loomis fargo heist kelly campbelldavid and kate bagby 2020

The friend was Steve Chambers, and Kelly said he knew his way around the world of crime. Steve had hired a bodyguard named Mike McKinney. It just happened to fall on my desk.. Join thousands already receiving our daily newsletter. The FBI says Chambers hired a hitman to tie up the ultimate loose end -- Ghantt. Its in the ether. The woman on the phone was Kelly Jane Campbell, and David had a mad crush on her. Ms. Campbell worked at Loomis for 11 months, leaving in November 1996, according to court papers. Yet their lives seemed far easier and better than his. Later, they also arrested Nathans older brother. 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. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.. Clear skies. 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. Discover the truth behind unexplained ancient mysteries, UFO mysteries, secret locations and paranormal events. NASCAR. So the original gang was all totally shocked, Wydra said. How many people have walked the red carpet at a movie premiere in a case that was yours?. He realized his life wouldn't improve unless he did something drastic. Now and again I run into blog posts that tends to make me want to get started on bloggin myself. LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Is this really about the needs of the poor? All but one of the defendants pleaded guilty. 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. EDITORIAL: Computer Science misses the need for digital literacy, N. Carolina legislators announce Medicaid expansion deal, EDITORIAL: Fighting political forces that sever family ties, Special-use to get overhaul: Commissioners, planners take a look, Cape Carteret seeking new police chief one month after hiring New Bern resident for post, How many in North Carolina are awaiting student loan debt relief? Then they returned it. 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. CHARLOTTE (AP) During one overnight shift, a bumbling conspiracy of thieves just west of Charlotte stole more than $17 million from Loomis Fargo. 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. His collection case, which closes in November 2026, got credit for the couples $540,000 house on Cramer Mountain in Gaston County, Butcher says. she asked again. A more immediate need was securing help to move the stolen money to safety the night of the crime. He was a hard worker, smart enough, and had graduated from high school. : The .17 Million Loomis Fargo Theft . He worked close-by to where the van and over $3 million dollars had been ditched, and was friends with Steve Chambers. 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.. These (Loomis) guys, not so much.. The figures can be astounding. "Are you serious?" Thats pretty standard in restitution matters. The plan was still on, but David remained steamed. Steve was a serious guy? Unexplained Mysteries - owned by Aliens since 2011. From my standpoint, it was just a business deal, Ghantt said. But if you did, youll never forget it. He played high school football at Mays High School in Atlanta, and college football at Georgia Tech . 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. Butcher says the federal courts in the Western District of North Carolina have never handled a case quite like Loomis. 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. How he and his wife had trouble communicating. He called Kelly to say he was coming and hopped into the driver's seat of the loaded Loomis van. Campbell was released from federal custody in 2004 after serving five years, meaning her collection case will age out in December 2024. The gang made numerous mistakes. "its a great readsuspenseful, often funny, just the thing for those wondering what it might feel like to have, as these hapless, small-town criminals did, literally too darn much cash lying around. " 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. A woman by the name of Kelly Campbell had worked there in 1996, and she and Ghantt had become friends in that time. 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. Current price is $11.49, Original price is $14.99. 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. 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. Campbell used to work for Loomis and continued the friendship with Ghantt, eventually hooking him up with Chambers. Uh-oh, it looks like your Internet Explorer is out of date. One day, Campbell was speaking to an old friend named Steve Chambers. Ghantt took $50,000 for himself and fled to Cozumel, Mexico. Fourteen defendants were ordered to make restitution payments to Loomis Fargo totaling almost $19 million. CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Kelly Campbell, the woman who helped plan the $17 million robbery of armored-car company Loomis, Fargo was sentenced yesterday to nearly six years in prison and ordered to. Its a once-in-a-lifetime thing, and I went down and talked to them, got to meet Zach Galifianakis and the director, Ghantt said. David and the trainee left the warehouse. 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. 