They were the butt of a national joke. Thats one of my personality flaws. "It probably should bother me," he said. Eventually, Steve made Kelly believe they could steal from Loomis and get away with it, she said. Kelly told the FBI she had done drugs with David but denied knowing about the theft. What purpose does that serve other than to denigrate that person into abject poverty?. Fourteen defendants were ordered to make restitution payments to Loomis Fargo totaling almost $19 million. First, they loaded the cash into blue 55-gallon barrels, and then they moved the barrels into a rental van. He wouldn't give me the opportunity to say anything else. He drove to the edge of the Loomis compound, which was surrounded by a chain-link fence. Like David, Kelly was frustrated with her marriage. About 5:45 a.m., he got into his pickup and began the 45-minute drive to work in Charlotte. 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.. Everything came crashing down on an early March morning in 1998. I hear her typing. And I knew that by that time, Id be in Cancun no matter what. 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. . On October 5, 1997, FBI agents gathered at the Loomis, Fargo & Co. warehouse in Charlotte, North Carolina, to watch a security videotape of a man loading stacks of cash into a pushcart and wheeling them from the vault. The figures can be astounding. He flip-flopped on the heist idea three or four times. . Money'll turn your head, I don't care who you are. The movie was overly silly and, based on a post-screening conversation with former Observer reporter Jeff Diamant who wrote a detailed 279-page book about the occasionally funny but mostly just-plain fascinating crime, titled Heist much of what wound up in the film is fiction. Many of the lesser players in the conspiracy have been the most effective in paying their debts. By the time the month concluded, the couple had purchased a 7,000-square-foot stone mansion in a gated country club community. Soon thereafter, he met Kelly Campbell, a co-worker at Loomis Fargo. In 2017, for example, Paul Burks of Lexington was ordered to pay $244 million to the victims of his worldwide Ponzi scheme, Zeek Rewards. At 6 that morning, FBI supervisor Rick Shaffer led 12 agents and several Gaston County police officers up a winding road on Cramer Mountain to Steve's home. He didn't want to abandon his parents. And youre like, Come on parachute. Charlotte Magazine even ran a feature story about the Loomis Fargo heist with the title, White Trash Crime. The headlines, however, never bothered Ghantt. No dry runs, no rehearsals. We got this guy named Bruno. At the time, it was the largest cash heist in history. . I don't want to be mean, but that's probably the dumbest thing they could do. When Chambers and the two Erics were done loading the stolen millions into barrels, they abandoned the van in the woods. On his second trip, Steve gave McKinney David's hotel address. I just want people to go to the movies and have a good laugh, even if it's at my expense. Yes, Carrie Underwood adopted a dog in Charlotte. Thatd be the time to do it, Ghantt recalls. He was also a former FBI informant who had tipped the bureau off to a planned robbery of a Loomis Fargo armored truck that never came to fruition. Then another. I said, Listen, You all need to get your shit together, or Im just going to walk over here to the government building and tell them who the fuck I am. That lit a little fire under her ass, for a bit.. . kellis@gastongazette.com 0:04 0:57 On Oct. 4, 1997, former Kings Mountain resident David Scott Ghantt finished his shift as a vault supervisor for Loomis Fargo in Charlotte. Not Ghantt. At the end of October, Kelly was sentenced to 5 years 10 months in prison. Kelly drove her pickup to a lot across the street from the Loomis building, on Suttle Avenue in Charlotte. Starting Pay Rate: $15.50 per hour Shift: Monday - Friday from 1:00pm to 9:00pm Job Description As a Coin Processor, you work with your team to maintain inventory in our cash vaults for our Loomis customers. Theres no management around. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist. It was his goodbye. That time in prison was actually good for me. He comes to my door, and hes got a brown paper bag in his hand. Federal prosecutors would ultimately charge 21 defendants in the case, including the Floyds, who were charged with (and pleaded guilty to) money laundering. On his way out, he grabbed the surveillance video, hoping to cover his tracks. Because surprise! Agents began picking up signs that David definitely had help: The abandoned Loomis van with $3.3 million in small bills still inside, and phone records showing that somebody beeped him while he stole the money, using David's own cell phone. Meanwhile, Steve was keeping a close eye on Kelly. You can reach Kevin Ellis at 704-869-1823 or Twitter.com/TheGazetteKevin. Punishment needs to be fair and realistic. David, now 30, says he's sorry he abandoned his wife--who he says still loves him--and his family. Down in Jacksonville, a Loomis Fargo employee took $18 million from an armored van he was driving. You see, there's a reason Loomis Fargo used armored cars to move large amounts of cash. Inside the Mazda, Steve told Scott Grant to get out and help David. Scott Grant and Steve pulled up next to her in a Mazda. Him and I still talk every now and then. I was burned out and just didn't know it. I would call us friends. He