loomis fargo heist kelly campbell

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. Loomis Fargo heist: 25 years later While David Ghantt trusted Steve Chambers enough to leave his cut behind, Chambers had other plans. 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. The FBI began to question past and current employees of Loomis Fargo. 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. But they'd stayed in touch, and now they were poised to attempt a crime like almost no other. He and his wife, Michele, moved from theirmobile homeinLincoln Countyto a luxury house in the wealthy Cramer Mountain section ofCramerton. The figures can be astounding. Some of that money is just gone. Campbell was released from federal custody in 2004 after serving five years, meaning her collection case will age out in December 2024. A connection between each suspect began to emerge slowly, and as the intensity of spending grew, suspicion did as well. They located Steve and Shelley Chambers in their newly-purchased home at the top of a hill. The inspiration behind the major motion picture Masterminds starring Zach Galifianakis, Owen Wilson, Kristen Wiig, and Jason Sudeikis! remove comments that contain spam, advertising, vulgarity, threats The unsolved mystery of the Van Meter Visitor a winged creature! The FBI began to question past and current employees of Loomis Fargo. Cool interesting stuff features everything odd, weird, bizzare, strange or unusual. The FBI says Chambers hired a hitman to tie up the ultimate loose end -- Ghantt. In one case, the restitution for a Loomis defendant may be a moving target. "Don't back out on us. ", "I don't need any more friends," she'd shot back. But you cant get blood from a stone,, Criminals dont usually get high-paying jobs after leaving prison. David and Kelly had driven to Rock Hill, South Carolina, and used the documents to obtain a fake ID that David would also rely on after the theft. just generally being a jerk. David would simply empty the vault and deliver the money to the others. 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. 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. From there, the money was moved from the armored car to private vehicles. We are happy to work with other website publishers. He also took various measures to change his appearance, such asshaving, after a patron at a restaurant pointed out to him that he looked like the man who robbed a bank of $20 million.. They assumed that whoever was involved would keep the cash in a safe place, like a safe deposit box. How he and his wife had trouble communicating. Outside of the building, Ghantt met up with Campbell, Chambers, and others who were involved in the plot, and drove off to a printing business called Reynolds & Reynolds in northwest Charlotte. This technically made it abank robbery afederal offense. 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. By this time, agents knew where he was and had a general idea who the other players were, so they went to every bank in town to see if any of them rented a safe deposit box. The trainee didn't yet know how the place worked, a fact David planned to use to his advantage. Well they were in some sense celebrities, Gronquist said. - 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. personal/abusive/condescending attacks on other users or goading 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. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. 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. 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. 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. Ghantt took $50,000 for himself and fled to Cozumel, Mexico. La vie de David Ghantt n'a rien de compliqu. Then, keeping with the plan, Ghantt took $50,000 (the maximum that could be taken across the border by law without further authorization) with him and left for Mexico, winding up at the popularYucatan Peninsularesort ofCozumel. LETTER TO THE EDITOR: But where will they park? Libraries without that edition should consider purchasing this entertaining and lightly edited version, which reads like a fast-paced novel. How did they get away with stealing more than $17 million? : The .17 Million Loomis Fargo Theft . According to Butcher, Campbells last official payment came in June 2021 when the government appears to have seized a tax refund of $81.24. The biggest restitution numbers for victims of financial crimes generally involve Ponzi schemes or sweepstakes fraud, not cash thefts. When Ghantt called Campbell however, the FBI was able to track his location, and arrested him with the help of the Mexican police onMarch 1, 1998. He knew they were nervous outside waiting for him, but he also knew he wouldn't stop stealing until he had taken everything. What purpose does that serve other than to denigrate that person into abject poverty?. What that says is, We will never forgive you for what youve done.. >> PHOTOS: The Loomis Fargo heist, 25 years later. When they hung up, she called his pager and left the code 1-4-3, beeper-speak for "I love you," based on the number of letters in each word. (John D. Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP). I was relieved emotionally because I knew there was a good chance my luck might run out, Ghantt said. she asked again. Then they returned it. : The $17 Million Loomis Fargo Theft. Ghantt was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison. 