loomis fargo heist kelly campbell loomis fargo heist kelly campbell

The hillbilly outfit did more that just drop a few breadcrumbs. They hadn't slept together or even fooled around much, but he was ready to commit. It was released in 2016 and Wydra was invited to the premiere. Fourteen defendants were ordered to make restitution payments to Loomis Fargo totaling almost $19 million. Who all wanted a Rambo movie which explored his time training as a green beret and his time serving in Vietnam as a prequel to first blood WATCH Antebellum 2020 FULL MOVIE. of violence, racism, anti-Semitism, or Libraries without that edition should consider purchasing this entertaining and lightly edited version, which reads like a fast-paced novel. It, too, has changed hands several times. So we were able to figure out with all the denominations, it would require about 20 safe deposit boxes to store it all.. For a better shopping experience, please upgrade now. These cookies do not store any personal information. David's share would be sent to Mexico, where he planned to hide and where he expected Kelly to join him. 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. This technically made it abank robbery afederal offense. Spunk. That movie, Masterminds, was filmed in 2014. He says the Loomis case shows how the criminal justice system and the courts treat lower-income people differently. All of the defendants are out of prison -- the longest sentence was 11 years. 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. The actual crime itself required none of Hollywood's imagination. 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. The loot would later be divided among David, Kelly, and Steve. They had met in December 1995 on one of her first days at Loomis. Clerk of Court Frank Johns of Charlotte. 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. These weren't the hardest of criminals, and though there was logic to not knowing each other's names, they had derived some of their methods from Hollywood depictions of crime. 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.. I ride motorcycles and fish -- normal guy, Ghantt told Counts. Low 46F. Only a nickel on every dollar have been collected so far. The figures can be astounding. Although the FBI investigation was able to quickly connect Ghantt to Campbell, connecting Ghantt to Chambers was a more difficult task. Javascript is not enabled in your browser. 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. But this time on the phone, Kelly wasn't joking. Then one day, while reviewing his and Tammy's credit card bill, he did some quick math and realized that even if they met the minimum monthly payments, the bill would take thirty years to pay. Steve had hired a bodyguard named Mike McKinney. 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. Federal law stops government collection efforts 20 years after a defendant leaves prison. Its attracted workers like Ghantt. 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. Ghantt studied how to rob his employer and advised the others not to spend the money lavishly. The figures can be astounding. Spunk. And if that gives people out there a little bit of hope, then Ive served my purpose on this earth.. 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. How did they get away with stealing more than $17 million? In David's eyes, Johnson's big mistake was that he did it alone. By now, you probably know the names -- David Ghantt, Steve Chambers and his wife Michelle, and Kelly Campbell. 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. According to Butcher, Campbells last official payment came in June 2021 when the government appears to have seized a tax refund of $81.24. Kelly Campbell, 29, a former company employee, entered guilty pleas earlier to bank larceny, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder charges. Now and again I run into blog posts that tends to make me want to get started on bloggin myself. FBI video shows agents searching the Cramer Mountain home and finding stacks of cash. JACKSONVILLE, Fla. This month marked 25 years since one of the biggest armored car heists in U.S. history. 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. 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 theyve ever had. 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. Now, at 7:45 p.m., with all the money finally inside the van, his aching muscles could take a breather. The October 4 shift was lasting longer than expected, due to delays involving pickups and deliveries. Ghantt reported to Chambers that his supply of money was running low, but Chambers sent Ghantt just $8,000. This station is part of Cox Media Group Television. Ghantts spending in Mexico was extravagant at first. At that point, Kelly and David had known each other for two years. We dont have the manpower to track all that (restitution) money down I pay (restitution to) thousands of people, but its in drips and drabs., Anybody who gets caught up in the system is getting chewed up by it,, You can garnish wages. "For the first year after a crime," he told her, "they're all over you, with six to ten agents. La vie de David Ghantt n'a rien de compliqu. Chambers had broached the possibility of a robbery to Campbell earlier in the summer. In addition to their extravagant spending, Michelle Chambers made the mistake of loudly asking a bank teller how much cash she could deposit in her account without it being reported to the feds, and then said, its not drug money.. David didn't appreciate her tone. CHARLOTTE If you didnt live in the Charlotte area 25 years ago, you might not believe it. 