Michelle Chambers received a few more months than Ghantt, because she had violated several bond conditions. 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. But things didnt quite work out that way. Ghantt had fled to Mexico with $50,000 in cash, leaving the rest of the money with Steve Chambers. He added that money can be a motivator for anyone. CHARLOTTE If you didnt live in the Charlotte area 25 years ago, you might not believe it. 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. Punishment needs to be fair and realistic. There are multiples of thousands of these things coming every year. "I don't have time to mess with you. The woman on the phone was Kelly Jane Campbell, and David had a mad crush on her. 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. Chambers had no intention of wiring any money to Ghantt and intended to have him killed to keep him from implicating the others. He deserved better. To the community, the Loomis Fargo heist was a big joke -- the largest hillbilly caper of all time. His collection case closes in two years. "So he stays behind and moving over two thousand pounds of . It, too, has changed hands several times. SEVEN NABBED IN CHARLOTTE HEIST\ - Greensboro News and Record More than half of the amount came from the seizure of a luxury home purchased by husband-and-wife defendants during their post-heist spending spree. Youre supposed to get less time for cooperating, a lesser penalty, and instead, you see what she got hit with. Gronquist said. By using this website, you accept the terms of our Visitor Agreement and Privacy Policy, and understand your options regarding Ad Choices. The friend was Steve Chambers, and Kelly said he knew his way around the world of crime. 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. >> 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.. The woman on the phone was Kelly Jane Campbell, and David had a mad crush on her. 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. Learn about careers at Cox Media Group. After hanging up on her, David returned to work. Moving the money into the van quickly proved an onerous task. 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. Perry identified the other six people arrested as Steve and Michelle Chambers; Kelly Jane Campbell, a former Loomis employee; Michael L. McKinney; Thomas Nathan Grant; and Eric Haley Payne.. 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. One number is working in Campbells favor. And once he started, he didn't stop with one cartful. He hired a hitman to take Ghantt out, tying up the ultimate loose end. Paying the money back has taken a lot longer, and time is running out for the U.S. government to collect. David didn't appreciate her tone. "I'm busy," he said. She had previously been making frequent small deposits to avert suspicion. David knew this was important from having followed the recent news about a Florida man who had brazenly committed the biggest heist from an armored-car company in United States history, a loner named Philip Noel Johnson, who also had worked for Loomis. The True Story of David Ghantt and the Loomis Fargo Heist - PrepScholar He would then have the bulk of his share sent south of the border. FBI video shows agents searching the Cramer Mountain home and finding stacks of cash. FBI video shows the agency searching that home and finding drawers full of cash. 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.. 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. She will never get beyond the debt. In the parking lot, David sat in his pickup truck smoking a cigarette and waving good-bye as the trainee drove home. Investigators considered Ghantt to be the prime suspect almost from the beginning. (LogOut/ David and the trainee left the warehouse. Hed never really been in trouble, he wasnt a career criminal, said retired FBI agent John Wydra. 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. true story that has captivated American audiences on the news and now on the big screen in the major motion picture, Masterminds. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. 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. 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. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist - molecularrecipes.com Steve's a serious guy.". ALSO READ: 14-year-old boy robbed at gunpoint while waiting for bus in east. Loomis Fargo defendants owe as much as they stole in 1997 It was the second-largest. They didnt expect it.. 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. The unfairness gnawed at him, stirred by Kelly's questions. I actually loved reading through this post. 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. In order to receive more evidence, the FBI decided to listen. 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. Anybody who gets caught up in the system is getting chewed up by it, the now-retired Gronquist told the Observer. But you cant get blood from a stone,, 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. "Don't back out on us. From my standpoint, it was just a business deal, Ghantt said. 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. 'When you have money, you just have different problems': The Loomis So the pieces were falling into place for investigators. Thats pretty standard in restitution matters. Ghantt took $50,000 for himself and fled to Cozumel, Mexico. There was a book published in 2002 as well, by author Jeff Diamant called,Heist! A couple by the names of Steve and Shelley Chambers also became people of interest in the investigation due to their extreme sudden increase in spending. Afterward, everything became comical. And if that gives people out there a little bit of hope, then Ive served my purpose on this earth.. Ghantt met up with the other members of the plot and offloaded the cash. Outside of the building, Ghantt met up with Campbell, Chambers, and others who were involved in the plot, and drove off to a printing business called Reynolds & Reynolds in northwest Charlotte. 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. But after one visit, she asked a teller How much can I deposit before you have to report it to the feds? followed by Dont worry, it is notdrug money, the bank filled out asuspicious activity report, which ultimately reached the FBI. He has been a staff writer for the Star-Ledger in New Jersey since 2000. His collection case closes in two years. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. But with Kelly's new idea on the table, several dark realities converged on him. From there, the money was moved from the armored car to private vehicles. Expanded two-hour true crime story about the 1997 Loomis-Fargo armored car heist in North Carolina and the serio-comic fate of its bumbling underdog perpetra. Federal law stops government collection efforts 20 years after a defendant leaves prison. The case had gotten national publicity and was the subject of numerous articles, documentaries and even a movie. He also took various measures to change his appearance, such asshaving, after a patron at a restaurant pointed out to him that he looked like the man who robbed a bank of $20 million.. He realized his life wouldn't improve unless he did something drastic. Some of the biggest numbers remaining on the Loomis collection board, as is the case with Campbell, belong to those who played the biggest role in the crime: David Ghantt, the Loomis employee who loaded all that money 2,800 pounds in all into the back of a company van before escaping to Mexico, has paid just under $50,000 of the $3.81 million he was assessed. Thank you! Im married, I got one girl, shes 15 going on 30. Worlds Biggest Heists London Hatton Garden 200m Diamond Robbery, Easter 2015. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Campbell, a mother of two, was in the process of divorcing Loomis Fargo Defendants Owe as Much as They Stole in 1997 Her case closes in 2025. 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. But they'd stayed in touch, and now they were poised to attempt a crime like almost no other. The figures can be astounding. In 2017, for example, Paul Burks of Lexington was ordered to pay $244 million to the victims of his worldwide Ponzi scheme, Zeek Rewards. The gang made numerous mistakes. Discover some of the worlds strangest ancient places. 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. 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. Conversations about stealing from the company weren't rare for Loomis employees. Steve and Michelle Chambers, who had lived in a mobile home, bought a mansion in Cramer Mountain. In the first couple of weeks, they had heard both Steve and Shelley bragging about their new-found fortune, and spending remarkable amounts of money. "Do you know how much there's gonna be?" 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. Money. He knew it would mean leaving Tammy. And they could barely afford the minimum payments, given the power bills, phone bills, car insurance bills, and home payments they had to meet. The Loomis defendants face no additional legal jeopardy for not paying off their debts. The defendants received sentences ranging from probation for several relatives to over 11 years in federal prison for Steve Chambers. Well she was a pretty happy-go-lucky person, he said. As a child, he had preferred reading to playing sports, and he would say, as an adult, that although he couldn't have told you "who was on first," he knew as a kid who the Egyptian god of the dead was. Feet Security Officer Bo Foot's Incident In Happy Town | ipl.org Loomis Fargo heist: 25 years later 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. What that says is, We will never forgive you for what youve done. 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. When Ghantt called Campbell asking for more money, a plan was set in motion to take him out. When I put that cash in the back of the car, by the time I got to the office the whole car smelled like that. The walk-in vault was a fortified gray room, more wide than long, with shelves, cabinets, desks, and multiple pushcarts stocked with shrink-wrapped cash. Loomis, Fargo offered a $500,000 reward for his arrest and conviction. It wasn't how much you stole that mattered most; it was that you had stolen in the first place. Who was she to be pressuring him? Ghantt didnt know the full extent of what was happening back home -- how that lay low plan turned into a flurry of extravagant spending. Its in the ether. 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. First, they tapped the Chambers phone, and began listening in on February 11th, 1998. This technically made it abank robbery afederal offense. 