So it was weird when during the middle of the week, there were these very clean-cut, very Midwestern looking, obviously American guys in the town. In the meantime, the FBI was closing in looking to bust a total of 21 suspected accomplices. Kelly had recently left a job driving an armored-car for Loomis, Fargo & Co. "He's the one who brought it up first," said Kelly, a year after her arrest. His collection case closes in two years. They obviously werent trying to get it right they were putting together what they believe is a better story, said Diamant. Her case closes in 2025. Criminals dont usually get high-paying jobs after leaving prison. In February 1998, the FBI tapped their phones and listened to Steve discuss depositing $2.5 million in the Cayman Islands. He had stolen $17 million from Loomis Fargo. Were others involved? Campbell left her job in the summer of 1997, but she would later use Ghantt's feelings for her to her own advantage to get him to agree to carry out the multi-million-dollar heist. From Mexico, David usually spoke with Kelly on the phone once a week, paying with calling cards. Eventually, Steve made Kelly believe they could steal from Loomis and get away with it, she said. 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. Basic and voluntary life insurance plan. One thing about teammates, in David's view: You could always trust them. About 20 ago, Campbell sent him a letter of apology, but he never responded. Sweat soaked David's uniform. Ghantt: My cut was supposed to be about $5 million, but that's not what I ended up with. "I missed my family.
SEVEN NABBED IN CHARLOTTE HEIST\ - Greensboro News and Record Once I start something, Im going to the end., As for how he felt in the moment, he says, Imagine me and you went on an airplane. ", "I wouldn't do it. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Getting restitution, its like pulling teeth.. Ghantt was scheduled to work a shift at the armored car company Oct. 4. After a couple of weeks, Ghantt and the rest of the heist team were ready to strike. She will never get beyond the debt.
25th anniversary of the incredible Loomis Fargo bank heist | wcnc.com "He was in tears. "He was speechless," said Sandra Floyd. "He said, 'Yeah, right,' and turned his head. . He hated his job, with its 12-hour shifts. But first they wanted to know if it was a robbery or a robbery-homicide. Kelly's company. He appeared happily matched with his high-spirited wife, Michele, and the two children from her first marriage. Ive never taken offense to anything like that, he tells me. I told the lead investigator I was glad to see him.. 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. You can seize property. As it turned out, Ghantt was zipping up his scuba suit in Mexico.
FBI agents recall surreal story of heist that inspired - WLOS Industry leading Training and Development. Hes very articulate. As you probably know, it's loosely based on the Loomis Fargo heist in Charlotte back in the late nineties. Now worried about both the FBI and McKinney, he spent even more time alone in his room. 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. Its in the ether. It didnt take the local police long to put the pieces together. Meanwhile, back in North Carolina, Ghantts wife woke up to find her husband missing. ". She asked about the limit for a cash deposit before "paperwork" was required. When neighbors asked where they got their money, Steve said hed played in the NFL. At first, David Ghantt said, "I didn't take her seriously. And it turned Steve into he thought he was Don Corleone all of a sudden.. 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. Money'll turn your head, I don't care who you are. Ghantt would go on to spend six and a half years in federal prison. She came from a blue-collar background, a high school dropout who had grown tired of working in a mill and gotten an equivalency diploma. Then he and Campbell drove 90 miles to Columbia, South Carolina, where Ghantt planned to purchase a ticket to Mexico so he could be out of the country before news of the robbery broke the next morning. It was the first Saturday in October. Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand. No regrets. Ghantt:I've burned that bridge years ago. I hear her typing. So he got in a cab and went to a mall. They soon realized David had stolen more money than would fit in their 55-gallon barrels. Sandra Floyd, Michele Chambers's mother, remembers the first time she saw the house. "I've learned that I'm a fortunate man," he said. If you want me to leave, Ill leave. Then, Ghantt went into another room. In real life: False. According to Butcher, Campbells last official payment came in June 2021 when the government appears to have seized a tax refund of $81.24. 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. Then another. . My love for my family is by far the most important thing in my life. There was a third person with them, too, a man named Eric Grant. She laughed for like 45 minutes. Loomis employees drive the very core of our business. Paying the money back has taken a lot longer, and time is running out for the U.S. government to collect.
real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist - molecularrecipes.com But Ghantt, who served as an unpaid consultant to the movie and attended the big Los Angeles premiere earlier in the week, has no such reservations. 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. . 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.
Figure in Loomis Heist Gets Prison | AP News Ghantt worked at Loomis Fargos regional office vault in Charlotte. Scott didn't want to, but then he remembered the hundred-grand payday. To say nothing of their art purchases like the aforementioned velvet Elvis portrait and a painting of a bulldog dressed as General George S. Patton. 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. There was in fact a basically similar conversation involving Chambers and Campbell that took place during a barbecue the Campbells were hosting. About 5:45 a.m., he got into his pickup and began the 45-minute drive to work in Charlotte. Her husband gave her a brown teddy bear.
Loomis Fargo Heist of 1997 - History and Other Things Ghantt:I hate to say it, but I had six years of sitting in a box to think about my life. At the party, Steve invited Michele's stepfather, truck driver Dennis Floyd, to the basement to play pool. The government does not run debtors prisons, says U.S. Soon thereafter, he met Kelly Campbell, a co-worker at Loomis Fargo. When he walked onto the plane, he was wearing big, tall cowboy boots, where hed stuffed a majority of the smuggled cash. As soon as Corey left, I pretended like I was leaving. 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) "I said, 'I don't want him killed.' Theres some things I want to do., Ghantt planned on traveling from Mexico to the Cayman Islands, bypassing customs along the way. But he tried to keep his face averted, so David wouldn't be able to ID him. I mentioned it to Kelly.
They Had 17 Million Dollars and No Sense at All - AMW Magazine "We had David Ghantt and Kelly Campbell tied together, and we had Steven Chambers and Eric Payne with unexplained wealth, but we didn't have a tie between them," Agent John Wydra said. In mid-November, McKinney carried $10,000 to Cancun but wound up spending most of it on himself.
Careers | Loomis US 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. When Chambers and the two Erics were done loading the stolen millions into barrels, they abandoned the van in the woods. The whole town I was staying in was 98.9 percent Mexican, except for when the cruise ships were in, Ghantt recalls. 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. The audacity of the act was breathtaking. ". She declined to take a lie-detector test. 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. "I was unhappy with my life. 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. That was great. They were the butt of a national joke. Things were spiraling fast. Just head on out. And so, he did. He hated the sweet smell of the green ink, and the $8.15-an-hour salary. . His name was Corey. The plan to rob Loomis Fargo was spawned by Campbell and her friend Steve Chambers, during a casual bonfire at Chambers' home. