They loaded the wine cellar with Pabst Blue Ribbon, and Steve hung a velvet portrait of Elvis Presley in the basement. Stay informed daily on the latest news and advice on COVID-19 from the editors at U.S. News & World Report. Michelle Chambers received seven years and eight months, while Steve Chambers was handed an 11-year sentence. 6-Year Sentence For Kelly Campbell | The Seattle Times This time, David told McKinney the truth. The money was heavy. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Just head on out. And so, he did. Meanwhile, Steve was keeping a close eye on Kelly. 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. Loomis employees drive the very core of our business. Kelly drove her pickup to a lot across the street from the Loomis building, on Suttle Avenue in Charlotte. Ghantt started at Loomis Fargo in 1994, and soon worked his way up from an armored car driver to a vault supervisor. His name was Corey. . (The conversation was depicted as 100 percent private on screen). The van door opened. That was the most painful truth to come to. Before David left for the airport, he had handed Scott an eight-inch key ring. The biggest restitution numbers for victims of financial crimes generally involve Ponzi schemes or sweepstakes fraud, not cash thefts. Eventually, Steve made Kelly believe they could steal from Loomis and get away with it, she said. Question: You were a consultant? They heard Michele brag about her $43,000 ring. They picked me, he says with a rueful tone. The authorities didn't know yet how much was missing from the armored-car company, but Steve did. Then another. Was Queen Charlotte Black? On Feb. 27, agents listened in on a call from David to Kelly and learned David's location in Mexico. He grabbed the tapes from two VCRs that connected to 16 security cameras. October 1997 Loomis Fargo robbery - Wikipedia 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. "I" has one letter. Get to me. Its that kind of excitement.. Question: What made you, Chambers and the others think you could get away with this? Before long, the tales of high living by Chambers and his now former wife, Michelle, led the thieves to be labeled either the "Cramer Mountain Hillbillies" or "The gang that couldn't steal straight." The top-ranked pie in North Carolina doesnt look like pie at all. Or that it was an inheritance. 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. 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. First, they loaded the cash into blue 55-gallon barrels, and then they moved the barrels into a rental van. Chambers did hire McKinney to kill Ghantt, but initially McKinney was making personal cash deliveries to Ghantt in Mexico on behalf of Chambers. So he got in a cab and went to a mall. If I hadn't done what I did the, the life I have now with my wife and child, I wouldn't have. . You have to remember that it's Hollywood and they'll take what was a minor event and they'll blow it up and make it as funny as they can.". Ghantt would go on to spend six and a half years in federal prison. Zaron Burnett is an investigative journalist and longform features writer based in Los Angeles. In real life: True. The agents tapped the phone, and it didnt take long to locate Ghantt after that. It's about the 1997 Loomis Fargo robbery also known as the "hillbillly heist" the second largest cash robbery in the history of the United States. Hed be in contact. Everything came crashing down on an early March morning in 1998. In the dark, Scott inserted one key into the back door slot. After a Gulf War stint in the Army, David got married in 1992. It wouldn't work, Kelly told him. 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. All rights reserved. Cool, I say. But former Kings Mountain resident David Scott Ghantt can. 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.. At 7:45, David had finished loading. He was signed by the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 2002. I wanted to make a drastic change and I went for it," Ghantt said. Some days, the robbery seems like a memory from a different life, a choice made by a different man. If you want to go ahead and go, I got it. They stocked a wine cellar. They entered their dogs in fights and watched them die. As soon as you put that first bag of stolen money in that van, theres no going back. It will be some time before she can commune with domestic animals again. Ghantt went on to explain that he left for his flight to Mexico with about $25,000, and that two or three deliveries of extra money was made to him by the man Chambers would pay to kill him. But it wasnt. . We spoke to the FBI agents who investigated the case who say the real-life. In real life: False. Ghantt ended up doing more than five years in prison, Chambers did more than 11 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,. Loomis Fargo Defendants Owe as Much as They Stole in 1997 Given his position at the bank, hed be the one to pull off the robbery, and he intended to be ready. I studied up on the FBI. I told the lead investigator I was glad to see him.. You've violated that trust. It didnt take the local police long to put the pieces together. He told her he wanted more of "his" cash. So the last third of the movie is almost entirely fiction. 