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. So that was kind of like this once-in-a-lifetime thing, Wydra said. The movie was called Masterminds and stars Zach Galifianakis, Kristen Wiig and Owen Wilson. You can seize property. Ghantt reported to Chambers that his supply of money was running low, but Chambers sent Ghantt just $8,000. "Everything's gonna be all right," she told him. They didnt expect it.. Charlotte Observer"more than a crime story, and one that's worth reading." David said he needed Kelly to drive to Loomis before the theft that night to remove a duffel bag from his parked pickup truck. He put on his best pair of jeans, a button-down shirt, and his nicest cowboy boots. Some of that money is just gone. Some of the biggest numbers remaining on the Loomis collection board, as is the case with Campbell, belong to those who played the biggest role in the crime: David Ghantt, the Loomis employee who loaded all that money 2,800 pounds in all into the back of a company van before escaping to Mexico, has paid just under $50,000 of the $3.81 million he was assessed. They kept several furnishings from the previous owners, including avelvet Elvis. The plan to. Uh-oh, it looks like your Internet Explorer is out of date. Chambers had no intention of wiring any money to Ghantt and intended to have him killed to keep him from implicating the others. One day, Campbell was speaking to an old friend named Steve Chambers. 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. The case had gotten national publicity and was the subject of numerous articles, documentaries and even a movie. His collection case, which closes in November 2026, got credit for the couples $540,000 house on Cramer Mountain in Gaston County, Butcher says. Paying the money back has taken a lot longer, and time is running out for the U.S. government to collect. He realized his bosses would know he had worked that day and that he was missing, but maybe without a video they would think he'd been held at gunpoint and taken hostage, or even better, that he'd been killed. But you cant get blood from a stone, Johns said. Winds light and variable. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. By using this website, you accept the terms of our Visitor Agreement and Privacy Policy, and understand your options regarding Ad Choices. Living with his wife, Tammy, in a mobile home, he had longed for the middle-class lifestyle of his childhood that had come to seem luxurious, a pipe dream for him now. The money weighed as much as a compact car and he did it all by himself. That first day in prison was scary, Ghantt said. They also bought aBMW Z3with cash and made several large purchases, including a $600 statue of aNative American. Though much of the cash was already stacked on pushcarts in the vault, other stacks were on shelves or the floor, and they were heavy. To visit friends.". Instead he became paranoid, especially after Steve Chambers put a contract out on his life. 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.. Federal law stops government collection efforts 20 years after a defendant leaves prison. David and the trainee left the warehouse. Well she was a pretty happy-go-lucky person, he said. Thank you! 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. Youre supposed to get less time for cooperating, a lesser penalty, and instead, you see what she got hit with. Gronquist said. '. The Loomis Fargo Heist Over the next months, Ghantt, Campbell, and Chambers developed a plan. Since Ghantt was the supervisor, he sent his co-worker home first. 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. Ghantt went to Mexico leaving the money with his cohorts, thinking that he could get his share back when he needed it. Steve Chambers and his wife were living in a trailer and upgraded to what would today be a multi-million-dollar mansion at Cramer Mountain. A parrot tattoo on her right ankle. (John D. Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP). Moving the money into the van quickly proved an onerous task. Burks was also ordered to serve 15 years in prison, limiting his ability to balance his books. 12) Loomis Fargo heist- The aftermath Ultimately, eight co-conspirators were indicted for the Loomis Fargo bank heist. For example, Steve Chambers and his wife were living in a trailer and upgraded to what would today be a multi-million-dollar mansion at Cramer Mountain. The same applies to trolling, the use of multiple aliases, or David was supposed to be showing him the ropes of the job, which included cash pickups and deliveries. 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. Clerk of Court Frank Johns of Charlotte. The bizarre true story of the criminals behind the second-largest bank heist in American history. What that says is, We will never forgive you for what youve done. 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. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Over the next two weeks, David thought about it. Loomis Fargo, the nation's largest privately held armored- car company, used vans to transport hundreds of millions of dollars a day belonging to banks and other businesses, stocking automated teller machines and storing money in the Loomis vault between deliveries. (LogOut/ 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 . "So he stays behind and moving over two thousand pounds of . Chambers would then occasionally wire Ghantt money and see to his basic financial needs; when the heat was off, Ghantt was to re-enter the U.S. and the money would be split up among all of the co-conspirators. Learn how to enable JavaScript on your browser. 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. Heist! 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. An additional tip reached the FBI when Michelle Chambers made a large deposit at a bank. 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. He knew it would mean leaving Tammy. 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. Michelle Chambers paid off only $27,000. By then, the FBI had become greatly concerned for Ghantts personal safety; they had learned of Chambersmurder for hirescheme. 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. This station is part of Cox Media Group Television. Thank you so much. Working by himself, Ghantt would commit the robbery and then flee for Mexico, leaving the bulk of the cash with Chambers. LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Is this really about the needs of the poor? He had since served time in prison for the crime and told our sister station WSOC-TV Channel 9s Glenn Counts he learned a valuable lesson while behind bars. "Just think about it," she said. 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Campbell led Ghantt to think she loved him and they would flee to Mexico together, but she actually wanted to make a better life for herself in the U.S. With the plan in place, Ghantt sent a newly hired employee he had been assigned to train home early (reportedly, at 6 p.m.) and then proceeded to load a little more than $17.3 million in cash (approximately $11 million of which was in$20 bills) into the back of a company van. Ghantt didnt know the full extent of what was happening back home -- how that lay low plan turned into a flurry of extravagant spending. All of the defendants are out of prison -- the longest sentence was 11 years. 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. 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 strange story of Mary Reeser Spontaneous Human Combustion. His collection case closes in two years. Besides her prison sentence, Campbell must undergo mental health and drug treatment and spend two years in a supervised release program. David didn't appreciate her tone. The woman on the phone was Kelly Jane Campbell, and David had a mad crush on her. Low 46F. Was the temptation too much? 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. 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.. 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. You can garnish wages. And with Loomis, were looking at only one case. Ghantt, his former co-worker Kelly Campbell and her friends Steve and Michelle Chambers carried out the Loomis Fargo heist on Oct. 4, 1997. Inside the truck, they found Ghantts ring and surmised this as a sign of Ghantts intention to end his relationship with his wife. So they went to Mexico and arrested Ghantt in order to protect him. Sunny. Punishment needs to be fair and realistic. If we can sit on the money for a year, maybe two, it could work.". 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. I actually loved reading through this post. The investigation ultimately resulted in the conviction of eight people directly involved, as well as sixteen others who had indirectly helped them. Sun, sand and beaches are all part of why Jacksonville is a popular destination. 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. Theres no way to get it back, Butcher told The Charlotte Observer. 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. It has a certain feel, a smell and weight to it. There was no reason to leave anything, he felt. 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. Unexplained Mysteries and Strange Things,Cool Interesting stuff has been online since early 2011. 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. Ghantt had fled to Mexico with $50,000 in cash, leaving the rest of the money with Steve Chambers. Learn how to enable JavaScript on your browser. For a better shopping experience, please upgrade now. Friends of Campbell had also begun spending large amounts of cash. [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]. I ride motorcycles and fish -- normal guy, Ghantt told Counts. The phone calls began to get more intense when Steve and Eric got suspicious of a man who was running hismouth about them and the vault job over in Charlotte. There are multiples of thousands of these things coming every year. But if you did, youll never forget it. Loomis Fargo heist: 25 years later Steve Chambers and his wife were living in a trailer and upgraded to what would today be a multi-million-dollar mansion at Cramer Mountain. If we work together, we can all have plenty of pie.. Michelle Chambers paid off only $27,000. Also charged with money laundering were innocent relatives and friends who had co-signed safe deposit boxes. Curiously, Payne had recently paid of his Visa in one payment and had been driving around new and rented vehicles for the past weeks. In order to receive more evidence, the FBI decided to listen. David's share would be sent to Mexico, where he planned to hide and where he expected Kelly to join him. Steve had hired a bodyguard named Mike McKinney. So its one thing to go from up here, thought, to action, he said. He knew his mother would be traumatized, shocked, and appalled. For people earning $8.15 an hour David's salary the jokes came naturally. Fourteen defendants were ordered to make restitution payments to Loomis Fargo totaling almost $19 million. 