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real life kelly campbell loomis fargo
So he convinced a local hoodlum in Mexico to try to kill Ghantt. 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. I wanted to make a drastic change and I went for it," Ghantt said. Things were spiraling fast. 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. Speaking of his co-defendants, Ghantt says hes not currently in contact with any of them. By late November, McKinney made a third trip to Mexico, saying he'd help David move to Mexico City. Kelly drove David to the airport. Two more defendants in the $17 million Loomis Fargo & Co. robbery last year have agreed to plead guilty, and a third person entered a formal plea in court. I mean, it was dark, Ghantt explains. . 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. . About the same time, Kelly and McKinney received phone calls from agents who told them to open their doors. . 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. 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. Were others involved? On Oct. 5, the Loomis heist celebrates its 25th birthday. Yes, Carrie Underwood adopted a dog in Charlotte. The next day, he was sitting next to FBI agent Mark Rozzi on a US Airways flight to Charlotte. Too many questions remained: Where was the cash? These (Loomis) guys, not so much.. The top-ranked pie in North Carolina doesnt look like pie at all. Or is the loot buried in somebody's yard? Michelle Chambers paid off only $27,000. Ghantt says he operates a bulldozer for a small company. By then Id figured out that Bruno was up to no good, and that Id probably never seen any more of my money. It didnt take the local police long to put the pieces together. Kelly, she says now, was thinking about how happy she would be to send this man far away from her. I threw you out, and then threw the parachute after you. Three weeks later, the couple purchased, in cash, a $635,000 stone mansion. Military + Veterans. It was the first Saturday in October. Ghantt:I've burned that bridge years ago. He learned to parachute. The platform is designed to engage citizens and government leaders in a discussion about what needs improvement across the country. The van door opened. . . He said every year he files his taxes and the IRS takes all of his tax return. He hadnt checked ahead of time if the airport had any available flights, let alone if it would even be open. What purpose does that serve other than to denigrate that person into abject poverty?. In real life: False. Should David be killed after he gave them the money? Not a documentary. 2022 marks the 25th anniversary of the year that everything happened 1997. "I've learned that I'm a fortunate man," he said. We spoke with the inside man, David Ghantt, to get the real story. 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. shes now Miss USA. David complained it wasn't enough. Michelle, meanwhile, purchased new breasts for herself, along with a $43,000 diamond ring and a new convertible BMW Z3. From Mexico, David usually spoke with Kelly on the phone once a week, paying with calling cards. Except the person he offered $150,000 to mule $2.5 million down to Ghantt in Mexico turned him down and instead went to the FBI. "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. . They paid for all of it in cash. ". Kelly was lying. The cart held about $2 million, and the thief made multiple trips. You can seize property. Copyright 2022 TheAssociated Press. Question: Do you ever think you could have been killed? "I'm glad I've grown out of that.". 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 and happy. He hated the sweet smell of the green ink, and the $8.15-an-hour salary. They entered their dogs in fights and watched them die. But in November, money ran low. As you probably know, it's loosely based on the Loomis Fargo heist in Charlotte back in the late nineties. That October, the Chamberses' bank accounts ballooned. Ghantt fled to Mexico. Though David had said earlier he thought there was $15 million in the vault, the sight of that much cash held them spellbound. Few who were living in the area at the time can forget the "Velvet Elvis" painting Chambers had hanging in his mansion or the tales of cosmetic surgery, BMW convertibles and other signs of excess. That time in prison was actually good for me. Each week, Michele deposited thousands of dollars in cash. Still, she wasn't happy. I flew from Atlanta to New Orleans. Theres no way to get it back, Butcher told The Charlotte Observer. At the sight of all that money, Scott and Eric had the same thought: They'd made the worst mistake of their lives. They also purchased tanning beds, a pool table, a Harley-Davidson Road King motorcycle and all kinds of expensive furniture. Dependent care account. 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. He was signed by the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 2002. The teller, who hadn't asked, filed a "suspicious activity report." So yeah, Im kind of proud of it.. In the first days after the arrests, agents recovered or accounted for all but about $2 million of the stolen money. I pay (restitution to) thousands of people, but its in drips and drabs.. Then another. Yes, happy. "I thought he was goofing around.". I don't blame him.". . Visit us at Loomis.us. When we worked together [for Loomis], we'd joke about it. 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. There was in fact a basically similar conversation involving Chambers and Campbell that took place during a barbecue the Campbells were hosting. He had an endearing smile, a beautiful wife and two children. "It wasn't me, it was Steve," she says she told him. 