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. Steve also offered $100,000 to his 26-year-old cousin. He said every year he files his taxes and the IRS takes all of his tax return. Steve tried keys on a side door. The others sat in their cars across the street and watched him struggle to open the heavy gate. Still, she wasn't happy. When October 1997 began, Steve and Michelle Chambers lived in a double-wide trailer. Military + Veterans. He told him McKinney was in Mexico to kill somebody. ". In the first days after the arrests, agents recovered or accounted for all but about $2 million of the stolen money. We got this guy named Bruno. And I knew that by that time, Id be in Cancun no matter what. It was the first Saturday in October. Kelly said she had reason to believe Steve might be able to pull off a heist. Kelly was lying. The platform is designed to engage citizens and government leaders in a discussion about what needs improvement across the country. 2500 City West Blvd., Suite 2300 Houston, TX 77042. Ghantt: My cut was supposed to be about $5 million, but that's not what I ended up with. "He said, 'Yeah, right,' and turned his head. 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. Figure in Loomis Heist Gets Prison | AP News He gave the rest to Kelly. Then FBI agent Wydra watched Steve's wife, Michele, deposit about $8,000 at a Gaston County, N.C., bank. Once in a lifetime, Murdaugh verdict sends a Lowcountry message: No one is above the law | Opinion, Charlotte Waffle House found with live roach, unclean equipment during health inspection. FBI agents recall surreal story of heist that inspired - WLOS Where I was going was right there near the Cayman Islands. Her only brush with the law had been a DUI arrest. One of them tapped him on the back. He played high school football at Mays High School in Atlanta, and college football at Georgia Tech . Will Vin Sant Leave You Jacked or Scammed? On his second trip, Steve gave McKinney David's hotel address. ];David Scott Ghanntt [Misc.] . One thing about teammates, in David's view: You could always trust them. Its really just a matter of timing, more than anything. And she says, How much do you think wed get out of there? I said, Ten to 15 million. But I didnt really know.. In early December, Steve and Michele invited relatives to their daughter's sixth birthday party. Or does it sit in an offshore account, waiting for a prison sentence to end? After years of reflection and time in prison to work on himself, Ghantt was able to find a way to a better version of himself. Ghantt:It started out as a mental exercise and somewhere between the mental exercise and the actual event, it became serious. By the time the month concluded, the couple had purchased a 7,000-square-foot stone mansion in a gated country club community. To protect themselves, David and Steve didn't meet or talk. Anybody who gets caught up in the system is getting chewed up by it, the now-retired Gronquist told the Observer. They hatched the idea half-jokingly, over a game of Uno, never dreaming they were about to make Bonnie and Clyde look like bottom feeders. Twenty people were convicted of roles big and small in the massive 1997 armored-car warehouse heist in west Charlotte. Field Operations; Corporate; Why Loomis. Kelly had resisted this suggestion before the heist: She and David were friends. SEVEN NABBED IN CHARLOTTE HEIST\ - Greensboro News and Record "He was speechless," said Sandra Floyd. Steve solicited two others to help move cash during the theft. And I said, Hey, man, I got this. More agents waited outside to arrest them. . He comes to my door, and hes got a brown paper bag in his hand. It wasnt a big hit, but Ghantt, who was played by Galifianakis, gives it a rave review. His collection case closes in two years. Copyright 2022 TheAssociated Press. I didn't think I had the guts. Soon, the couple would be paying for something else, too: a hitman. The plan called for David to leave the vault door ajar, then maneuver a few minutes alone at the end of his shift, long enough to loot the cash, then pass it to Kelly and Steve. 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. Now, I kind of know something is fishy., Alone in Mexico with limited cash, Ghantt thought about turning himself in. . Without really intending to, Kelly recalls, she turned the conversation to the possibility of a heist. Ghantt:We're both North Carolina boys so we had a lot to talk about from the very beginning. Hes going to start bringing you money. Alright. Things started to go south the night of the robbery. Kelly Jane Campbell, a former Loomis employee; Michael L. McKinney . Steve told her to send David to Atlanta on a bus and drive back to the trailer. Besides her prison sentence . Industry leading Training and Development. The mystery 1-4-3 caller had been Kelly, though agents didn't know it yet. The next day, he was sitting next to FBI agent Mark Rozzi on a US Airways flight to Charlotte. Theres no way to get it back, Butcher told The Charlotte Observer. 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.. 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. Steve now needed a hit man. (John D. Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP) The Associated Press, BY MICHAEL GORDON, The Charlotte Observer. David trusted her. Kelly's company. He covers culture, politics, race, and other perplexing mysteries for MEL. . And it turned Steve into he thought he was Don Corleone all of a sudden.. That week, the FBI designated the theft its 142nd "major case," putting it on a list--begun in the 1970s--that includes such other infamous crimes as the World Trade Center bombing. She was the group's only contact with David, and she was smoking marijuana "like other people smoke cigarettes," she said. Steve told Scott to ignore the remaining stacks, which were mostly ones and fives. That's the kind of movie they wanted to make. I loved it. He and his wife, Tammy, lived in a mobile home in Kings Mountain, N.C. Money was always tight. The name she gave the pup is apropos. David was living under the name Mike McKinney on a phony ID. Kelly told the FBI she had done drugs with David but denied knowing about the theft. It was unclear whether anyone will get that money, authorities said. She was a wife and mother with two children. ', "He asked me if I'd mind holding some money for him. The FBI was also surveilling Kelly Campbell and followed her to a pay phone that she used to place calls to Mexico. . real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist - legal-innovation.com Scott Grant said he hesitated, but agreed if no guns would be involved. Heres what happened on Sunday nights episode. At the end of October, Kelly was sentenced to 5 years 10 months in prison. Ultimately, though, the heist wasnt Ghantts idea, which meant he didnt decide who else was involved. "You" has three. 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. So yeah, Ghantt continues, I took a bus from there to Atlanta, and then I hopped a cab from the bus station to the airport in Atlanta., Back in North Carolina, his accomplices were working as fast as they could to hide the $17 million. Thats nearly $11 million less than former Kings Mountain resident David Ghantt (played by Galifianakis in the film) helped steal from the vault where he worked in Charlotte back in October 1997. He recalled that another agent, Phil King, said, "Hey, there was an article in the [Charlotte] Observer about beeper codes. Steven Chambers [Misc. Kelly drove David to the airport. Dependent care account. The first weekday after the heist, Michele Chambers, co-conspirator Steve's wife, walked into a NationsBank branch with a briefcase containing $5,000. She didn't plan to move to Mexico. 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. Kelly Loomis Facebook, Instagram & Twitter on PeekYou The whole town I was staying in was 98.9 percent Mexican, except for when the cruise ships were in, Ghantt recalls. They also purchased tanning beds, a pool table, a Harley-Davidson Road King motorcycle and all kinds of expensive furniture. Like David, Kelly was frustrated with her marriage. 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. I wish them all a happy life and that's about it. Time passed, and Campbell eventually quit her job at Loomis Fargo. Together, they drove in a convoy to an industrial warehouse eight miles away, where Eric Payne, a fourth accomplice was. Now two NC men face prison. He realized that if they met the minimum monthly payments, the bill would take 30 years to pay. Ghantt:It's a comedy. Explain? Hes well thought-out. For his part, Ghantt was now officially on his way to Mexico, his future stretched out before him. They cursed. ", "Even then . Soon thereafter, he met Kelly Campbell, a co-worker at Loomis Fargo. When we worked together [for Loomis], we'd joke about it. DUMB & - The Washington Post She could visit friends. Then, on a mid-September day, as he reviewed a credit card bill, David did some math. I had to go in there and tell her the whole story, and she was real cool about it. David, now 30, says he's sorry he abandoned his wife--who he says still loves him--and his family. . Campbell was released from federal custody in 2004 after serving five years, meaning her collection case will age out in December 2024. Working together, they got the gate open, then drove in a caravan to the Reynolds & Reynolds parking lot. At the time of the real robbery, Chambers was facing criminal charges hed written 30K worth of bad checks and was facing jail time for it. He hated his job, with its 12-hour shifts. 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. 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. About 200 keys dangled from it. When McKinney realized Ghantt was wanted for the Loomis Fargo robbery, he backed off personally because he didnt want to be anywhere near a federal investigation. The Loomis case is another example where the amount of restitution ordered vs. what is actually paid are two dramatically different numbers. I said, Probably, the best time would be on the weekend; theres fewer people there. 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 . Agents found out where Ghantt was living because Chambers had put out a hit on him, foolishly believing Ghantt was the only person the FBI had fingered for the crime. . 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. According to Butcher, Campbells last official payment came in June 2021 when the government appears to have seized a tax refund of $81.24. Ghantt didn't actually meet Chambers until the night of the heist, though, according to Diamant, who would go on to write a book about it.The . Kelly, she says now, was thinking about how happy she would be to send this man far away from her. White-collar criminals are pretty good at hiding their money, she said. Clerk of Court Frank Johns of Charlotte. But after a year, they'll cut it down to two agents. 