When you have money, you just have different problems: The Loomis Fargo heist, 25 years later. It wasn't how much you stole that mattered most; it was that you had stolen in the first place. In the grand scheme of things, the prison sentence for stealing $20 million wouldn't be much worse than for stealing just $500,000 maybe a few extra years behind bars. 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. 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. Growing up, David's family went to Disney World, sent him to religious school, and shopped at places he couldn't afford as a self-supporting adult. The 2016 comedy movie, Masterminds is based on the story of the Loomis Fargo Heist. 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. October 1997 Loomis Fargo robbery - Wikipedia '. 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. David would simply empty the vault and deliver the money to the others. They knew Steve Chambers had worked as an informant in the past, and were nervous he would smell out an undercover. That sounds like a lot of money until its compared to the $18,930,201.26 the group was ordered to pay. The figures can be astounding. 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