loomis fargo heist kelly campbell

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. The same applies to trolling, the use of multiple aliases, or The actual crime itself required none of Hollywood's imagination. There are multiples of thousands of these things coming every year. If it didn't work out, he could return to the United States later with a new identity. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.. Clear skies. Loomis Fargo defendants owe as much as they stole in 1997 Inside the truck, they found Ghantts ring and surmised this as a sign of Ghantts intention to end his relationship with his wife. The Loomis case is another example where the amount of restitution ordered vs. what is actually paid are two dramatically different numbers. "What would it take to convince you to do it?" 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. He says the Loomis case shows how the criminal justice system and the courts treat lower-income people differently. To the community, the Loomis Fargo heist was a big joke -- the largest hillbilly caper of all time. They Had 17 Million Dollars and No Sense at All - AMW Magazine Campbell led Ghantt to think she loved him and they would flee to Mexico together, but she actually wanted to make a better life for herself in the U.S. With the plan in place, Ghantt sent a newly hired employee he had been assigned to train home early (reportedly, at 6 p.m.) and then proceeded to load a little more than $17.3 million in cash (approximately $11 million of which was in$20 bills) into the back of a company van. He has been a staff writer for the Star-Ledger in New Jersey since 2000. 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. 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. But this time on the phone, Kelly wasn't joking. LeVaughn Kelly Campbell (born July 23, 1980 in Atlanta, Georgia) is a former football wide receiver. In 2017, for example, Paul Burks of Lexington was ordered to pay $244 million to the victims of his worldwide Ponzi scheme, Zeek Rewards. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Enforcement of this policy is at the That movie, Masterminds, was filmed in 2014. Only a nickel on every dollar have been collected so far. He quickly found out when you have money, you just have different problems, Wydra said. I gotta go.". They swept the surrounding counties, locating Kelly Campbell and Eric Payne in their homes. Prosecutors say a vault. The trainee didn't yet know how the place worked, a fact David planned to use to his advantage. More than 2 million dollars are still missing to this day. This station is part of Cox Media Group Television. Her case closes in 2025. You can have your whole career and not have a case like that. LETTER TO THE EDITOR: But where will they park? About six months before the Charlotte theft, on March 29, a total of $18.8 million was taken from Loomis, Fargo in Jacksonville, Fla., in what was believed to be the largest heist in U.S.. Well she was a pretty happy-go-lucky person, he said. Twenty years ago this Wednesday, a small group of people stole $17 million in cash from the main vault of a Loomis Fargo & Co. armored-car warehouse in west Charlotte. He shut the empty vault and set its timer so the vault could not be opened for two or three days. 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. They had to be extremely careful not to tip off the group, as they could lose potential conspirators or more information important to a conviction. remove comments that contain spam, advertising, vulgarity, threats ALSO READ: 14-year-old boy robbed at gunpoint while waiting for bus in east. David was thin six-foot-one, one hundred sixty-five pounds and heaving the stacks onto the cart, pushing the cart toward the vault door, and then emptying its contents into the van was exhausting. How he felt shorted by life. How he and his wife had trouble communicating. The building was configured so vans could drive inside and pull up next to the vault. I was relieved emotionally because I knew there was a good chance my luck might run out, Ghantt said. The real 'Masterminds' 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. I actually loved reading through this post. The trainee didn't know to check to make sure it was closed. Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live. just generally being a jerk. 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. It was 2:00 p.m. on October 4, 1997, and tension was building between two planners of what would rank high among the largest heists in United States history. They didnt expect it.. They succeeded in removing $17 million from the safe. 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. Sunny. Winds light and variable. 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. 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. Updated: 11:31 AM EDT October 4, 2022 CHARLOTTE, N.C. Tuesday is the 25th anniversary of the infamous Loomis Fargo heist in Charlotte, where a bank worker, with the help of two accomplices,. David's share would be sent to Mexico, where he planned to hide and where he expected Kelly to join him. In all, agents arrested 24 people in the heist. It took me going to prison to realize I was a bag of worms, and it took me years of work to be somebody worthy to come back into our society, he said. "Don't double-cross us," the woman on the phone told David Ghantt. 