Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. Getting restitution, its like pulling teeth.. Down in Jacksonville, a Loomis Fargo employee took $18 million from an armored van he was driving. ". Time passed, and Campbell eventually quit her job at Loomis Fargo. Even still, he was 27, married and struggling to provide for his family. David quickly realized he was the intended victim. So he got in a cab and went to a mall. October was "a blast," he said. I don't blame him.". Access to this system is reviewed and violators will be subject to prosecution. Her case closes in 2025. 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. All I needed was a change of pace.". Or as he tells me, How many people in the United States havent thought about robbing a bank? The first weekday after the heist, Michele Chambers, co-conspirator Steve's wife, walked into a NationsBank branch with a briefcase containing $5,000. Hed never really been in trouble, he wasnt a career criminal, said retired FBI agent John Wydra. Steve, who had sworn Kelly, Eric and Scott to secrecy the night of the theft, named them all to the FBI. Kelly drove David to the airport. In the following months, Steve persisted, even floating the notion of placing phony hand grenades on a Loomis truck to scare away the drivers, Kelly said. He didn't want to abandon his parents. One thing about teammates, in David's view: You could always trust them. Or that it was an inheritance. It is based on the October 1997 Loomis Fargo Robbery in North Carolina, which was the subject of the 2016 American comedy film Masterminds. It affects everybody different. Kelly said she had reason to believe Steve might be able to pull off a heist. So much so that one suspicious neighbor called the FBI. The use of this site is restricted to authorized personnel only. That sounds like a lot of money until its compared to the $18,930,201.26 the group was ordered to pay. ". I told the lead investigator I was glad to see him.. Zach always plays that bumbling kind of lunatic, but hes not, Ghantt says. 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. His mobile home was nicely furnished, on eight acres with a stream in the back. "Things I always wanted to do, but never had the time or the money," he said. 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. As soon as you put that first bag of stolen money in that van, theres no going back. In a word, "Teamwork. Together, they drove in a convoy to an industrial warehouse eight miles away, where Eric Payne, a fourth accomplice was. David trusted her. "Steve said, 'I think we ought to do it that night, when he drops off the van,' " Kelly recalled. After a couple of weeks, Ghantt and the rest of the heist team were ready to strike. 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. She declined to take a lie-detector test. This machine is the property of Loomis. [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]. Many of the lesser players in the conspiracy have been the most effective in paying their debts. She also assured the teller her cash wasn't drug money. 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. Some family members hid money in bank deposit boxes, other friends were asked to mule cash to the Cayman Islands. Its kind of like that. 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. My love for my family is by far the most important thing in my life. The towns booming construction industry attracts workers from around the country. He goes, My name is Bruno. He'd even bragged that he'd killed people. ALSO READ: 14-year-old boy robbed at gunpoint while waiting for bus in east Charlotte, mom says. Its everything thats coming north.. The FBI continues to search for a missing $2 million from the theft. The robbery was committed by Loomis vault supervisor David Scott Ghantt, his married girlfriend Kelly Campbell (a former Loomis co-worker), Steven Eugene Chambers (a one-time FBI informant), his wife Michelle Chambers, Michael Gobbies, and four other co-conspirators. Ghantt, who by then was long out of prison, served as a consultant. Kelly had resisted this suggestion before the heist: She and David were friends. On the evening of October 4, 1997, one man loaded $17.3 million in cash from the vaults of Loomis, Fargo & Co. into the back of a van. The number of people involved had ballooned after Steve started asking friends and family to help him launder the stolen cash. . 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. FBI video shows agents searching the Cramer Mountain home and finding stacks of cash. Steve told me to tell [David] whatever was necessary to keep him happy.". All rights reserved. Steve Chambers would keep the rest. Steve Chambers has told agents the missing cash was stolen from a shed in Lincoln County. He gave the rest to Kelly. From my standpoint, it was just a business deal, Ghantt said. On his second trip, Steve gave McKinney David's hotel address. "I said, 'That's all they gave me,' " McKinney recalled. I had to go in there and tell her the whole story, and she was real cool about it. The next day, he was sitting next to FBI agent Mark Rozzi on a US Airways flight to Charlotte. Masterminds is a 2016 American crime comedy film based on the October 1997 Loomis Fargo robbery in North Carolina. 