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. After a Gulf War stint in the Army, David got married in 1992. Will Vin Sant Leave You Jacked or Scammed? For his part, Ghantt was now officially on his way to Mexico, his future stretched out before him. But as soon as he drove off, I went right back in and opened the vault. No regrets. Ultimately, though, the heist wasnt Ghantts idea, which meant he didnt decide who else was involved. 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. . And when everybody else voted to kill me, she voted with them, he explains. Now worried about both the FBI and McKinney, he spent even more time alone in his room. He was an old friend from East Gaston High School, tough and sure of himself. There was, however, one problem with his plan. 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. Even still, he was 27, married and struggling to provide for his family. 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. >> 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,. They sweated, though the night was cool. First, they loaded the cash into blue 55-gallon barrels, and then they moved the barrels into a rental van. Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. The last time he called me, he said, Hey Ghantt, I just saw a big Loomis Fargo truck. He told her he wanted more of "his" cash. If they could just sit on the money until then, he said, they'd be fine. All I needed was a change of pace.". Sandra Floyd, Michele Chambers's mother, remembers the first time she saw the house. Things started to go south the night of the robbery. David quickly realized he was the intended victim. Hidden in it was a 3 1/2-carat diamond ring that cost $43,000. He gave the rest to Kelly. 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.. 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. "I've moved on with my life," he said Tuesday. He told him McKinney was in Mexico to kill somebody. At the time, it was the largest cash heist in history. Twenty people were convicted of roles big and small in the massive 1997 armored-car warehouse heist in west Charlotte. When October 1997 began, Steve and Michelle Chambers lived in a double-wide trailer. It was late in 1996. Ghantt:I don't think he ever really meant to harm me. One of them tapped him on the back. How Bridgerton restarted buzz about her ancestry. 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. Ghantt was already married when he took part in the heist, to a woman named Tammy who author Diamant described as very nice. It is true, however, that she had no idea about the plot and that he fled to Mexico without telling her. ". Going south, nobody really looks at what youre shipping. Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. Eventually, Steve made Kelly believe they could steal from Loomis and get away with it, she said. Back in North Carolina, Ghantts former accomplices were living high on the hog. Thats one of my personality flaws. You can reach Kevin Ellis at 704-869-1823 or Twitter.com/TheGazetteKevin. She declined to take a lie-detector test. 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. And then I could hear her laughing. Question: Should people go see this movie? The money was heavy. Steve and Michele invited everyone back for a Christmas party, where they gave Michele's stepfather a special gift--the pickup truck he'd always wanted. If you want me to leave, Ill leave. Then, Ghantt went into another room. She came from a blue-collar background, a high school dropout who had grown tired of working in a mill and gotten an equivalency diploma. The next day, Kelly drove back to Steve's mobile home to watch the news with Steve and Michele. That's the kind of movie they wanted to make. In the wee hours of the morning, Chambers and the Erics drove back to the town of Vale, North Carolina, and holed up in a double-wide trailer while counting their cash. 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. Ghantt simply got ready for work one morning knowing it would be his last day on the job. 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. Twelve hours later, at 6 that evening, Eric Payne drove a rented Budget van to his workplace, a graphics company on Performance Road in western Mecklenburg County called Reynolds & Reynolds, which was closed for the night and had a secluded parking lot where they intended to transfer the cash. He approached a longtime friend, Eric Payne, who lived in a mobile home south of Belmont, N.C. Steve offered him $100,000 to help. 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. Explain? At the end of October, Kelly was sentenced to 5 years 10 months in prison. They tried to break the van's bulletproof windows. The pager entry was 1-4-3. The government does not run debtors prisons, says U.S. "I missed my family. Steve was sentenced to 11 years 3 months in prison. He says the Loomis case shows how the criminal justice system and the courts treat lower-income people differently. "Steve said, 'I think we ought to do it that night, when he drops off the van,' " Kelly recalled. Truth be told, Ghantt had something of a crush on Campbell, and so, he told her exactly how hed pull off such a heist. He figured Tammy wouldn't go for it, and though his marriage had been troubled, he wasn't certain he wanted to leave her. The FBI now knew Chambers had Loomis cash. 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. In real life: False. The bash had a Cinderella theme, with a three-tiered cake that looked like a castle. By . The initials on the money wrapper belonged to a Loomis employee who hadn't worked there since before the heist. She also must . ', "He asked me if I'd mind holding some money for him. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. 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. You see, there's a reason Loomis Fargo used armored cars to move large amounts of cash. His wife, Tammy, was as shocked as Loomis officials. Meanwhile, outside Reynolds & Reynolds, Steve, Scott and Eric needed to move 2,748 pounds of cash, quickly, from the Loomis van into the Budget van. "I wanted to be more like my mom and dad were.". They soon realized David had stolen more money than would fit in their 55-gallon barrels. When he walked onto the plane, he was wearing big, tall cowboy boots, where hed stuffed a majority of the smuggled cash. "We're not the type that questions everything people tell us," Floyd said. The mystery 1-4-3 caller had been Kelly, though agents didn't know it yet. He then began loading $17 million in unmarked bills inside a company van before driving away. Steve now needed a hit man. But he tried to keep his face averted, so David wouldn't be able to ID him. Ghantt:I hate to say it, but I had six years of sitting in a box to think about my life. The audacity of the act was breathtaking. Question: Are you happy that Wilkesboro-nativeZach Galifianakis plays you in the movie? Ghantt knew Chambers as Steve, but didnt find out that his last name was Chambers until the arrests were made. Scott was so nervous, he said, that he couldn't help. Why fans love it. Given his position at the bank, hed be the one to pull off the robbery, and he intended to be ready. They picked me, he says with a rueful tone. Heres what happened on Sunday nights episode. Thatd be the time to do it, Ghantt recalls. About 10 frantic minutes later, Scott found the right key. 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. Everybody seemed stunned. There it was, "The Heist." They ditched the Loomis van, then drove the cash-heavy Budget van to Steve's mobile home in Lincoln County, where his wife, Michele, waited with a calculator and rubber bands. But what did that mean? Ghantt was working a late shift, and just after 6:30 p.m., his coworkers were packing up and heading for home. Posted on . An officer rang the doorbell. 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. In real life: Mostly true. Its kind of like that. 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 had even scheduled a follow-up appointment at the dentist. And going to see the Mayan ruins. 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. A woman by the name of Kelly Campbell had worked there in 1996, and she and Ghantt had become friends in that time. Looking for Kelly Loomis? Was that really what it was about? Depression had led to smoking a lot of marijuana and taking Prozac, a combination she figures affected her judgment. Question: You went to Mexico. Dental plans . But first they wanted to know if it was a robbery or a robbery-homicide. When he finished, the van was filled with $17 million. Michele told her mother she and Steve had been saving gambling winnings for the down payment. . I'd probably change jobs. Then another. Kelly Campbell, 29, a former company employee, entered guilty pleas earlier to bank larceny, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder charges. "He showed me a lot of money," McKinney said. 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. . Thats where they feel comfortable., This piece of information would become critical to his getaway plan. But agents weren't ready to arrest Kelly and Steve. "As soon as you start, you realize there's no going back," David recalled. They were the butt of a national joke. He recalled that another agent, Phil King, said, "Hey, there was an article in the [Charlotte] Observer about beeper codes. Ghantt spent a solid hour moving what ended up being 2,700 pounds of cash more than an actual ton into an unmarked company van. Kelly was no criminal. About 200 keys dangled from it. . Instead of lobster, the man who stole $17 million survived on home-cooked pasta and grilled cheese sandwiches. Exciting. David, now 30, says he's sorry he abandoned his wife--who he says still loves him--and his family. Without really intending to, Kelly recalls, she turned the conversation to the possibility of a heist. 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. The bizarre true story of the criminals behind the second-largest bank heist in American history. 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." Mexican police, Interpol officers and an FBI agent were watching him. "I said, 'Yeah, sure.' Federal prosecutors would ultimately charge 21 defendants in the case, including the Floyds, who were charged with (and pleaded guilty to) money laundering. Hes going to start bringing you money. Alright. 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. Almost 19 years after Ghantt and a group of friends from Gaston County pulled off one of the largest cash heists in U.S. history, the movie "Masterminds" will play up the caper for laughs. Alert: Obviously, spoilers abound. I mean, cause greed is a funny animal. Was Queen Charlotte Black? She was the group's only contact with David, and she was smoking marijuana "like other people smoke cigarettes," she said. Why had he ever believed he'd get it? Though David had no criminal experience, he felt he could offer expert advice: He'd just finished reading a book on the FBI. Mine did. I said, Probably, the best time would be on the weekend; theres fewer people there. Steve also offered $100,000 to his 26-year-old cousin. When McKinney arrived in North Carolina, the plan had changed. I hope everyone has moved on. Campbell, 29, had pleaded guilty to charges of bank larceny, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder. Him and I still talk every now and then. Or does it sit in an offshore account, waiting for a prison sentence to end? She was a wife and mother with two children. LeVaughn Kelly Campbell (born July 23, 1980 in Atlanta, Georgia) is a former football wide receiver. I just had to call you., Today, Ghantt cant look back on the whole ordeal without some degree of pride. You cannot fine low-income people millions of dollars. 