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. It's been 20 years since the Loomis Fargo heist. - Charlotte Observer be blocked or permanently banned without warning. I appreciate your kind words! Even with several vehicles, they underestimated how much space they would need and they had to leave $3 million behind. She sounded incredulous. Unexplained Mysteries and Strange Things,Cool Interesting stuff has been online since early 2011. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. 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. >> PHOTOS: The Loomis Fargo heist, 25 years later. Its in the ether. He was a hard worker, smart enough, and had graduated from high school. Not all of them, but some of them are going to forgive you, theyre going to overlook it., he said. Over 88% of the money has been recovered since the heist. This website uses cookies and some data tracking to improve your experience and serve adverts, We assume you're ok with this, you can opt-out if you wish. 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. - 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. He could even be famous, perhaps joining the ranks of legendary master thieves. Then they returned it. sole discretion of the site administrators and repeat offenders may Pink, Mr. Blue, Mr. Orange, Mr. Blonde. 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. (John D. Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP) Twenty people were convicted of roles big and small in the massive 1997 armored-car warehouse heist in west Charlotte. Federal law stops government collection efforts 20 years after a defendant leaves prison. Arrests Made in $17 Mil. N.C. Heist | AP News 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. Since then, there have been numerous articles, books, documentaries and even a movie about this gang -- the gang that couldnt shoot straight. 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. 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. Library Journal "highly entertaining." He waffled on the heist idea three or four times from late August to mid-September. Twenty people were convicted of roles big and small in the massive 1997 armored-car warehouse heist in west Charlotte. Some of that money is just gone. Learning from this error, David planned to leave the stolen money behind with his coconspirators while he fled to Mexico. White-collar criminals are pretty good at hiding their money, she said. 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 . Steve began talking about wiring money to overseas accounts, and even purchasing a nightclub. You can seize property. He was on a budget for clothes, even for work boots; he had recently needed to check seven stores before finding a pair in his price range. Over the next two weeks, David thought about it. Loomis Fargo heist: 25 years later While David Ghantt trusted Steve Chambers enough to leave his cut behind, Chambers had other plans. 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. Chambers had broached the possibility of a robbery to Campbell earlier in the summer. The plan was for Ghantt to commit the actual robbery and then quickly leave the country forMexico but to leave the bulk of the cash with Chambers. But this time on the phone, Kelly wasn't joking. "I'll need help moving the money, getting a new ID, and leaving the country," he told her. Although the FBI investigation was able to quickly connect Ghantt to Campbell, connecting Ghantt to Chambers was a more difficult task. Fourteen defendants were ordered to make restitution payments to Loomis Fargo totaling almost $19 million. Later that year, he saw a newspaper ad for a job at Loomis Fargo. 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.. 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 third surveillance tape was carelessly left behind, and the company was able to identify the man who robbed the vault as David Ghantt. A parrot tattoo on her right ankle. His collection case, which closes in November 2026, got credit for the couples $540,000 house on Cramer Mountain in Gaston County, Butcher says. In all, they recovered $6.6 million. remove comments that contain spam, advertising, vulgarity, threats Charlotte Observer"more than a crime story, and one that's worth reading." He wanted to leave his wife for her, and Kelly, who also was married, let him think she wanted the same. Former Loomis employee David Scott Ghantt is accused of stealing the money. The Loomis Fargo Heist Over the next months, Ghantt, Campbell, and Chambers developed a plan. You can garnish wages. Learn about careers at Cox Media Group. For the defendants in the Loomis Fargo heist, its allure was irresistible. The $17 million was stolen last Oct. 4 from the armored-car company's vault in Charlotte. The supervisor liked him and gave him the job. They also found several stacks of money with Loomis bands still attached throughout all the homes searched. 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. He knew his mother would be traumatized, shocked, and appalled. Kelly Campbell, 29, a former company employee, entered guilty pleas earlier to bank larceny, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder charges. While Ghantt waited for the heat from the robbery to die down, Chambers would send Ghantt small amounts of money. 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. 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. 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. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website.