real life kelly campbell loomis fargoreal life kelly campbell loomis fargo

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand. She was a wife and mother with two children. Charlotte Magazine even ran a feature story about the Loomis Fargo heist with the title, White Trash Crime. The headlines, however, never bothered Ghantt. 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. In the dark, Scott inserted one key into the back door slot. It was late in 1996. I was expecting her to kick me out of the house., Years later, after they married and had a child together, they watched a movie based on the whole ordeal. For reasons that remain obscure, Robert spilled the beans to David. They placed a bust of Caesar in the dining room. And though she had been made night shift supervisor at Allied Security, she still felt she would never make the money she needed. Cool, I say. First, they loaded the cash into blue 55-gallon barrels, and then they moved the barrels into a rental van. I can take it.". Ghantt was the vault manager and was surrounded. I mean, it was dark, Ghantt explains. Did you get paid? Michelle Chambers received seven years and eight months, while Steve Chambers was handed an 11-year sentence. At the end of one session, they wound up kissing outside the pickup. In that time, I realized most of my problems were because of me. 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. When Chambers and the two Erics were done loading the stolen millions into barrels, they abandoned the van in the woods. 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.. At first, David Ghantt said, "I didn't take her seriously. Ghantt was in fact hiding out in Mexico using McKinneys I.D., which had been sold to Chambers months earlier. Im on the phone with Kelly [Campbell], and Im like, Hey, I really was expecting a package to arrive. He'd even bragged that he'd killed people. Hed be in contact. Campbell, 29, had pleaded guilty to charges of bank larceny, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder. But what did that mean? Thats pretty standard in restitution matters. Kelly, using David's cell phone, kept beeping him. This story was originally published October 3, 2016, 9:12 PM. Ghantt:Since I still owe the federal government money I can't get paid. Back in North Carolina, Ghantts former accomplices were living high on the hog. "He showed me a lot of money," McKinney said. That was the most painful truth to come to. I've got a good woman.". 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. Campbell was released from federal custody in 2004 after serving five years, meaning her collection case will age out in December 2024. Chambers never held Campbell hostage by locking her in a shed on his property. They entered their dogs in fights and watched them die. . He's a very likable person. Clerk of Court Frank Johns of Charlotte. The next day, Kelly drove back to Steve's mobile home to watch the news with Steve and Michele. "But I had to know.". 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. Back then, it was one of the hotspots for hiding money. Ghantt planned to live off the interest for the rest of his life. More agents waited outside to arrest them. 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. Question: Any contact with Steve Chambers or any of the others involved with the heist? how to match 8 hypercubes in bejeweled. He had even scheduled a follow-up appointment at the dentist. But the idea of all that money pulled at her. On his way out, he grabbed the surveillance video, hoping to cover his tracks. I don't blame him.". Working together, they got the gate open, then drove in a caravan to the Reynolds & Reynolds parking lot. He didnt even really question me. "Things I always wanted to do, but never had the time or the money," he said. When McKinney arrived in North Carolina, the plan had changed. I flew from Atlanta to New Orleans. Kelly's company. There was a little voice in my head that said, 'Don't do it. After a Gulf War stint in the Army, David got married in 1992. Its hilarious. And robbing a truck was dangerous. A version of this story originally appeared on CharlotteObserver.com. Was that really what it was about? I wanted to get as far away as I could. Kelly says she underestimated the value of her life before the heist. 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. ". Scott was so nervous, he said, that he couldn't help. The first weekday after the heist, Michele Chambers, co-conspirator Steve's wife, walked into a NationsBank branch with a briefcase containing $5,000. They tried to break the van's bulletproof windows. Though David had no criminal experience, he felt he could offer expert advice: He'd just finished reading a book on the FBI. Once in a lifetime, Murdaugh verdict sends a Lowcountry message: No one is above the law | Opinion, Charlotte Waffle House found with live roach, unclean equipment during health inspection. When he finished, the van was filled with $17 million. 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. Ghantt:I've burned that bridge years ago. Thatd probably been the best thing for me to do, really. The Columbia airport had no available flights. The phone rang: Kelly had a problem. I knew I was going to be the prime suspect. In real life: False. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. If I hadn't done what I did the, the life I have now with my wife and child, I wouldn't have. Scary. Records show the government has garnished his Social Security checks. David, now 30, says he's sorry he abandoned his wife--who he says still loves him--and his family. By then Id figured out that Bruno was up to no good, and that Id probably never seen any more of my money. It wouldn't work, Kelly told him. As you probably know, it's loosely based on the Loomis Fargo heist in Charlotte back in the late nineties. It wasn't known whether anyone would receive it. It changes you. The others sat in their cars across the street and watched him struggle to open the heavy gate. A woman by the name of Kelly Campbell had worked there in 1996, and she and Ghantt had become friends in that time. ", "I said, 'If you drive a truck, you're always in a financial bind. About 5:30 the next morning, McKinney knocked on David's door and dropped $8,500 on the bed. Soon thereafter, he met Kelly Campbell, a co-worker at Loomis Fargo. I hit the local library the thing that we used to do before Google, Ghantt says with a small laugh. Copyright 2022 TheAssociated Press. . In real life: False. 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. Federal law stops government collection efforts 20 years after a defendant leaves prison. Until, that is, he decided to hell with it he was going to pull-off the second largest heist in U.S. history. Steve had already paid McKinney $50,000 for the use of his ID. Many of the lesser players in the conspiracy have been the most effective in paying their debts. She never really worried about the moral end of it--she was focused only on getting what she wanted out of life, what so many others seemed to have in this booming part of the South. David thought about it. Is he telling the truth? She also assured the teller her cash wasn't drug money. What concerned her was the chance of getting caught. Then another. Steve tried keys on a side door. To protect themselves, David and Steve didn't meet or talk. He went deep-sea fishing. They found Ghantts truck, and in it were his keys, some personal items and his wedding ring. Still, she wasn't happy. Scott didn't want to, but then he remembered the hundred-grand payday. 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. Scott Grant and Steve pulled up next to her in a Mazda. Theres no way to get it back, Butcher told The Charlotte Observer. At first, I just blended in with the tourists and picked up a few translation books, Ghantt explains. But because David's relationship with his Loomis bosses had been rocky, he says, he doesn't feel sorry about what he did to the company. Hes going to start bringing you money. Alright. Best States is an interactive platform developed by U.S. News for ranking the 50 U.S. states, alongside news analysis and daily reporting. So yeah, Im kind of proud of it.. . Gaston County residents remember how that worked out. Ghantt pulled out $50,000 from the back of the unmarked Loomis Fargo van. One day, Campbell was speaking to an old friend named Steve Chambers. 2500 City West Blvd., Suite 2300 Houston, TX 77042. Chambers did hire McKinney to kill Ghantt, but initially McKinney was making personal cash deliveries to Ghantt in Mexico on behalf of Chambers. The top-ranked pie in North Carolina doesnt look like pie at all. They bought a BMW roadster. I had to go in there and tell her the whole story, and she was real cool about it. That's the kind of movie they wanted to make. His collection case closes in two years. 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. Just under $14 million sat in an outbuilding behind his home, inside blue steel barrels. They paid for all of it in cash. Kelly drove her pickup to a lot across the street from the Loomis building, on Suttle Avenue in Charlotte. 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 . She could spend time with her children and parents. Now that Kelly believes she has found Jesus, she has become more analytical about her past. 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. Careers. They picked me, he says with a rueful tone. She asked about the limit for a cash deposit before "paperwork" was required. I pay (restitution to) thousands of people, but its in drips and drabs.. Only a nickel on every dollar have been collected so far. There are multiples of thousands of these things coming every year. These (Loomis) guys, not so much.. ", "I wouldn't do it. "I felt that if I didn't do something, I was going to snap," David said. "She said, 'What would it take to convince you to do it?' Mine did. How Bridgerton restarted buzz about her ancestry. 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. David told her he'd need help moving the money, getting a new ID and leaving the country. 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. I hear her typing. In early December, Steve and Michele invited relatives to their daughter's sixth birthday party. Will Vin Sant Leave You Jacked or Scammed? Why fans love it. The bizarre true story of the criminals behind the second-largest bank heist in American history. 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. You're an idiot.'". 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 had been no signs. He had an endearing smile, a beautiful wife and two children. About 5:45 a.m., he got into his pickup and began the 45-minute drive to work in Charlotte. Ghantt: My cut was supposed to be about $5 million, but that's not what I ended up with. . By the time the month concluded, the couple had purchased a 7,000-square-foot stone mansion in a gated country club community. Dental plans . In real life: False. About the same time, Kelly and McKinney received phone calls from agents who told them to open their doors. The Loomis case is another example where the amount of restitution ordered vs. what is actually paid are two dramatically different numbers. [Kelly] told me, 'Just think about it.' "Think of how many women would have stood by. . 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. Steve Chambers has told agents the missing cash was stolen from a shed in Lincoln County. I had a four-hour layover there, and then from New Orleans to Cancun.. 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. Kelly relayed his message to Steve. The Loomis Fargo Bank Robbery was the $17.3 million cash robbery of the Charlotte, North Carolina, regional office vault of Loomis Fargo & Company on the evening of October 4, 1997, by armored car driver and vault supervisor David Scott Ghantt. The next day, he was sitting next to FBI agent Mark Rozzi on a US Airways flight to Charlotte. The barrels were Steves idea, Ghantt says. He appeared happily matched with his high-spirited wife, Michele, and the two children from her first marriage. And I knew that by that time, Id be in Cancun no matter what. Things started to go south the night of the robbery. They discussed it further, and Campbell asked him when they should do it. 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. That was great. Ghantt went on to explain that he left for his flight to Mexico with about $25,000, and that two or three deliveries of extra money was made to him by the man Chambers would pay to kill him. He gave the rest to Kelly. The figures can be astounding. Campbell, a mother of two, was in the process of divorcing her. 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. Its kind of like that. 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.. "A lot of people out there had it worse than me, but . 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. "We're not the type that questions everything people tell us," Floyd said. When McKinney realized Ghantt was wanted for the Loomis Fargo robbery, he backed off personally because he didnt want to be anywhere near a federal investigation. Key benefit components include: Health insurance plans. 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. . You can seize property. It affects everybody different. In Florida, a Loomis Fargo employee had pulled a gun on his coworkers and gotten away with $18 million, a move that FBI agents theorize Ghantt, Campbell and other employees all sat around talking about - and what they would do with that amount of money - for a while. This was in the 1990s the Columbia Airport back then was closed at around 9:30, 10 oclock. And to me, if it pisses them off, Im all for it.. Ghantt started at Loomis Fargo in 1994, and soon worked his way up from an armored car driver to a vault supervisor. . But few could have guessed how spectacularly the heist would go wrong after the criminals initially got away with it. A third tape he didn't know about kept recording. "But, I hate to admit it, it doesn't faze me one bit. No dry runs, no rehearsals. Steve bought a truck, a Rolex and a motorboat. Question: Should people go see this movie? Agents began picking up signs that David definitely had help: The abandoned Loomis van with $3.3 million in small bills still inside, and phone records showing that somebody beeped him while he stole the money, using David's own cell phone. 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. Then another. On Nov. 12, a confidential informant told the FBI about Steve Chambers's move from mobile home to mansion. If you go from a mobile home to a mansion, that's going to attract attention. He couldn't talk.". David kissed his sleeping wife on the cheek on the morning of Oct. 4. Filming in the Asheville area starting in early July, and is. 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 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. There were times when I drank really heavily.". "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. That was pretty awesome., It felt like a dream vacation until he started running out of money. Looking for Kelly Loomis? Hes well thought-out. . He says the Loomis case shows how the criminal justice system and the courts treat lower-income people differently. 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 they've ever had. The audacity of the act was breathtaking. "He was in tears. Where I was going was right there near the Cayman Islands. Exhibit A was that Steve had no steady job but plenty of cash. 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. Steve led the planning. I learned something that was valuable at the time: Most criminals never leave a 250, maybe 300-mile circle from their home base. Alert: Obviously, spoilers abound. On his second trip, Steve gave McKinney David's hotel address. 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) His wife, Tammy, was as shocked as Loomis officials. (The conversation was depicted as 100 percent private on screen). ". They didn't know it, but they were leaving $3.3 million behind. She also must . Here's what Floyd recalls: After two games of pool, Steve told him, "You know, we do a lot of gambling. (John D. Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP), Police: Officer Who Shot Black Man Retired 'In Bad Standing', 3 Kansas City Officers Who Were Shot Released From Hospital, 1 Killed When Business Jet Encounters Severe Turbulence. 