rewarded Robert with $3,000 and vowed never to meet McKinney alone. Steve told her to send David to Atlanta on a bus and drive back to the trailer. Question: You went to Mexico. They didn't know it, but they were leaving $3.3 million behind. He para-sailed, power-skied and scuba-dived. Scott Grant said he hesitated, but agreed if no guns would be involved. "I felt that if I didn't do something, I was going to snap," David said. Still, she wasn't happy. Some received probation for money laundering, many others did hard time. They decorated their 6,000-square-foot stucco house with antiques, paintings and statues, including a six-foot wooden Indian that Michele had bought for $600. He frequently entertained there, buying steaks for his guests. ];David Scott Ghanntt [Misc.] On March 1, David Ghantt left his hotel to do some laundry. "We're not the type that questions everything people tell us," Floyd said. The name she gave the pup is apropos. He appeared happily matched with his high-spirited wife, Michele, and the two children from her first marriage. The Loomis case is another example where the amount of restitution ordered vs. what is actually paid are two dramatically different numbers. Steve told me to tell [David] whatever was necessary to keep him happy.". 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. That sounds like a lot of money until its compared to the $18,930,201.26 the group was ordered to pay. When neighbors asked where they got their money, Steve said hed played in the NFL. The others sat in their cars across the street and watched him struggle to open the heavy gate. Kelly, using David's cell phone, kept beeping him. The next day, he was sitting next to FBI agent Mark Rozzi on a US Airways flight to Charlotte. I didn't think I had the guts. In real life: False. He had stolen $17 million from Loomis Fargo. Loomis employees drive the very core of our business. Ghantt was missing and no one, not even his wife, knew where he was. and "I'm rich!". David, the international fugitive, lived it up, too--for a while. Before David left for the airport, he had handed Scott an eight-inch key ring. At the Halloween party, though, Kelly gave in to Steve, and agreed it had to be done. Now that Kelly believes she has found Jesus, she has become more analytical about her past. Until, that is, he decided to hell with it he was going to pull-off the second largest heist in U.S. history. 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. Thomas Grant, who served three years in prison for bank larceny, paid off restitution of $70,000; brother Eric Grant paid all of his $26,000; as did David Craig, $40,000; and Dennis and Sandra Floyd; $27,000. Restitution is a familiar part of sentencing in federal court. Ghantt was scheduled to work a shift at the armored car company Oct. 4. Michelle Chambers paid off only $27,000. "A lot of people out there had it worse than me, but . Criminals dont usually get high-paying jobs after leaving prison. Ghantt was never in Chamberss presence until he actually handed off the money to him. In early December, Steve and Michele invited relatives to their daughter's sixth birthday party. "Think of how many women would have stood by. But former Kings Mountain resident David Scott Ghantt can. Kelly drove her pickup to a lot across the street from the Loomis building, on Suttle Avenue in Charlotte. By late November, McKinney made a third trip to Mexico, saying he'd help David move to Mexico City. Soon, the couple would be paying for something else, too: a hitman. When McKinney arrived in North Carolina, the plan had changed. The initials on the money wrapper belonged to a Loomis employee who hadn't worked there since before the heist. Federal law stops government collection efforts 20 years after a defendant leaves prison. >> 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. 4,. And that's OK with Ghantt, who's just a few weeks shy of his 47th birthday, out of federal prison for more than a decade, married with a 9-year-old daughter . Now worried about both the FBI and McKinney, he spent even more time alone in his room. For his part, Ghantt was now officially on his way to Mexico, his future stretched out before him. This was in the 1990s the Columbia Airport back then was closed at around 9:30, 10 oclock. Getting restitution, its like pulling teeth.. So it was weird when during the middle of the week, there were these very clean-cut, very Midwestern looking, obviously American guys in the town. The robbery of some $17 million quickly became one of the wildest bank heists of the last quarter century. CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS FROM 1998 and ACTORS IN MOVIE. But what did that mean? 