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. Fact check: Is there much truth to the new 'Masterminds' movie? To be brutally honest, it was that morning, Ghantt replied. 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. Next month, Payne will back in the Charlotte federal courthouse, this time to be sentenced from weapons and methamphetamine trafficking charges. 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. Seven p.m. came and went, and so did 7:20. All of the defendants are out of prison -- the longest sentence was 11 years. 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.. Learn about careers at Cox Media Group. Soon thereafter, he met Kelly Campbell, a co-worker at Loomis Fargo. Discover some of the worlds strangest ancient places. And Kelly thought he was funny. You cannot fine low-income people millions of dollars. 'Can I Keep the Velvet Elvis?': The Great Hillbilly Heist of 1997 Campbell used to work for Loomis and continued the friendship with Ghantt, eventually hooking him up with Chambers. In 1994, they moved to Gastonia, North Carolina, where they had grown up, and David took a job driving a forklift. Ghantt took $50,000 for himself and fled to Cozumel, Mexico. Of course the most famous thing inside the home was a velvet Elvis portrait. Paying the money back has taken a lot longer, and time is running out for the U.S. government to collect. They also bought aBMW Z3with cash and made several large purchases, including a $600 statue of aNative American. Cool interesting stuff features everything odd, weird, bizzare, strange or unusual. For a better shopping experience, please upgrade now. Over 88% of the money has been recovered since the heist. Records show the government has garnished his Social Security checks. Burks was also ordered to serve 15 years in prison, limiting his ability to balance his books. He hired a hitman to take Ghantt out, tying up the ultimate loose end. She sounded incredulous. 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. 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. 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. Butcher says the federal courts in the Western District of North Carolina have never handled a case quite like Loomis. It was David who was hours away from committing the most daring act of his life, and she was going off about Steve being a serious guy? Kelly Campbell - Wikipedia You can seize property. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. 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). Loomis Fargo defendants owe as much as they stole in 1997 People dont seem to understand human nature. The robbery was committed by David Scott Ghantt who was the vault supervisor and accomplices Kelly Campbell, Steve Chambers, Michelle Chambers, Michael Gobies, and other four members. Agents raided safe deposit boxes, where they recovered more than $11 million. 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. He realized his life wouldn't improve unless he did something drastic. kelly campbell masterminds - clydeautorepairs.co.uk Uh-oh, it looks like your Internet Explorer is out of date. Guller was the attorney for Steven Chambers, who came up with the original idea for the Loomis theft. Their most important conversation occurred one afternoon in August 1997 after Kelly paged him at work. Some of that money is just gone. He is a graduate of Yale and has worked for the Connecticut Post, the Associated Press, and the Palm Beach Post. And if that gives people out there a little bit of hope, then Ive served my purpose on this earth.. The stated plan was for her to move to Mexico to be with him after the theft. NASCAR. She'd left Loomis in November 1996 to take a job elsewhere as a security guard. Hes a family man with a wife and daughter. They hadn't slept together or even fooled around much, but he was ready to commit. Even with several vehicles, they underestimated how much space they would need and they had to leave $3 million behind. The plan to. (John D. Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP). It all went down in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the man at the center of that heist, David Scott Ghantt, now lives in Jacksonville. Of course the problem was, the money belonged to someone else. But with Kelly's new idea on the table, several dark realities converged on him. Restitution is a familiar part of sentencing in federal court. 