real life kelly campbell loomis fargodavid and kate bagby 2020

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. Not many people can say they stole $17 million from their employer and had Zach Galifianakis play them in a movie. When neighbors asked where they got their money, Steve said hed played in the NFL. Loomis, Fargo offered a $500,000 reward after the theft. He didn't want to abandon his parents. ", "I said, 'If you drive a truck, you're always in a financial bind. 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. Thats pretty standard in restitution matters. The next week, they heard Steve plan to send Mike McKinney to Mexico to kill David Ghantt. Find 145 people named Kelly Loomis along with free Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok profiles on PeekYou - true people search. Question: You went to Mexico. (John D. Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP) The Associated Press, BY MICHAEL GORDON, The Charlotte Observer. The cash was covered with dog food. I would call us friends. He'd stay up all night, boosted by coffee, waiting for the sunrise over the ocean. Gaston County residents remember how that worked out. A woman by the name of Kelly Campbell had worked there in 1996, and she and Ghantt had become friends in that time. If you go from a mobile home to a mansion, that's going to attract attention. ', "He asked me if I'd mind holding some money for him. Thatd be the time to do it, Ghantt recalls. A week later, another informant told the FBI that Eric Payne had quit his job at a printing company soon after the heist and was spending money he probably hadn't earned legally. Restitution is a familiar part of sentencing in federal court. On the evening of October 4, 1997, one man loaded $17.3 million in cash from the vaults of Loomis, Fargo & Co. into the back of a van. 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. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist (No Ratings Yet) . It was an ear-biting, Pierce Brosnan-loving, comet-obsessed world, and were here to relive every minute of it. . Tickle Me Kaczynski: How the Inventor of the Ultimate Elmo Toy Became a Unabomber Suspect, A Highly Questionable Cultural History of Richard Geres Ass Gerbil. Everybody seemed stunned. Hes well thought-out. Ghantt ended up doing more than five years in prison, Chambers did more than 11 years. Basic and voluntary life insurance plan. The authorities didn't know yet how much was missing from the armored-car company, but Steve did. The others, though, went no farther than Cramer Mountain. So I guess I have no regrets. At the Halloween party, though, Kelly gave in to Steve, and agreed it had to be done. Ghantt simply got ready for work one morning knowing it would be his last day on the job. From going fishing to riding horses on the beach the whole nine yards. Things were spiraling fast. Criminals dont usually get high-paying jobs after leaving prison. Question: How much of 'Masterminds' is true? But it was the rural, Southern backgrounds of many of the key players, along with the many botched twists and bungled turns, that led the media to dub it the hillbilly heist.. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist. They put up mauve wallpaper. Down in Jacksonville, a Loomis Fargo employee took $18 million from an armored van he was driving. The FBI now knew Chambers had Loomis cash. Theres less security. If you want me to leave, Ill leave. Then, Ghantt went into another room. From Mexico, David usually spoke with Kelly on the phone once a week, paying with calling cards. This is the person I counted as my friend. Explain? The plan was to split the money three ways: Chambers, Campbell and Ghantt would each walk away with what Ghantt estimated to be $5 million a piece the kind of money that changes lives forever. Theres no way to get it back, Butcher told The Charlotte Observer. And when everybody else voted to kill me, she voted with them, he explains. Field Operations; Corporate; Why Loomis. Chambers, now 32, didn't grant an interview for this article, but last year, in response to written questions, he said the biggest lesson he learned was: "Family is more important and valuable than money. "We're not the type that questions everything people tell us," Floyd said. I couldn't understand why I hadn't been more successful," David said. When he walked onto the plane, he was wearing big, tall cowboy boots, where hed stuffed a majority of the smuggled cash. Scott didn't want to, but then he remembered the hundred-grand payday. The last time he called me, he said, Hey Ghantt, I just saw a big Loomis Fargo truck. In real life: False. If I hadn't done what I did the, the life I have now with my wife and child, I wouldn't have. He recalled that another agent, Phil King, said, "Hey, there was an article in the [Charlotte] Observer about beeper codes. I've got a good woman.". Kelly had no problem fanning the flames of their old flirtation. Because surprise! Purchases included a pool table, jewelry (including a $43,000 diamond ring), a minivan, $20,000 worth of cigars, and the 7,000-square-foot home on the side of Cramer. What made her abandon an ordinary existence to commit this spectacular, doomed crime? If they could just sit on the money until then, he said, they'd be fine. He's a very likable person. At 6-1 and 220 pounds, Steve was stocky and imposing, a fast talker with a brown goatee. In mid-November, McKinney carried $10,000 to Cancun but wound up spending most of it on himself. . By the time the month concluded, the couple had purchased a 7,000-square-foot stone mansion in a gated country club community. Thats nearly $11 million less than former Kings Mountain resident David Ghantt (played by Galifianakis in the film) helped steal from the vault where he worked in Charlotte back in October 1997. Soon thereafter, he met Kelly Campbell, a co-worker at Loomis Fargo. 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. There was a little voice in my head that said, 'Don't do it. 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. Im on the phone with Kelly [Campbell], and Im like, Hey, I really was expecting a package to arrive. Some amateur thieves might turn to movies and TV shows for lessons on criminal behavior. 