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. ", "I don't need any more friends," she'd shot back. The government does not run debtors prisons, says U.S. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. Their most important conversation occurred one afternoon in August 1997 after Kelly paged him at work. Diamant, a journalist who reported on the case at the time, goes into meticulous detail on how the heist was pulled off and its aftermath. Probably very egotistical of me, I thought, Yeah, sure, I can beat them, theyre college smart and thats about it, Ghantt said. Chambers had broached the possibility of a robbery to Campbell earlier in the summer. 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. 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. 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. Then 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, Wydra said. 2023 Cox Media Group. So the pieces were falling into place for investigators. 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. Winds light and variable. Many of the lesser players in the conspiracy have been the most effective in paying their debts. They also found several stacks of money with Loomis bands still attached throughout all the homes searched. Ghantt met up with the other members of the plot and offloaded the cash. Well she was a pretty happy-go-lucky person, he said. Not all of them, but some of them are going to forgive you, theyre going to overlook it., he said. How he felt shorted by life. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. of violence, racism, anti-Semitism, or 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. Driving away, he said he felt a mix of fear, confidence and excitement that he outsmarted the FBI. He is a graduate of Yale and has worked for the Connecticut Post, the Associated Press, and the Palm Beach Post. Ghantt didnt know the full extent of what was happening back home -- how that lay low plan turned into a flurry of extravagant spending. 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. "Just think about it," she said. Theres no way to get it back, Butcher told The Charlotte Observer. Twenty people were convicted of roles big and small in the massive 1997 armored-car warehouse heist in west Charlotte. 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. 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. 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. Except for the kiss in the pickup truck a few weeks before the heist, Kelly had kept things platonic. 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. Jim Gronquist was Campbells defense attorney. Steve Chambers would keep the rest. The towns booming construction industry attracts workers from around the country. Ghantt, his former co-worker Kelly Campbell and her friends Steve and Michelle Chambers carried out the Loomis Fargo heist on Oct. 4, 1997. He and his wife, Michele, moved from theirmobile homeinLincoln Countyto a luxury house in the wealthy Cramer Mountain section ofCramerton. If it didn't work out, he could return to the United States later with a new identity. 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. They also purchased expensive cars, jewelry and a breast enhancement or two. None of the suspects had been in any serious trouble before this. 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. His collection case closes in two years. Ghantt studied how to rob his employer and advised the others not to spend the money lavishly. "For the first year after a crime," he told her, "they're all over you, with six to ten agents. Money. Learn about careers at Cox Media Group. The money weighed as much as a compact car and he did it all by himself. >> PHOTOS: The Loomis Fargo heist, 25 years later. Its attracted workers like Ghantt. Even with several vehicles, they underestimated how much space they would need and they had to leave $3 million behind. Javascript is not enabled in your browser. And with Loomis, were looking at only one case. The 2016 comedy movie, Masterminds is based on the story of the Loomis Fargo Heist. They swept the surrounding counties, locating Kelly Campbell and Eric Payne in their homes. Another name the FBI had become very interested in is Eric Payne. JACKSONVILLE, Fla. This month marked 25 years since one of the biggest armored car heists in U.S. history. Curiously, Payne had recently paid of his Visa in one payment and had been driving around new and rented vehicles for the past weeks. Since then, there have been numerous articles, books, documentaries and even a movie about this gang -- the gang that couldnt shoot straight. Available on Compatible NOOK Devices and the free NOOK Apps. After hanging up on her, David returned to work. 