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. The October 4 shift was lasting longer than expected, due to delays involving pickups and deliveries. More calls between the two men, and also between Steve and Kelly Campbell, made it clear that the group was starting to turn on David Ghantt. CHARLOTTE (AP) During one overnight shift, a bumbling conspiracy of thieves just west of Charlotte stole more than $17 million from Loomis Fargo. By then, the FBI had become greatly concerned for Ghantts personal safety; they had learned of Chambersmurder for hirescheme. Booklist "Librariesshould consider purchasing this entertaining and lightly edited version, which reads like a fast-paced novel." Their only intimate physical contact had been kissing on a mid-September night when they had driven her pickup truck to a field behind a shooting range in Gaston County to discuss their plans and the theft's chance of success. Its like, me and you sat down, I have access to pie, you like pie, all I want is my share of the pie. He ejected the two VCR tapes that he knew had recorded him stealing the money, took them, and prepared to leave. A third surveillance tape was carelessly left behind, and the company was able to identify the man who robbed the vault as David Ghantt. While David Ghantt trusted Steve Chambers enough to leave his cut behind, Chambers had other plans. 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.. Campbell was released from federal custody in 2004 after serving five years, meaning her collection case will age out in December 2024. At that point, Kelly and David had known each other for two years. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. I appreciate your kind words! 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. He called Kelly to say he was coming and hopped into the driver's seat of the loaded Loomis van. And they could barely afford the minimum payments, given the power bills, phone bills, car insurance bills, and home payments they had to meet. 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. And with Loomis, were looking at only one case. Libraries without that edition should consider purchasing this entertaining and lightly edited version, which reads like a fast-paced novel. On Oct. 5, the Loomis heist celebrates its 25th birthday. SEVEN NABBED IN CHARLOTTE HEIST\ - Greensboro News and Record 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. In one case, the restitution for a Loomis defendant may be a moving target. The plan was still on, but David remained steamed. The 2016 comedy movie, Masterminds is based on the story of the Loomis Fargo Heist. But if you did, youll never forget it. "Are you serious?" Two days later, when the FBI found the Loomis Fargo armored van, they discovered almost $3.3 million in cash left in the back of the van; it was later discovered that the thieves had miscalculated the sheer bulk of the small denomination currency, and that they simply left the cash that they could not take with them in the back of the van. The Loomis Fargo Heist Over the next months, Ghantt, Campbell, and Chambers developed a plan. It was released in 2016 and Wydra was invited to the premiere. These (Loomis) guys, not so much.. 25th anniversary of the incredible Loomis Fargo bank heist | wcnc.com By now, you probably know the names -- David Ghantt, Steve Chambers and his wife Michelle, and Kelly Campbell. 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. Growing up, David had been a nice kid, a decent student who was at worst a minor troublemaker and prankster. Channel 9 speaks with the man at the center of Loomis Fargo heist 25 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 . David Ghantt was just an average Joe with an average low-wage job. The FBI became more suspicious after they interviewed Campbell for the third time. It was the second-largest. 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. Her case closes in 2025. Only a nickel on every dollar have been collected so far. He angrily hung up the phone at Loomis, Fargo & Co., his soon-to-be former employer in Charlotte, North Carolina. Who was she to be pressuring him? 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. Fourteen defendants were ordered to make restitution payments to Loomis Fargo totaling almost $19 million. FBI video shows agents searching the Cramer Mountain home and finding stacks of cash. "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. " Then, keeping with the plan, Ghantt took $50,000 (the maximum that could be taken across the border by law without further authorization) with him and left for Mexico, winding up at the popularYucatan Peninsularesort ofCozumel. The Loomis case is another example where the amount of restitution ordered vs. what is actually paid are two dramatically different numbers. One day, Campbell was speaking to an old friend named Steve Chambers. He loves his motorcycle and enjoys going fishing and, while hes sorry for the past, hes not ashamed to talk about it. RELATED: When you have money, you just have different problems: The Loomis Fargo heist, 25 years later, How I held it together is beyond me, Ghantt said. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. 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. Loomis Fargo Heist of 1997 - History and Other Things She had previously been making frequent small deposits to avert suspicion. 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. A parrot tattoo on her right ankle. To visit friends.". Later that year, he saw a newspaper ad for a job at Loomis Fargo. 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