1-4-3 is 'I love you.' You may email him here, follow him on Twitter, or listen to his weekly TV podcast, Podjiba. All but one took plea deals, including Ghantt, who was sentenced to seven years in prison. He didnt even really question me. Campbell, a mother of two, was in the process of divorcing her. On March 1, David Ghantt left his hotel to do some laundry. Speaking of his co-defendants, Ghantt says hes not currently in contact with any of them. I hear her typing. They tried to break the van's bulletproof windows. Campbell and her husband had always been just scraping by, however in the weeks following the robbery, the two seemed to have more money than they've ever had. He worked fueling airplanes, driving a forklift, and in 1994 he got a job as a vault superintendent at Loomis. Still, she wasn't happy. Will Vin Sant Leave You Jacked or Scammed. He grabbed the tapes from two VCRs that connected to 16 security cameras. From Mexico, David usually spoke with Kelly on the phone once a week, paying with calling cards. ", "Even then . They assumed that whoever was involved would keep the cash in a safe place, like a safe deposit box. 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 knew that the news wouldnt break until later that morning. He flew in an ultra-light plane. By using this website, you accept the terms of our Visitor Agreement and Privacy Policy, and understand your options regarding Ad Choices. Scott Grant and Steve pulled up next to her in a Mazda. Ghantt pulled out $50,000 from the back of the unmarked Loomis Fargo van. The others sat in their cars across the street and watched him struggle to open the heavy gate. Loomis (formerly Loomis, Fargo & Co.) is a cash handling company. Like David, Kelly was frustrated with her marriage. But it was the rural, Southern backgrounds of many of the key players, along with the many botched twists and bungled turns, that led the media to dub it the hillbilly heist.. Kelly drove her pickup to a lot across the street from the Loomis building, on Suttle Avenue in Charlotte. "She just called me up on the phone and said, 'Hey, let's meet one day after work.' Since Ghantt was the supervisor, he sent his co-worker home first. ALSO READ: Leader of $3M check theft, bank fraud scheme in Charlotte area sentenced to prison, The hillbilly outfit did more that just drop a few breadcrumbs. Warning! The whole town I was staying in was 98.9 percent Mexican, except for when the cruise ships were in, Ghantt recalls. For his part, Ghantt was now officially on his way to Mexico, his future stretched out before him. They cursed. I flew from Atlanta to New Orleans. 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.. Of course the most famous thing inside the home was a velvet Elvis portrait. Steve now needed a hit man. David kissed his sleeping wife on the cheek on the morning of Oct. 4. This station is part of Cox Media Group Television. Eric watched. Soon thereafter, he met Kelly Campbell, a co-worker at Loomis Fargo. . When Chambers and the two Erics were done loading the stolen millions into barrels, they abandoned the van in the woods. A couple weeks pass, and I call again, Hey, Id like to get some more money. But it wasnt. In early November, Steve lured the real Mike McKinney, an ex-Marine, to North Carolina from his Illinois home. Depression had led to smoking a lot of marijuana and taking Prozac, a combination she figures affected her judgment. Or does it sit in an offshore account, waiting for a prison sentence to end? . You see, there's a reason Loomis Fargo used armored cars to move large amounts of cash. Steve also offered $100,000 to his 26-year-old cousin. The old man me would never survive that, Id have a heart attack.. But few could have guessed how spectacularly the heist would go wrong after the criminals initially got away with it. 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. Not Ghantt. Sweat soaked David's uniform. ". . On Nov. 12, a confidential informant told the FBI about Steve Chambers's move from mobile home to mansion. 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. Cool, I say. "I felt that if I didn't do something, I was going to snap," David said. Scott, 26, had a larceny conviction as a teenager, but he'd since cleaned up his act and now had a steady job, a daughter and a girlfriend. "He was in tears. By late November, McKinney made a third trip to Mexico, saying he'd help David move to Mexico City. Now he offered to pay him to carry cash to David--Steve said he was a friend hiding out after a bad drug deal, McKinney recalled. 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. Thats pretty standard in restitution matters. You can garnish wages. I ride motorcycles and fish -- normal guy, Ghantt told Counts. Ghantt, his former co-worker Kelly Campbell and her friends Steve and Michelle Chambers carried out the Loomis Fargo heist on Oct. 4, 1997. Hes a family man with a wife and daughter. Steve solicited two others to help move cash during the theft. "For the first year, they're all over you. Search Tools . So Im like, Can you get a move on with my money? After a couple of weeks passed, I get a phone call from Kelly: Okay, Brunos coming to you, blah, blah, blah. So I get a phone call from this guy, and I tell him where to meet me. Kelly Campbell is scheduled to be sentenced in October. He went deep-sea fishing. Is he telling the truth? . But after a year, they'll cut it down to two agents. 