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. In the meantime, the FBI was closing in looking to bust a total of 21 suspected accomplices. Chambers and Campbell were waiting for him in the Loomis Fargo parking lot, both in separate vehicles. He then began loading $17 million in unmarked bills inside a company van before driving away. But after a year, they'll cut it down to two agents. 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. The FBI now knew Chambers had Loomis cash. (John D. Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP) The Associated Press, BY MICHAEL GORDON, The Charlotte Observer. There was a third person with them, too, a man named Eric Grant. Or is the loot buried in somebody's yard? He comes to my door, and hes got a brown paper bag in his hand. Theres less security. You have to remember that it's Hollywood and they'll take what was a minor event and they'll blow it up and make it as funny as they can.". As with Kelly, the worst blotch on 29-year-old Eric's record until now was a driving-while-intoxicated conviction. 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.. Steve told me to tell [David] whatever was necessary to keep him happy.". 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. They loaded the wine cellar with Pabst Blue Ribbon, and Steve hung a velvet portrait of Elvis Presley in the basement. Yes, happy. There it was, "The Heist." The number of people involved had ballooned after Steve started asking friends and family to help him launder the stolen cash. He realized that if they met the minimum monthly payments, the bill would take 30 years to pay. In early November, Steve lured the real Mike McKinney, an ex-Marine, to North Carolina from his Illinois home. When October 1997 began, Steve and Michelle Chambers lived in a double-wide trailer. At the time, it was the largest cash heist in history. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist seeing a woodpecker after someone dies lectomano que significa. Im a very deliberate person. >> 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,. Theres no management around. Ghantt:I don't think he ever really meant to harm me. We spoke with the inside man, David Ghantt, to get the real story. Ghantt:We're both North Carolina boys so we had a lot to talk about from the very beginning. On March 1, David Ghantt left his hotel to do some laundry. Inside the Mazda, Steve told Scott Grant to get out and help David. And after two years, you're just a file." 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." Now, I kind of know something is fishy., Alone in Mexico with limited cash, Ghantt thought about turning himself in. He learned to parachute. They put up mauve wallpaper. Ghantt was working as a vault supervisor for Loomis Fargo in Charlotte in 1997, earning about $8 an hour and tired of his humdrum life. Steve now needed a hit man. I really enjoyed the little scuba diving trip. Loomis, Fargo offered a $500,000 reward after the theft. The pager entry was 1-4-3. They cursed. Some family members hid money in bank deposit boxes, other friends were asked to mule cash to the Cayman Islands. After a couple of weeks, Ghantt and the rest of the heist team were ready to strike. In the following months, Steve persisted, even floating the notion of placing phony hand grenades on a Loomis truck to scare away the drivers, Kelly said. When he walked onto the plane, he was wearing big, tall cowboy boots, where hed stuffed a majority of the smuggled cash. Things were spiraling fast. Dependent care account. Question: You were a consultant? 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.. Why had he ever believed he'd get it? Kelly called David at Loomis; he told her he'd be ready for them with the cash at 6:30 or 7 p.m. Alone in the building, David was trying to finish loading cash from the vault into an unmarked white Ford Econoline van belonging to Loomis. And when everybody else voted to kill me, she voted with them, he explains. Kelly Jane Campbell, a former Loomis employee; Michael L. McKinney . Instead of lobster, the man who stole $17 million survived on home-cooked pasta and grilled cheese sandwiches. Ultimately, though, the heist wasnt Ghantts idea, which meant he didnt decide who else was involved. In real life: False. . They also left behind a life-changing fortune in small bills $3.3 million in fives and ones that they overlooked and the two videotapes that Ghantt had pulled from the security cameras at the bank. His collection case, which closes in November 2026, got credit for the couples $540,000 house on Cramer Mountain in Gaston County, Butcher says. Michele told her mother she and Steve had been saving gambling winnings for the down payment. 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. I knew that the news wouldnt break until later that morning. Besides her prison sentence . Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Posted on . That October, the Chamberses' bank accounts ballooned. You might as well go all the way now.". I couldn't understand why I hadn't been more successful," David said. Ghantt ended up doing more than five years in prison, Chambers did more than 11 years. 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. 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. The plan to rob Loomis Fargo was spawned by Campbell and her friend Steve Chambers, during a casual bonfire at Chambers' home.

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