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. Down in Jacksonville, a Loomis Fargo employee took $18 million from an armored van he was driving. Ghantt:It started out as a mental exercise and somewhere between the mental exercise and the actual event, it became serious. 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. They placed a bust of Caesar in the dining room. Basic and voluntary life insurance plan. At the end of one session, they wound up kissing outside the pickup. Thanksgiving and Christmas were difficult. Best States is an interactive platform developed by U.S. News for ranking the 50 U.S. states, alongside news analysis and daily reporting. "I felt that if I didn't do something, I was going to snap," David said. On Feb. 27, agents listened in on a call from David to Kelly and learned David's location in Mexico. He went deep-sea fishing. He had just returned to his home in Jacksonville, Fla., when he agreed to talk about the heist, his life now and what went wrong when a group of friends who thought they could get away with stealing $17 million cash. Steve solicited two others to help move cash during the theft. After a couple of weeks, Ghantt and the rest of the heist team were ready to strike. Before long, the FBI had wiretaps on the ringleader, Steve Chambers, and then they waited for the right time to make their arrests. He and his wife, Tammy, lived in a mobile home in Kings Mountain, N.C. Money was always tight. In real life: False. You can garnish wages. 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. On Monday, October 6th, the FBI agents who were investigating the robbery located the Loomis Fargo van abandoned in the woods. The others sat in their cars across the street and watched him struggle to open the heavy gate. He comes to my door, and hes got a brown paper bag in his hand. The FBI was also surveilling Kelly Campbell and followed her to a pay phone that she used to place calls to Mexico. 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. 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. Back then, it was one of the hotspots for hiding money. Ghantt planned to live off the interest for the rest of his life. Its a yes: Clover teen shakes off nerves to earn American Idol golden ticket, Mail carrier cant believe his eyes after seeing NC lottery win. His collection case, which closes in November 2026, got credit for the couples $540,000 house on Cramer Mountain in Gaston County, Butcher says. About 20 ago, Campbell sent him a letter of apology, but he never responded. Meanwhile, Michele Chambers was laughing and saying, repeatedly, "Look at all this money!" Its everything thats coming north.. When she realized Ghantt never came home from work the night before, she contacted the police and filed a missing persons report. Chambers did hire McKinney to kill Ghantt, but initially McKinney was making personal cash deliveries to Ghantt in Mexico on behalf of Chambers. He covers culture, politics, race, and other perplexing mysteries for MEL. 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.. Kelly had resisted this suggestion before the heist: She and David were friends. 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. Field Operations; Corporate; Why Loomis. I think I always knew that, but lost my way for a while.". 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. In that time, I realized most of my problems were because of me. Kelly relayed his message to Steve. She could visit friends. He had a favorite restaurant, Zandunga, which had a mariachi band each night and a view of the Caribbean. 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.. I mentioned it to Kelly. When he was done, the man drove off to a nearby printing press, where the money was distributed into private vehicles amongst a handful of people. 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. Careers. I had a four-hour layover there, and then from New Orleans to Cancun.. I don't want to be mean, but that's probably the dumbest thing they could do. 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. 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,. Burks was also ordered to serve 15 years in prison, limiting his ability to balance his books. There was a third person with them, too, a man named Eric Grant. 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. They discussed it further, and Campbell asked him when they should do it. In real life: False. "That would be living on the run, and I didn't want my kids to live that way. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. While the agents initiated their investigation, the Chambers spent money as quickly as they could. Why did this Charlotte engineer leave her job? And I knew that by that time, Id be in Cancun no matter what. They heard Michele brag about her $43,000 ring. He drove to the edge of the Loomis compound, which was surrounded by a chain-link fence. David said he realized then, for the first time, he might not see the millions he thought he had coming to him.
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