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. 2023 Cox Media Group. When some friends stole a stop sign from a busy intersection, David made them put it back. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Though Wydra is retired, 25 years ago, he was an agent with the FBI. It should have been easy, but for some reason the gate didn't open for him. 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. Learn about careers at Cox Media Group. He had since held one low-paying job after another. The figures can be astounding. Once they were in custody, the overwhelming task of clearing out possessions possibly purchased with the stolen money began. true story that has captivated American audiences on the news and now on the big screen in the major motion picture, Masterminds. Four-wheeling. Conversations about stealing from the company weren't rare for Loomis employees. 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. 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. On Oct. 5, the Loomis heist celebrates its 25th birthday. The reason David didn't know Steve's last name was so they couldn't identify each other to the police or FBI, should cops or G-men ever enter the picture. At about 6:40 p.m., he went back inside. Then, he proceeded to load 2,800 pounds of cash into a van. Its in the ether. Fourteen defendants were ordered to make restitution payments to Loomis Fargo totaling almost $19 million. The Charlotte area's economy was booming all around him, and he felt passed over. More than 2 million dollars are still missing to this day. Of course the most famous thing inside the home was a velvet Elvis portrait. 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, . Agents raided safe deposit boxes, where they recovered more than $11 million. Loomis Fargo heist: 25 years later 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. Jim Gronquist was Campbells defense attorney. >> 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.. 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. 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. Yet their lives seemed far easier and better than his. It's still the hot topic . Thats pretty standard in restitution matters. It was 2:00 p.m. on October 4, 1997, and tension was building between two planners of what would rank high among the largest heists in United States history. These (Loomis) guys, not so much.. The next day, before Mike was able to leave the country, the FBI arrested him in his hotel room. In David's eyes, Johnson's big mistake was that he did it alone. Lacking a college degree, he found that his army skills felt meaningless in the 1990s job market. 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. They also found several stacks of money with Loomis bands still attached throughout all the homes searched. The plan was still on, but David remained steamed. Kelly Campbell, who one day visited a Toyota dealership to purchase a minivan with twenty-dollar bills. David was thin six-foot-one, one hundred sixty-five pounds and heaving the stacks onto the cart, pushing the cart toward the vault door, and then emptying its contents into the van was exhausting. The woman on the phone was Kelly Jane Campbell, and David had a mad crush on her. In Gastonia, David would run into high-school classmates who had never struck him as especially smart. Accompanying her was Steve Chambers, who, though unemployed, had recently moved . It wasn't how much you stole that mattered most; it was that you had stolen in the first place. He wanted to leave his wife for her, and Kelly, who also was married, let him think she wanted the same. Criminals dont usually get high-paying jobs after leaving prison. Kelly had approached David with the idea in the summer, knowing he had a crush on her and winning him over with the promise that a shady friend of hers with Mafia ties would help them. Even with several vehicles, they underestimated how much space they would need and they had to leave $3 million behind. Its in the ether. 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. Worlds Biggest Heists London Hatton Garden 200m Diamond Robbery, Easter 2015. Next month, Payne will back in the Charlotte federal courthouse, this time to be sentenced from weapons and methamphetamine trafficking charges. All but one of the defendants pleaded guilty. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.. Clear skies. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. It was the second-largest. 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. The October 4 shift was lasting longer than expected, due to delays involving pickups and deliveries. uncanny, eerie, unnatural, preternatural, supernatural, unearthly, other-worldly, unreal, ghostly, mysterious, mystifying, strange, abnormal, unusual. He also stole both existing sets of vault keys and hurried into the manager's office, where three TV security screens and two VCRs were visible. 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. Ghantt, who by then was long out of prison, served as a consultant. In fact, he had recently finished a book about the FBI and felt it provided insight into the agency's investigative techniques, insight he thought could help the little gang succeed. He tried again to make the back gate rise, to no avail. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. 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.

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