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. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist. 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. Getting restitution, its like pulling teeth.. Soon thereafter, he met Kelly Campbell, a co-worker at Loomis Fargo. But I thought this is me being hard-headed Im going to ride this thing to the ground. And so thats what I did.. 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. Ghantt:It baffles me to this day. Fourteen defendants were ordered to make restitution payments to Loomis Fargo totaling almost $19 million. But as he later recalled to the media, as soon as he stepped through those big-box doors, he realized he was flush with cash, and he didnt need to shop at Walmart ever again. There are multiples of thousands of these things coming every year. In real life: False. "But, I hate to admit it, it doesn't faze me one bit. Ghantt was in fact hiding out in Mexico using McKinneys I.D., which had been sold to Chambers months earlier. Where was Ghantt? "She said, 'What would it take to convince you to do it?' When neighbors asked where they got their money, Steve said hed played in the NFL. The Unexpectedly Sweet Story Behind Those Viral Semi-Truck Pregnancy Photos. Michele tells me you're in a financial bind. Chambers never held Campbell hostage by locking her in a shed on his property. They found Ghantts truck, and in it were his keys, some personal items and his wedding ring. In one case, the restitution for a Loomis defendant may be a moving target. Punishment needs to be fair and realistic. 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. Question: Are you surprised that Hollywood took this on as a movie? Steve was sentenced to 11 years 3 months in prison. 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. Chambers went from a mobile home in Lincoln County to a mansion in Cramerton. First, in January, he tried to get someone to take some millions down to Mexico. 2022 marks the 25th anniversary of the year that everything happened 1997. 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. He took bus tours of Mayan ruins. The bash had a Cinderella theme, with a three-tiered cake that looked like a castle. No regrets. A woman by the name of Kelly Campbell had worked there in 1996, and she and Ghantt had become friends in that time. "We had David Ghantt and Kelly Campbell tied together, and we had Steven Chambers and Eric Payne with unexplained wealth, but we didn't have a tie between them," Agent John Wydra said. That sounds like a lot of money until its compared to the $18,930,201.26 the group was ordered to pay. Alert: Obviously, spoilers abound. So I guess I have no regrets. Our Benefits. "For the first year, they're all over you. He partied, met women, drank, skied and hung out at the beach. At the end of one session, they wound up kissing outside the pickup. [Kelly] told me, 'Just think about it.' Health savings account and flexible spending account. In mid-November, McKinney carried $10,000 to Cancun but wound up spending most of it on himself. Loomis, Fargo offered a $500,000 reward for his arrest and conviction. As for his new wife, when the two just started dating, he was nervous about letting her know about his past, but he wanted to be honest. He says the Loomis case shows how the criminal justice system and the courts treat lower-income people differently. Charlotte hotel chef who serves with a smile recognized as outstanding ambassador, Eritrean, Ethiopian restaurant owner was a big brother and father to many in Charlotte, Home tours: This wired-up Weddington smart home has a pool big enough for the neighborhood. He had a favorite restaurant, Zandunga, which had a mariachi band each night and a view of the Caribbean. We got to the end of the day, and he was acting like he wanted to linger. But first they wanted to know if it was a robbery or a robbery-homicide. ". I was just going to get the money into the van. Chambers and Campbell were waiting for him in the Loomis Fargo parking lot, both in separate vehicles. She declined to take a lie-detector test. Our success depends on our team members, and that's why it's important for us to offer an employee benefits program that is not only extremely comprehensive but also one of the best in the industry. Kelly says she underestimated the value of her life before the heist. David was excited, jabbering about their future together. On Oct. 7, 1997, two FBI agents arrived at Kelly Campbell's home after two Loomis employees had told agents she and David had once dated. 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. "As soon as you start, you realize there's no going back," David recalled. But the idea of all that money pulled at her. David complained it wasn't enough. About 5:45 a.m., he got into his pickup and began the 45-minute drive to work in Charlotte. Ghantt was never in Chamberss presence until he actually handed off the money to him. By then Id figured out that Bruno was up to no good, and that Id probably never seen any more of my money. There, Scott and Eric paced the floor as Steve tried to calm them down. How Bridgerton restarted buzz about her ancestry. 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. Now worried about both the FBI and McKinney, he spent even more time alone in his room. I mean, cause greed is a funny animal. He couldn't talk.". All I needed was a change of pace.". And robbing a truck was dangerous.