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, then known as Loomis Fargo, experienced two inside jobs in 1997, for $17.3 million and $18.8 million. With a cast like this, and Emily Spivey (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Up All Night) as part of the writing team, Masterminds shouldnt be nearly as obnoxious and dull as it is, but nothing ever clicks. kellis@gastongazette.com 0:04 1:38 On Oct. 4, 1997, former Kings Mountain resident David Scott Ghantt finished his shift as a vault supervisor for Loomis Fargo in Charlotte. Hes very articulate. Some amateur thieves might turn to movies and TV shows for lessons on criminal behavior. And then I realized that a lot of people knew who I was and they had followed the case.. Part 2: Channel 9 speaks with the man at the center of Loomis Fargo heist 25 years ago. There are multiples of thousands of these things coming every year. One of them tapped him on the back. Now, at 7:45 p.m., with all the money finally inside the van, his aching muscles could take a breather. A third tape he didn't know about kept recording. and "I love money!" This time, David told McKinney the truth. He couldn't talk.". Ghantt started at Loomis Fargo in 1994, and soon worked his way up from an armored car driver to a vault supervisor. . Records show the government has garnished his Social Security checks. Ive never taken offense to anything like that, he tells me. There it was, "The Heist." It changes you. He had a favorite restaurant, Zandunga, which had a mariachi band each night and a view of the Caribbean. Michelle Chambers received seven years and eight months, while Steve Chambers was handed an 11-year sentence. Sun, sand and beaches are all part of why Jacksonville is a popular destination. About 5:45 a.m., he got into his pickup and began the 45-minute drive to work in Charlotte. His wife, Tammy, was as shocked as Loomis officials. Money'll turn your head, I don't care who you are. I said, Probably, the best time would be on the weekend; theres fewer people there. 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. It was released in 2016 and Wydra was invited to the premiere. There had been no signs. Kelly called David at Loomis; he told her he'd be ready for them with the cash at 6:30 or 7 p.m. Alone in the building, David was trying to finish loading cash from the vault into an unmarked white Ford Econoline van belonging to Loomis. Director Jared Hess Writers Chris Bowman (screenplay) Hubbel Palmer (screenplay) Emily Spivey (screenplay) Stars Zach Galifianakis Kristen Wiig Owen Wilson 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. Steve bought a truck, a Rolex and a motorboat. Until, that is, he decided to hell with it he was going to pull-off the second largest heist in U.S. history. Campbell used to work for Loomis and continued the friendship with Ghantt, eventually hooking him up with Chambers. 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. Kelly was no criminal. Zaron Burnett is an investigative journalist and longform features writer based in Los Angeles. Her sentence was delayed until Jan. 1 so she could spend the holidays with her family. And though she had been made night shift supervisor at Allied Security, she still felt she would never make the money she needed. Meanwhile, Michele Chambers was laughing and saying, repeatedly, "Look at all this money!" Ghantt studied how to rob his employer . Or is the loot buried in somebody's yard? 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. 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. So the pieces were falling into place for investigators. At the Halloween party, though, Kelly gave in to Steve, and agreed it had to be done. Im on the phone with Kelly [Campbell], and Im like, Hey, I really was expecting a package to arrive. When he said, 'I'll give you $20,000 to hold a million,' I said, 'Sure.' And to me, if it pisses them off, Im all for it.. Or that hed gotten lucky gambling. The participants in the heist also spent lavishly on fancy jewelry, fancy cars and breast enhancement surgeries. First, in January, he tried to get someone to take some millions down to Mexico. They loaded the wine cellar with Pabst Blue Ribbon, and Steve hung a velvet portrait of Elvis Presley in the basement. By then Id figured out that Bruno was up to no good, and that Id probably never seen any more of my money. In early December, Steve and Michele invited relatives to their daughter's sixth birthday party. www.loomis.com. Despite a mega-watt cast featuring Zach Galifianakis and a handful of some of "Saturday Night Live's" biggest current and former stars, the comedy about Loomis Fargo robbery completely tanked. Though David had said earlier he thought there was $15 million in the vault, the sight of that much cash held them spellbound. To celebrate Halloween, about seven of Steve's friends, including Eric Payne and Kelly, gathered for a party at Steve's house. She never really worried about the moral end of it--she was focused only on getting what she wanted out of life, what so many others seemed to have in this booming part of the South. The plan was to split the money three ways: Chambers, Campbell and Ghantt would each walk away with what Ghantt estimated to be $5 million a piece the kind of money that changes lives forever. But agents weren't ready to arrest Kelly and Steve. The biggest restitution numbers for victims of financial crimes generally involve Ponzi schemes or sweepstakes fraud, not cash thefts. Get to me. Its that kind of excitement.. Twenty-one people were charged and convicted in the robbery, one of the biggest heists in U.S. history. She will never get beyond the debt. He has a regular life now, but 25 years ago, Ghantt was the mastermind behind the third-largest bank robbery in U.S. history. 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