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. The top-ranked pie in North Carolina doesnt look like pie at all. And though she had been made night shift supervisor at Allied Security, she still felt she would never make the money she needed. Ghantt simply got ready for work one morning knowing it would be his last day on the job. But few could have guessed how spectacularly the heist would go wrong after the criminals initially got away with it. Throughout the multi-year-long case and subsequent trials, journalists often referred to Ghantt and the others as trailer trash and hillbillies. And so, he told her, Google my name. Scott didn't want to, but then he remembered the hundred-grand payday. That day, FBI agents also would arrest Scott Grant and Eric Payne, who had spent his share of the money on a motorcycle and breast implants for his wife and two sisters. Ghantt would go on to spend six and a half years in federal prison. She asked about the limit for a cash deposit before "paperwork" was required. ", "Even then . Steve was sentenced to 11 years 3 months in prison. Loomis Fargo Defendants Owe as Much as They Stole in 1997, FILE - Kelly Campbell, one of the 21 people convicted for their involvement in the $17 million Loomis Fargo heist, awaits sentencing for her part in the theft at her mobile home near Mount Holly, N.C. on Aug 16, 1999. But because David's relationship with his Loomis bosses had been rocky, he says, he doesn't feel sorry about what he did to the company. With the help of Aldo, a Mexican waiter he had befriended, David found a beach apartment in Cancun. The FBI, in fact, obtained the evidence they needed to bring down the major players, including Chambers, after catching them talking about the murder plot on the telephone via wiretap. Basic and voluntary life insurance plan. There had been no signs. 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. Or is the loot buried in somebody's yard? Theres no way to get it back, Butcher told The Charlotte Observer. 2500 City West Blvd., Suite 2300 Houston, TX 77042. Its hilarious. He gave the rest to Kelly. Even still, he was 27, married and struggling to provide for his family. Question: You were a consultant? Or as he tells me, How many people in the United States havent thought about robbing a bank? In the meantime, the FBI was closing in looking to bust a total of 21 suspected accomplices. Chambers did hire McKinney to kill Ghantt, but initially McKinney was making personal cash deliveries to Ghantt in Mexico on behalf of Chambers. The biggest restitution numbers for victims of financial crimes generally involve Ponzi schemes or sweepstakes fraud, not cash thefts. Question: Any contact with Steve Chambers or any of the others involved with the heist? Because lets be brutally honest: Theyre not wrong, okay? Steve, who had sworn Kelly, Eric and Scott to secrecy the night of the theft, named them all to the FBI. . There was a little voice in my head that said, 'Don't do it. Chambers, now 32, didn't grant an interview for this article, but last year, in response to written questions, he said the biggest lesson he learned was: "Family is more important and valuable than money. And I was thinking about just showing up there. To celebrate Halloween, about seven of Steve's friends, including Eric Payne and Kelly, gathered for a party at Steve's house. 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. That October, the Chamberses' bank accounts ballooned. By then Id figured out that Bruno was up to no good, and that Id probably never seen any more of my money. . 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. David thought about it. Theres less security. She tried to apologize for the murder plot. Kelly said she had reason to believe Steve might be able to pull off a heist. David complained it wasn't enough. . You might as well take it all, Ghantt tells me. how to match 8 hypercubes in bejeweled. Kelly Campbell, 29, a former company employee, entered guilty pleas earlier to bank larceny, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder charges. Steve told Scott to ignore the remaining stacks, which were mostly ones and fives. 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. Though David had no criminal experience, he felt he could offer expert advice: He'd just finished reading a book on the FBI. An Ohio police officer who shot and killed a Black man as he lay in bed in his home last summer is no longer on the force, Three Kansas City police officers who were shot while serving a search warrant have been released from the hospital, Officials say one passenger died when a business jet experienced severe turbulence, forcing a landing at Bradley International Airport in Connecticut. More agents waited outside to arrest them. About 10 frantic minutes later, Scott found the right key. Kelly would only discover later that leading up to the heist, Steve had been writing bad checks, $17,000 worth, for which he would later be convicted. Kelly had recently left a job driving an armored-car for Loomis, Fargo & Co. "He's the one who brought it up first," said Kelly, a year after her arrest. One of them tapped him on the back. Despite a mega-watt cast featuring Zach Galifianakis and a handful of some of Saturday Night Lives biggest current and former stars, Masterminds, the comedy about Loomis Fargo robbery completely tanked at the box office in its opening weekend, bowing in sixth place with just $6.6 million. 