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.. Guller was the attorney for Steven Chambers, who came up with the original idea for the Loomis theft. For example, Steve Chambers and his wife were living in a. I gotta go.". >> PHOTOS: The Loomis Fargo heist, 25 years later. There was no reason to leave anything, he felt. He waffled on the heist idea three or four times from late August to mid-September. It wasn't how much you stole that mattered most; it was that you had stolen in the first place. : The $17 Million Loomis Fargo Theft. These cookies do not store any personal information. Lacking a college degree, he found that his army skills felt meaningless in the 1990s job market. Butcher says the federal courts in the Western District of North Carolina have never handled a case quite like Loomis. David didn't appreciate her tone. Meanwhile, Ghantt's gang spent wildly and paid their family members and friends to hide money. The unsolved crime mystery of Marilyn Sheppard. For people earning $8.15 an hour David's salary the jokes came naturally. That was taking the long view. Temptation to do something that you think you normally wouldnt do can change a lot of minds when its that kind of cash, and thats what it was., (WATCH BELOW: VIDEO: The Loomis Fargo heist: 25 years later). To the community, the Loomis Fargo heist was a big joke -- the largest hillbilly caper of all time. They also bought aBMW Z3with cash and made several large purchases, including a $600 statue of aNative American. 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. Michelle Chambers paid off only $27,000. 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. Aprs de nombreux seconds rles comiques au cinma, elle parvient percer en co-crivant et tenant le rle principal de la It was released in 2016 and Wydra was invited to the premiere. Investigators considered Ghantt to be the prime suspect almost from the beginning. In his youth, his mother had taken him to Sears and JCPenney, but as a man he shopped at Walmart, and while he knew there was nothing wrong with that, he wished he could afford more. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. 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. In 2017, for example, Paul Burks of Lexington was ordered to pay $244 million to the victims of his worldwide Ponzi scheme, Zeek Rewards. 2023 Cox Media Group. 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. She will never get beyond the debt. But you cant get blood from a stone,, Criminals dont usually get high-paying jobs after leaving prison. Booklist "Librariesshould consider purchasing this entertaining and lightly edited version, which reads like a fast-paced novel." He angrily hung up the phone at Loomis, Fargo & Co., his soon-to-be former employer in Charlotte, North Carolina. In addition, he also rented Mike his own apartment, paid him $400/weekly and bought him a gun. 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. 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. Thirty years! In one case, the restitution for a Loomis defendant may be a moving target. 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. You have permission to edit this article. 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. High around 65F. be blocked or permanently banned without warning. FBI video shows the agency searching that home and finding drawers full of cash. But you cant get blood from a stone, Johns said. remove comments that contain spam, advertising, vulgarity, threats Oh were not going to talk to anybody, theyre not going to be able to convict us, that bravado happens in the beginning and then it often gets worn down by the reality, Gronquist said. La vie de David Ghantt n'a rien de compliqu. 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. Husband and wife Steven and Michelle Chambers, whose conspicuous consumption of a luxury home, a BMW convertible, breast implants and a $600 wooden Indian, among other purchases, helped the FBI solve the crime, were assessed $3.81 million and $4.8 million, respectively. "I was unhappy with my life. The van used to move the money was later located a few miles from the warehouse. Once they were in custody, the overwhelming task of clearing out possessions possibly purchased with the stolen money began. She will never get beyond the debt. In total, 24 people were convicted and all but one of the accused pleaded guilty. Records show the government has garnished his Social Security checks. The defendants received sentences ranging from probation for several relatives to over 11 years in federal prison for Steve Chambers. The actual crime itself required none of Hollywood's imagination. Its in the ether. A parrot tattoo on her right ankle. In the grand scheme of things, the prison sentence for stealing $20 million wouldn't be much worse than for stealing just $500,000 maybe a few extra years behind bars. Then, he proceeded to load 2,800 pounds of cash into a van. He has been a staff writer for the Star-Ledger in New Jersey since 2000. The government does not run debtors prisons, says U.S. While David Ghantt trusted Steve Chambers enough to leave his cut behind, Chambers had other plans. This station is part of Cox Media Group Television. He and Tammy could have one or two meals each week that he really liked, but the rest were hot dogs or Hamburger Helper. First, they tapped the Chambers phone, and began listening in on February 11th, 1998. Thats pretty standard in restitution matters. FBI video shows agents searching the Cramer Mountain home and finding stacks of cash. LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Remember why you were elected! You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Charlotte Observer"more than a crime story, and one that's worth reading." document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ). 