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 had a four-hour layover there, and then from New Orleans to Cancun.. Ghantt ultimately agreed to the plan, largely, due to a mountain of credit-card debt and in hopes of changing his life for the better. ". His name was Corey. I knew I was going to be the prime suspect. Question: Are you surprised that Hollywood took this on as a movie? 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. . Loomis officials--forced to break into their own vault because David had taken the keys with him--calculated that he had stolen $17,044,000, making the second biggest heist in U.S. history, following the $18.8 million theft of an armored car by another Loomis Fargo employee just six months earlier. 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. Ghantt:I don't think he ever really meant to harm me. About 5:30 the next morning, McKinney knocked on David's door and dropped $8,500 on the bed. . >> 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,. Its in the ether. Is he telling the truth? Anybody who gets caught up in the system is getting chewed up by it, the now-retired Gronquist told the Observer. For her part, Kelly Campbell spent six years in federal prison. They hatched the idea half-jokingly, over a game of Uno, never dreaming they were about to make Bonnie and Clyde look like bottom feeders. Charlotte Magazine even ran a feature story about the Loomis Fargo heist with the title, White Trash Crime. The headlines, however, never bothered Ghantt. Hes going to start bringing you money. Alright. Inside were, along with other personal items, his keys and wedding ring. It's one of the biggest jokes at the place. In early November, Steve lured the real Mike McKinney, an ex-Marine, to North Carolina from his Illinois home. You can reach Kevin Ellis at 704-869-1823 or Twitter.com/TheGazetteKevin. It didnt take the local police long to put the pieces together. And then I could hear her laughing. 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. But former Kings Mountain resident David Scott Ghantt can. Getting restitution, its like pulling teeth.. 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. It was his goodbye. I knew it was just a matter of time. Eric watched. The top-ranked pie in North Carolina doesnt look like pie at all. He had an endearing smile, a beautiful wife and two children. Michele tells me you're in a financial bind. I wish them all a happy life and that's about it. And so, he told her, Google my name. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist. But the idea of all that money pulled at her. Federal prosecutors would ultimately charge 21 defendants in the case, including the Floyds, who were charged with (and pleaded guilty to) money laundering. . He took bus tours of Mayan ruins. Come for the Chumbawamba, and stay for the return of the Mack. The FBI, in fact, obtained the evidence they needed to bring down the major players, including Chambers, after catching them talking about the murder plot on the telephone via wiretap. I mean, cause greed is a funny animal. Hed be in contact. 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. Scott, 26, had a larceny conviction as a teenager, but he'd since cleaned up his act and now had a steady job, a daughter and a girlfriend. "He showed me a lot of money," McKinney said. "I'd been told all my life, money will not make you happy," Kelly said. Agents noticed it two months later when it flowed to them through official channels, along with hundreds of similar reports involving other people. 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. Truth was, David wanted more than help leaving, he wanted company. That week, the FBI designated the theft its 142nd "major case," putting it on a list--begun in the 1970s--that includes such other infamous crimes as the World Trade Center bombing. Exciting. . If you were one of the much-smaller-than-expected group of people who caught Masterminds at the theater this weekend, and are looking for a fact-check of the events depicted on screen, here are some of the highlights of our chat with Diamant. In real life: False. In a word, "Teamwork. . Looking for Kelly Loomis? At the time of the real robbery, Chambers was facing criminal charges hed written 30K worth of bad checks and was facing jail time for it. No dry runs, no rehearsals. Steve bought a truck, a Rolex and a motorboat. But few could have guessed how spectacularly the heist would go wrong after the criminals initially got away with it. Even still, he was 27, married and struggling to provide for his family. The teller, who hadn't asked, filed a "suspicious activity report." He had even scheduled a follow-up appointment at the dentist. On Oct. 5, the Loomis heist celebrates its 25th birthday. David, the international fugitive, lived it up, too--for a while. Kelly drove her pickup to a lot across the street from the Loomis building, on Suttle Avenue in Charlotte. Chambers went from a mobile home in Lincoln County to a mansion in Cramerton. He figured Tammy wouldn't go for it, and though his marriage had been troubled, he wasn't certain he wanted to leave her. Ive never taken offense to anything like that, he tells me. I pay (restitution to) thousands of people, but its in drips and drabs.. The figures can be astounding. Kelly Jane Campbell, a former Loomis employee; Michael L. McKinney . Steven Chambers [Misc. Kelly called David at. At first, I just blended in with the tourists and picked up a few translation books, Ghantt explains. Inside the Mazda, Steve told Scott Grant to get out and help David. 