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. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. A connection between each suspect began to emerge slowly, and as the intensity of spending grew, suspicion did as well. There are many robberies registered in the history of America, but the Loomis Fargo Robbery is known to be the second largest robbery in the United States. The biggest restitution numbers for victims of financial crimes generally involve Ponzi schemes or sweepstakes fraud, not cash thefts. Butcher says the federal courts in the Western District of North Carolina have never handled a case quite like Loomis. To the community, the Loomis Fargo heist was a big joke -- the largest hillbilly caper of all time. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. The Loomis Fargo Heist Over the next months, Ghantt, Campbell, and Chambers developed a plan. In March 1997, after Loomis Fargo & Company has been robbed of $18.8 million in Jacksonville by company security guard Philip Noel Johnson, Steve Eugene Chambers and Kelly Campbell, a former employee of Loomis, decides to rob the company. What that says is, We will never forgive you for what youve done.'. A customs inspector, asking routine questions of bus passengers, focused her attention on him when his answers reminded her of Tommy Flanagan, the pathological-liar character played by Jon Lovitz on Saturday Night Live. >> PHOTOS: The Loomis Fargo heist, 25 years later. I actually loved reading through this post. Ghantt, in order to conserve this money, curtailed his spending. 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 plan to. "So he stays behind and moving over two thousand pounds of . They had to be extremely careful not to tip off the group, as they could lose potential conspirators or more information important to a conviction. them. While Ghantt waited for the heat from the robbery to die down, Chambers would send Ghantt small amounts of money. How he and his wife had trouble communicating. 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. 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. Thank you so much. By using this website, you accept the terms of our Visitor Agreement and Privacy Policy, and understand your options regarding Ad Choices. Except for the kiss in the pickup truck a few weeks before the heist, Kelly had kept things platonic. They knew Steve Chambers had worked as an informant in the past, and were nervous he would smell out an undercover. "Everything's gonna be all right," she told him. White-collar criminals are pretty good at hiding their money, she said. Aprs de nombreux seconds rles comiques au cinma, elle parvient percer en co-crivant et tenant le rle principal de la The Loomis case is another example where the amount of restitution ordered vs. what is actually paid are two dramatically different numbers. Once they were in custody, the overwhelming task of clearing out possessions possibly purchased with the stolen money began. Charlotte Observer"more than a crime story, and one that's worth reading." 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. And after two years, the case is just a file. Steve began talking about wiring money to overseas accounts, and even purchasing a nightclub. The Chambers home is now gated, which means Channel 9 crews cant drive up to it like we used to. Lacking a college degree, he found that his army skills felt meaningless in the 1990s job market. Ghantt, who by then was long out of prison, served as a consultant. 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. Of course, this would all be a radical departure for him, and thoughts of his wife and parents did give him pause. You cannot fine low-income people millions of dollars. The Star-Ledger, 06/15/2015On October 4, 1997, an amateurish gang robbed Loomis, Fargo & Co. in Charlotte, NC of $17 million, the second largest heist in U.S. history. This was several years before the advent of smartphones and the post-9/11 increase in federal surveillance of electronic communications, and public knowledge about this tracking was less widespread. When you have money, you just have different problems: The Loomis Fargo heist, 25 years later. Still facing possible unknowns of other people involved, the FBI needed to gather more information without the suspects getting suspicious of them. Despite being caught on camera wheeling the money from the vault to the getaway van, David Ghantt makes off to Mexico before the FBI can blink. Anybody who gets caught up in the system is getting chewed up by it, the now-retired Gronquist told the Observer. Worlds Biggest Heists London Hatton Garden 200m Diamond Robbery, Easter 2015. Its in the ether. 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. Working by himself, Ghantt would commit the robbery and then flee for Mexico, leaving the bulk of the cash with Chambers. Holding her hands behind her back, Michele Chambers was sentenced Tuesday to seven years and eight months in prison for her role in the $17 million heist from Loomis, Fargo & Co. She was also. One number is working in Campbells favor. Loomis, Fargo offered a $500,000 reward for his arrest and conviction. Jeff Diamant was a reporter for the Charlotte Observer when the heist took place. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. - 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. Twenty years ago this Wednesday, a small group of people stole $17 million in cash from the main vault of a Loomis Fargo & Co. armored-car warehouse in west Charlotte. Meanwhile, Ghantt's gang spent wildly and paid their family members and friends to hide money. 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. Sure to be in demand as the book has been made into a movie, Masterminds, to be released in August.Michael Sawyer, Pine Bluff, AR. Guller was the attorney for Steven Chambers, who came up with the original idea for the Loomis theft. Well they were in some sense celebrities, Gronquist said. David's vision for all of this actually derived more from books than from movies. 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. 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. By using this website, you accept the terms of our Visitor Agreement and Privacy Policy, and understand your options regarding Ad Choices. David Ghantt (Zach Galifianakis), an employee of Loomis Fargo, robbed his own vault, left the $17.3 million in cash with his co-conspirators, Kelly Campbell (Kristen Wiig) and Steve Chambers (Owen Wilson) and fled the country to Mexico. The defendants received sentences ranging from probation for several relatives to over 11 years in federal prison for Steve Chambers. He knew they were nervous outside waiting for him, but he also knew he wouldn't stop stealing until he had taken everything. A woman by the name of Kelly Campbell had worked there in 1996, and she and Ghantt had become friends in that time. After discussing his job, his marriage, and his everyday struggles, they joked about Loomis and about how easy it would be to steal from the place. The corporation handled armored transportation, ATM maintenance and other cash handling services, and had millions of currency stashed in the vault of the North Carolina branch. He added that he would be able to send the trainee home at about 6:00 p.m. and would then need about an hour to load the money from carts, shelves, and the floor into a Loomis company van. It all seemed unfair. The 2016 comedy movie, Masterminds is based on the story of the Loomis Fargo Heist. Federal law stops government collection efforts 20 years after a defendant leaves prison. If we can sit on the money for a year, maybe two, it could work.". As beads of sweat formed under his red hair, he loaded up another cart and repeated the process. she asked. The bizarre true story of the criminals behind the second-largest bank heist in American history. Though Wydra is retired, 25 years ago, he was an agent with the FBI. Some of that money is just gone. As a privately owned web site, we reserve the right to edit or How he felt shorted by life. In this outrageously entertaining book, Jeff Diamant, the Charlotte Observer's lead reporter on the case, offers the definitive inside account of this astonishing. Then, he proceeded to load 2,800 pounds of cash into a van. Thank you! To visit friends.". In 2017, for example, Paul Burks of Lexington was ordered to pay $244 million to the victims of his worldwide Ponzi scheme, Zeek Rewards. He angrily hung up the phone at Loomis, Fargo & Co., his soon-to-be former employer in Charlotte, North Carolina. And Kelly thought he was funny. According to Butcher, Campbells last official payment came in June 2021 when the government appears to have seized a tax refund of $81.24. His collection case closes in two years. 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. At 2:20 p.m., the phone rang; it was Kelly again. The inspiration behind the major motion picture Masterminds starring Zach Galifianakis, Owen Wilson, Kristen Wiig, and Jason Sudeikis! More than 2 million dollars are still missing to this day. He tried again to make the back gate rise, to no avail. 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. But you cant get blood from a stone,, Criminals dont usually get high-paying jobs after leaving prison. The woman on the phone was Kelly Jane Campbell, and David had a mad crush on her. "What would it take to convince you to do it?" She had attitude. Investigators considered Ghantt to be the prime suspect almost from the beginning. She will never get beyond the debt. But what the bank didnt tell Michelle, and Michelle didnt know, was that one of those forms get filled out if you ask about it, or if its close to $10,000 or if they suspect that any part of that transaction is suspicious, Wydra said. Each cart, holding about $2 million, was taking David seven or eight minutes to stack, push, and empty into the van, and there were about eight cartloads' worth in the vault. The $17 million was stolen last Oct. 4 from the armored-car company's vault in Charlotte. He says the Loomis case shows how the criminal justice system and the courts treat lower-income people differently. : The .17 Million Loomis Fargo Theft . Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.. Clear skies. You cannot fine low-income people millions of dollars. 