They heard Michele brag about her $43,000 ring. . Kelly said she had reason to believe Steve might be able to pull off a heist. He told her he wanted more of "his" cash. Steve had another conversation with Kelly about killing David. 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,. All of the co-defendants were arrested the next day, about six months after the heist. She just called me up on the phone and said, Hey, lets meet one day after work. And then, we were talking and she says, How do you feel about robbing Loomis Fargo? Ghantt tells me. Back then, it was one of the hotspots for hiding money. Ghantt planned to live off the interest for the rest of his life. Ultimately, though, the heist wasnt Ghantts idea, which meant he didnt decide who else was involved. ", "I wouldn't do it. Agents noticed it two months later when it flowed to them through official channels, along with hundreds of similar reports involving other people. . On Oct. 5, the Loomis heist celebrates its 25th birthday. To its credit, Masterminds does nail down the broad strokes of the real story, although there were a couple of noteworthy details the film left out. Butcher says the federal courts in the Western District of North Carolina have never handled a case quite like Loomis. I was burned out and just didn't know it. It was his goodbye. I told them, Take it, box it up, and youll be able to ship it to me in Mexico. Back in the 1990s, you couldve probably boxed up a hot pink elephant and shipped it to Mexico; no one wouldve ever noticed. Since Ghantt was the supervisor, he sent his co-worker home first. Its in the ether. Punishment needs to be fair and realistic. Or that it was an inheritance. Informacin sobre tu dispositivo y conexin a Internet, como tu direccin IP, Actividad de navegacin y bsqueda al utilizar sitios web y aplicaciones de Yahoo. 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. He realized that if they met the minimum monthly payments, the bill would take 30 years to pay. "You" has three. This is where it starts to unravel, Ghantt tells me with a wry laugh. All but one of the 24 defendants pleaded guilty, and the one who didnt take the deal was convicted. 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.. But after she left, she reached back out to Ghantt and brought up what they'd talked about that day in the break room. "For the first year, they're all over you. There were times when I drank really heavily.". David complained it wasn't enough. He frequently entertained there, buying steaks for his guests. Clerk of Court Frank Johns of Charlotte. Search Tools . Scary. Username. . It has a certain feel, a smell and weight to it. It is based on the October 1997 Loomis Fargo Robbery in North Carolina, which was the subject of the 2016 American comedy film Masterminds. Al hacer clic en Aceptar todo, aceptas que Yahoo y nuestros socios procesarn tu informacin personal y utilizarn tecnologas como cookies para presentarte anuncios y contenido personalizados, evaluar anuncios y contenido, obtener datos clave sobre la audiencia y desarrollar productos. There is nothing of value in this movie. The FBI says Chambers hired a hitman to tie up the ultimate loose end -- Ghantt. But in November, money ran low. Of course the most famous thing inside the home was a velvet Elvis portrait. 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. Together, they drove in a convoy to an industrial warehouse eight miles away, where Eric Payne, a fourth accomplice was. Kelly found herself standing beside David while they waited together for a bond hearing. She laughed for like 45 minutes. Michelle, meanwhile, purchased new breasts for herself, along with a $43,000 diamond ring and a new convertible BMW Z3. Meanwhile, Michele Chambers was laughing and saying, repeatedly, "Look at all this money!" He says the Loomis case shows how the criminal justice system and the courts treat lower-income people differently. Maura Healey unveiled a proposed $55.5 billion state budget Wednesday, a plan that offers insight into some of the Democrats spending priorities during her first year as governor. Ghantt pulled out $50,000 from the back of the unmarked Loomis Fargo van. Kelly called David at. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist (No Ratings Yet) . 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. Jim Gronquist, Campbells defense attorney during the Loomis case, says the financial penalties levied against his client and her co-defendants are grossly excessive and unjust, particularly since most of the stolen Loomis money was actually recovered. 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. . Youre supposed to get less time for cooperating, a lesser penalty, and instead, you see what she got hit with. Gronquist said. FBI video shows agents searching the Cramer Mountain home and finding stacks of cash. You cannot fine low-income people millions of dollars. They soon realized David had stolen more money than would fit in their 55-gallon barrels. Thats pretty standard in restitution matters. Just head on out. And so, he did. Things were spiraling fast. Inside the Mazda, Steve told Scott Grant to get out and help David. 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. What it does is put a ball and chain on that person for the rest of their lives, they are walking around and they are basically an indentured servant, Gronquist said. I ride motorcycles and fish -- normal guy, Ghantt told Counts. I said, Probably, the best time would be on the weekend; theres fewer people there. The Loomis defendants face no additional legal jeopardy for not paying off their debts. Working together, they got the gate open, then drove in a caravan to the Reynolds & Reynolds parking lot. For the defendants in the Loomis Fargo heist, its allure was irresistible. Nah, it was always about the money, he told the agents. He hated his job, with its 12-hour shifts. When did you conclude Yeah, Im actually going to do this? Counts asked. 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. Not every agent has a case like that, he said. You can seize property. But on Oct. 4, 1997, that no longer mattered and Ghantt took off with $17.3 million. On his second trip, Steve gave McKinney David's hotel address. He placed stacks of currency on a cart and wheeled it to the van about 15 feet away, inside the building. What that says is, We will never forgive you for what youve done.. Then, he proceeded to load 2,800 pounds of cash into a van. There was a little voice in my head that said, 'Don't do it. By using this website, you accept the terms of our Visitor Agreement and Privacy Policy, and understand your options regarding Ad Choices. Masterminds which opens nationwide today (though youd be hard pressed to know that given the decided lack of promotion) is proof again that all the talent in the world cannot salvage a bad script, and not even a good screenwriter can make up for terrible performances. She was the group's only contact with David, and she was smoking marijuana "like other people smoke cigarettes," she said. "It probably should bother me," he said. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. By Dustin Rowles | Film | September 30, 2016 |. The audacity of the act was breathtaking. So much so that one suspicious neighbor called the FBI. He told Steve he hadn't been able to find David. Steve tried keys on a side door. It's one of the biggest jokes at the place. The use of this site is restricted to authorized personnel only. Campbell helped plot the robbery of Loomis Charlotte vault on Oct. 4, 1997, with David Ghantt, a Loomis supervisor who stole the money, and Steve Chambers, a longtime Campbell friend. 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. Turns out, most of the thieves and their accomplices have been about as effective coming up with their court-ordered restitution as they were hiding their original crimes. "As soon as you start, you realize there's no going back," David recalled. Theres some things I want to do., Ghantt planned on traveling from Mexico to the Cayman Islands, bypassing customs along the way. As soon as you put that first bag of stolen money in that van, theres no going back. And I think that makes it all the more funny, because it really offends my co-defendants. To be brutally honest, it was that morning, Ghantt replied. The FBI continues to search for a missing $2 million from the theft. Theres less security. I was looking at small sailboats and theyre not cheap, he tells me. "But, I hate to admit it, it doesn't faze me one bit. The principals here are David Ghantt, a driver for Loomis, Fargo and Co.; Kelly Campbell, the woman Ghantt had a crush on, and who convinced him to commit the crime; and Steve and Michele Chambers. The Chambers, however, didnt fit in with the other members of the gated community. Steve Chambers and his wife (Mary Elizabeth Ellis) were a little more difficult to connect to the heist. The robbery of some $17 million quickly became one of the wildest bank heists of the last quarter century. There, Scott and Eric paced the floor as Steve tried to calm them down. There used to be a consulate in Cancun. Meanwhile, back in North Carolina, Ghantts wife woke up to find her husband missing. 1-4-3 is 'I love you.' How many people have walked the red carpet at a movie premiere in a case that was yours?. I don't blame him.". Soon thereafter, he met Kelly Campbell, a co-worker at Loomis Fargo. When neighbors asked where they got their money, Steve said hed played in the NFL. What made her abandon an ordinary existence to commit this spectacular, doomed crime? And then I realized that a lot of people knew who I was and they had followed the case.. Kelly, using David's cell phone, kept beeping him. Jim Gronquist was Campbells defense attorney. All of the primary players got fined millions of dollars --for example, Kelly Campbell was hit with more than $4 million, an amount that she will never come close to paying. I hear her typing. About 10 frantic minutes later, Scott found the right key. No dry runs, no rehearsals. Three weeks later, the couple purchased, in cash, a $635,000 stone mansion. He partied, met women, drank, skied and hung out at the beach. Her husband gave her a brown teddy bear. Time passed, and Campbell eventually quit her job at Loomis Fargo. What concerned her was the chance of getting caught. He'd stay up all night, boosted by coffee, waiting for the sunrise over the ocean. He figured Tammy wouldn't go for it, and though his marriage had been troubled, he wasn't certain he wanted to leave her. Ghantt, meanwhile, was losing his patience and starting to make threats. Not Ghantt. Sandra Floyd, Michele Chambers's mother, remembers the first time she saw the house. Truth be told, Ghantt had something of a crush on Campbell, and so, he told her exactly how hed pull off such a heist. Ghantt met up with the other members of the plot and offloaded the cash. Campbell was released from federal custody in 2004 after serving five years, meaning her collection case will age out in December 2024. His name was Corey. 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. "I said, 'That's all they gave me,' " McKinney recalled. All the while, Ghantt prepared himself for the task at hand. 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 also purchased expensive cars, jewelry and a breast enhancement or two. I was relieved emotionally because I knew there was a good chance my luck might run out, Ghantt said. But few could have guessed how spectacularly the heist would go wrong after the criminals initially got away with it. Kelly was no criminal. Reach our Customer Contact Center by calling 877.877.0560 from 6:30 AM to 11:30 PM CT every day or by completing the provided form. Steve now needed a hit man. . 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. It didnt take the local police long to put the pieces together. Ghantt was missing and no one, not even his wife, knew where he was. . Im married, I got one girl, shes 15 going on 30. This is the person I counted as my friend. Kelly was lying. A former FBI agent 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. He para-sailed, power-skied and scuba-dived. Money'll turn your head, I don't care who you are. 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. Kelly Campbell arrested 11) Finally, the FBI successfully tracked down Ghantt and arrested him at Playa del Carmen. 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. "I was trying to figure out a way to [leave my husband] and take care of my kids without having to depend on him or any other man," Kelly said. Ghantt had fled to Mexico with $50,000 in cash, leaving the rest of the money with Steve Chambers. Im on the phone with Kelly [Campbell], and Im like, Hey, I really was expecting a package to arrive. 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. It was late in 1996. 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 had struck up a relationship with a fellow Loomis Fargo employee, Kelly Campbell; they continued to maintain contact even after Campbell left the company. Nosotros, Yahoo, somos parte de la familia de marcas de Yahoo. In the dark, Scott inserted one key into the back door slot. Where was Ghantt? 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. Loomis (formerly Loomis, Fargo & Co.) is a cash handling company. 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. Back in North Carolina, Ghantts former accomplices were living high on the hog. If we work together, we can all have plenty of pie.. She didn't plan to move to Mexico. 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. He had a favorite restaurant, Zandunga, which had a mariachi band each night and a view of the Caribbean. 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