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. There's just one hitch: Ghantt has entrusted the money to an oddball crew of accomplices who had wooed him into committing this massive theft in the first placeand who, he soon learns, are trying to take him out. But after a year, they cut it down to two agents. 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. 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. So that was kind of like this once-in-a-lifetime thing, Wydra said. 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. LETTER TO THE EDITOR: But where will they park? Soon thereafter, he met Kelly Campbell, a co-worker at Loomis Fargo. LeVaughn Kelly Campbell (born July 23, 1980 in Atlanta, Georgia) is a former football wide receiver. The $17 million Loomis Fargo heist in Charlotte, North Carolina, was the second largest armored car robbery in U.S. history. 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.. Burks was also ordered to serve 15 years in prison, limiting his ability to balance his books. Working by himself, Ghantt would commit the robbery and then flee for Mexico, leaving the bulk of the cash with Chambers. Criminals dont usually get high-paying jobs after leaving prison. 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. All but one took plea deals, including Ghantt, who was sentenced to seven years in prison. He knew it would mean leaving Tammy. 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 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. Ghantts spending in Mexico was extravagant at first. You can have your whole career and not have a case like that. Ghantt, in order to conserve this money, curtailed his spending. Steve and Michelle Chambers, who had lived in a mobile home, bought a mansion in Cramer Mountain. The stated plan was for her to move to Mexico to be with him after the theft. If the American Dream involved being better off as adults than your parents were, David was experiencing a version of the American Nightmare. There are multiples of thousands of these things coming every year. Cool interesting stuff features everything odd, weird, bizzare, strange or unusual. There was a book published in 2002 as well, by author Jeff Diamant called,Heist! What that says is, We will never forgive you for what youve done.'. VERDICT The first edition of this work was published in 2002. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. In the movie: Campbell invites Ghantt to a restaurant under the auspices of a date, but then springs the idea of the heist on him, as Chambers and two associates join the conversation from an . (LogOut/ personal/abusive/condescending attacks on other users or goading It should have been easy, but for some reason the gate didn't open for him. 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.. Loomis Fargo heist: 25 years later While David Ghantt trusted Steve Chambers enough to leave his cut behind, Chambers had other plans. Im married, I got one girl, shes 15 going on 30. There are multiples of thousands of these things coming every year. He put on his best pair of jeans, a button-down shirt, and his nicest cowboy boots. The building was configured so vans could drive inside and pull up next to the vault. David placed their odds of success at 85 percent, a confidence inspired by faith not just in his planning but also in his feelings for Kelly. Anybody who gets caught up in the system is getting chewed up by it, the now-retired Gronquist told the Observer. ", Johnson said, "Yeah, that's it. Why do we feel its so necessary to treat people like this, to say, OK, well just ruin the rest of your life because you made a bad decision., Punishment should not last a lifetime. In Gastonia, David would run into high-school classmates who had never struck him as especially smart. Steve decided to send his cousin, Nathan with money down to Mexico as a ruse, while Mike the bodyguard would follow behind to take care of Ghantt. He allegedly hired a hitman to take Ghantt out, tying up the ultimate loose end. David's share would be sent to Mexico, where he planned to hide and where he expected Kelly to join him. The Loomis case is another example where the amount of restitution ordered vs. what is actually paid are two dramatically different numbers. 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. David Scott Ghantt, his former co-worker Kelly Campbell and her friends Steve and Michelle Chambers carried out the Loomis Fargo heist on Oct. 4, 1997. But things didnt quite work out that way. Authorities were notified of the robbery in the morning, when employees couldnt open the vault. What purpose does that serve other than to denigrate that person into abject poverty?. The inspiration behind the major motion picture Masterminds starring Zach Galifianakis, Owen Wilson, Kristen Wiig, and Jason Sudeikis!

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