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. He had since held one low-paying job after another. The participants in the heist also spent lavishly on fancy jewelry, fancy cars and breast enhancement surgeries. There are multiples of thousands of these things coming every year. If the American Dream involved being better off as adults than your parents were, David was experiencing a version of the American Nightmare. Michelle Chambers paid off only $27,000. The gang made numerous mistakes. But things didnt quite work out that way. Join thousands already receiving our daily newsletter. When some friends stole a stop sign from a busy intersection, David made them put it back. He and his wife, Michele, moved from theirmobile homeinLincoln Countyto a luxury house in the wealthy Cramer Mountain section ofCramerton. 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. (LogOut/ The plan was still on, but David remained steamed. Winds light and variable. sole discretion of the site administrators and repeat offenders may As it neared its end, David stealthily left the vault door ajar. >> PHOTOS: The Loomis Fargo heist, 25 years later. They also bought aBMW Z3with cash and made several large purchases, including a $600 statue of aNative American. 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. 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. Campbell was released from federal custody in 2004 after serving five years, meaning her collection case will age out in December 2024. They had initially agreed to control their spending for a year or two, in the belief that the government would vigorously track the spending habits of any and all suspects for at least a year before relenting. Kelly Campbell, who one day visited a Toyota dealership to purchase a minivan with twenty-dollar bills. But with Kelly's new idea on the table, several dark realities converged on him. None of the suspects had been in any serious trouble before this. Theres no way to get it back, Butcher told The Charlotte Observer. Steve and Michelle Chambers, who had lived in a mobile home, bought a mansion in Cramer Mountain. Besides her prison sentence, Campbell must undergo mental health and drug treatment and spend two years in a supervised release program. The next day, before Mike was able to leave the country, the FBI arrested him in his hotel room. 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. Two days later, when the FBI found the Loomis Fargo armored van, they discovered almost $3.3 million in cash left in the back of the van; it was later discovered that the thieves had miscalculated the sheer bulk of the small denomination currency, and that they simply left the cash that they could not take with them in the back of the van. Steve was a serious guy? Next month, Payne will back in the Charlotte federal courthouse, this time to be sentenced from weapons and methamphetamine trafficking charges. The FBI was inadvertently aided by the gang members extravagant spending. Criminals dont usually get high-paying jobs after leaving prison. 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Campbell, a mother of two, was in the process of divorcing Accompanying her was Steve Chambers, who, though unemployed, had recently moved . All of the co-defendants were arrested the next day, about six months after the heist. Campbell used to work for Loomis and continued the friendship with Ghantt, eventually hooking him up with Chambers. 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. Booklist "Librariesshould consider purchasing this entertaining and lightly edited version, which reads like a fast-paced novel." Youre supposed to get less time for cooperating, a lesser penalty, and instead, you see what she got hit with. Gronquist said. (John D. Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP). The site features a collection of unexplained, strange and odd mysteries. Yet their lives seemed far easier and better than his. "I've got a friend," she said, "who can hook you up with a new ID.". Curiously, Payne had recently paid of his Visa in one payment and had been driving around new and rented vehicles for the past weeks. Getting that off his chest calmed him some, and the conversation returned to the plan. In all, agents arrested 24 people in the heist. 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. "But you can still have a cigarette.". [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]. The bag held his mobile phone and handgun. Sun, sand and beaches are all part of why Jacksonville is a popular destination. It's still the hot topic . Was the temptation too much? 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. I pay (restitution to) thousands of people, but its in drips and drabs.. 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 went to Mexico leaving the money with his cohorts, thinking that he could get his share back when he needed it. Who was she to be pressuring him? ", "I don't need any more friends," she'd shot back. The FBI heard about the plot and agents knew they could no longer wait. Ms. Campbell worked at Loomis for 11 months, leaving in November 1996, according to court papers. 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. Since Ghantt was the supervisor, he sent his co-worker home first. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Unexplained Mysteries and Strange Things,Cool Interesting stuff has been online since early 2011.