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.. The last time he called me, he said, Hey Ghantt, I just saw a big Loomis Fargo truck. They involve Loomis armored car driver David Scott Ghantt. I flew from Atlanta to New Orleans. Gaston County residents remember how that worked out. And going to see the Mayan ruins. ". Ghantt was the vault manager and was surrounded. David was living under the name Mike McKinney on a phony ID. I was expecting her to kick me out of the house., Years later, after they married and had a child together, they watched a movie based on the whole ordeal. Scary. They set the date, Oct. 4, a Saturday when David knew he could be alone in the building after his shift. Though he never found the right moment to carry out the hit, McKinney did find time to make a friend--a shady character named Robert, to whom he revealed more than was prudent. In early September 1997, Kelly found herself chatting on the phone with a friend who still worked at Loomis, a 27-year-old man who, despite being married, had made no secret of the fact that he had a crush on her. More than 20 people ended up in the FBI's dragnet. Just head on out. And so, he did. Where I was going was right there near the Cayman Islands. About 20 ago, Campbell sent him a letter of apology, but he never responded. "I work construction. Kelly's company. This is the person I counted as my friend. The first weekday after the heist, Michele Chambers, co-conspirator Steve's wife, walked into a NationsBank branch with a briefcase containing $5,000. Going south, nobody really looks at what youre shipping. As with many recent historic events, this one had been caught on videotape, a fact that a few dozen Charlotte FBI agents would learn in a hastily organized Sunday morning meeting. Inside were, along with other personal items, his keys and wedding ring. ". He goes, My name is Bruno. Steve also offered $100,000 to his 26-year-old cousin. Kelly Campbell, 29, a former company employee, entered guilty pleas earlier to bank larceny, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder charges. Eric watched. In mid-November, McKinney carried $10,000 to Cancun but wound up spending most of it on himself. Military + Veterans. Key benefit components include: Health insurance plans. Together, they drove in a convoy to an industrial warehouse eight miles away, where Eric Payne, a fourth accomplice was. Time passed, and Campbell eventually quit her job at Loomis Fargo. 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 has no contact with any of those convicted with him in the crime, including his former wife, and doesn't plan to see the movie, he said. In December, agents got the tie-in they were looking for: Kelly Campbell had bought a $30,000 Toyota minivan with cash and registered it to one of Steve Chambers's aliases. To say nothing of their art purchases like the aforementioned velvet Elvis portrait and a painting of a bulldog dressed as General George S. Patton. Steve had another conversation with Kelly about killing David. The only person not to plead guilty in the case, former Gastonia attorney Jeff Guller, ended up doing eight years for money laundering. The authorities didn't know yet how much was missing from the armored-car company, but Steve did. Then, I started loading the van., Money, when bound in bulk and stacked in canvas bags, is heavier than you might expect. Kelly drove David to the airport. Purchases included a pool table, jewelry (including a $43,000 diamond ring), a minivan, $20,000 worth of cigars, and the 7,000-square-foot home on the side of Cramer Mountain. It was an ear-biting, Pierce Brosnan-loving, comet-obsessed world, and were here to relive every minute of it. To that end, Campbell brought in her childhood friend Steve Chambers, who was characterized in the local press as a small-time drug dealer and a local fence for stolen goods, to lead the team. David trusted her. There were times when I drank really heavily.". On Oct. 5, the Loomis heist celebrates its 25th birthday. It had been drilled into my head that if you give me a team of five good people, I can go anywhere, do anything," David explained. The next day, Kelly drove back to Steve's mobile home to watch the news with Steve and Michele. 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. Thatd probably been the best thing for me to do, really. Was Queen Charlotte Black? When we worked together [for Loomis], we'd joke about it. But it didnt really hit me until later., On March 2nd, when the FBI agents walked up to Ghantt in Playa del Carmen and told him he was under arrest, Ghantt was relieved. Kelly says she underestimated the value of her life before the heist. At that same time, Steve was growing sick of the calls to send more money to Ghantt, and was looking for a way to end that issue. 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. He told him McKinney was in Mexico to kill somebody. He hated the sweet smell of the green ink, and the $8.15-an-hour salary. CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) _ A woman who helped plan the $17 million robbery of armored car company Loomis, Fargo & Co. was sentenced Tuesday to nearly six years in prison and ordered to pay back more than $4 million. More than half of the amount came from the seizure of a luxury home purchased by husband-and-wife defendants during their post-heist spending spree. To protect themselves, David and Steve didn't meet or talk. But first they wanted to know if it was a robbery or a robbery-homicide. I mentioned it to Kelly. As he and Kelly met in a field behind a shooting range to refine the plan, she allowed him to believe she was falling for him. Truth be told, Ghantt had something of a crush on Campbell, and so, he told her exactly how hed pull off such a heist. Too many questions remained: Where was the cash? Some of that money is just gone. The next week, they heard Steve plan to send Mike McKinney to Mexico to kill David Ghantt. Campbell, 29, had pleaded guilty to charges of bank larceny, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder. So he convinced a local hoodlum in Mexico to try to kill Ghantt. From going fishing to riding horses on the beach the whole nine yards. The barrels were Steves idea, Ghantt says.