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. Ghantt was in fact hiding out in Mexico using McKinneys I.D., which had been sold to Chambers months earlier. I hope everyone has moved on. I flew from Atlanta to New Orleans. Steve now needed a hit man. Posted on . "I've moved on with my life," he said Tuesday. I didnt pick the heist team. Ghantt was never in Chamberss presence until he actually handed off the money to him. Not until David was gone did Scott realize he didn't know which key to use. About 20 ago, Campbell sent him a letter of apology, but he never responded. "But, I hate to admit it, it doesn't faze me one bit. That sounds like a lot of money until its compared to the $18,930,201.26 the group was ordered to pay. I can take it.". They found Ghantts truck, and in it were his keys, some personal items and his wedding ring. shaka wear graphic tees is candy digital publicly traded ellen lawson wife of ted lawson real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist 25 Feb/23 (No Ratings Yet) David told her he'd need help moving the money, getting a new ID and leaving the country. In real life: Yes and no. I told the lead investigator I was glad to see him.. We spoke to the FBI agents who investigated the case who say the real-life. He went deep-sea fishing. Or is the loot buried in somebody's yard? Ghantt didn't actually meet Chambers until the night of the heist, though, according to Diamant, who would go on to write a book about it.The . . 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. Ghantt:It's kid-friendly, it's family-friendly (the movie is rated PG-13). Kelly Campbell, 29, a former company employee, entered guilty pleas earlier to bank larceny, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder charges. Nah, it was always about the money, he told the agents. David, now 30, says he's sorry he abandoned his wife--who he says still loves him--and his family. 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. She was like, Well, at least you had guts, he says. He para-sailed, power-skied and scuba-dived. At the end of one session, they wound up kissing outside the pickup. So Im like, Can you get a move on with my money? After a couple of weeks passed, I get a phone call from Kelly: Okay, Brunos coming to you, blah, blah, blah. So I get a phone call from this guy, and I tell him where to meet me. Or as he tells me, How many people in the United States havent thought about robbing a bank? Down in Jacksonville, a Loomis Fargo employee took $18 million from an armored van he was driving. Things started to go south the night of the robbery. 1997 Harley-Davidson Road King motorcycle for sale at auction of items bought after Loomis, Fargo armored car facility heist by Steven Chambers, wife Michele, Kelly Jane Campbell & David Scott Ghanntt (Photo by Will And Deni McIntyre/Getty Images) At one point, the hoodlum shows up and Ghantt is wearing a Jerome Bettis Pittsburgh Steelers jersey; the hoodlums favorite team is the Steelers, and he caves and tells Ghantt that McKinney wants him dead. I think I always knew that, but lost my way for a while.". Then another. Thats one of my personality flaws. 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. Alert: Obviously, spoilers abound. 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. 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. Clerk of Court Frank Johns of Charlotte. The agents tapped the phone, and it didnt take long to locate Ghantt after that. 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. Why did this Charlotte engineer leave her job? In the meantime, the FBI was closing in looking to bust a total of 21 suspected accomplices. Here's what Floyd recalls: After two games of pool, Steve told him, "You know, we do a lot of gambling. What that says is, We will never forgive you for what youve done.. Her marriage--at which she was making another ambivalent effort after multiple separations--and even the jobs she'd been able to get with a diploma couldn't come close to providing the kind of life she dreamed about, the life she felt she deserved: a house in the country, a swimming pool, and enough cash so she didn't need to rely on men. 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. In February 1998, the FBI tapped their phones and listened to Steve discuss depositing $2.5 million in the Cayman Islands. I'll never pay it off on my paycheck." It was unclear whether anyone will get that money, authorities said. There, Scott and Eric paced the floor as Steve tried to calm them down. . White-collar criminals are pretty good at hiding their money, she said. 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. Zaron Burnett is an investigative journalist and longform features writer based in Los Angeles. But what did that mean? That led to better jobs, like the one at Loomis. The FBI's final challenge is finding the remaining $2 million. Still, she wasn't happy. 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. Although David was in on most of the planning, one discussion between Steve and Kelly was kept a secret. Question: Do you ever think you could have been killed? 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. Guller was the attorney for Steven Chambers, who came up with the original idea for the Loomis theft. Kelly was no criminal. . He appeared happily matched with his high-spirited wife, Michele, and the two children from her first marriage. Michele told her mother she and Steve had been saving gambling winnings for the down payment. The robbery of some $17 million quickly became one of the wildest bank heists of the last quarter century. Ghantt was missing and no one, not even his wife, knew where he was. 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. And I think that makes it all the more funny, because it really offends my co-defendants. Kelly relayed his message to Steve. Hes very articulate. 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. 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. On Oct. 7, 1997, two FBI agents arrived at Kelly Campbell's home after two Loomis employees had told agents she and David had once dated. The next day, he was sitting next to FBI agent Mark Rozzi on a US Airways flight to Charlotte. Everything came crashing down on an early March morning in 1998. Kelly, using David's cell phone, kept beeping him. Some days, the robbery seems like a memory from a different life, a choice made by a different man. Not Ghantt. Where I was going was right there near the Cayman Islands. After a couple of weeks, Ghantt and the rest of the heist team were ready to strike. And youre like, Come on parachute. 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. Her only brush with the law had been a DUI arrest.

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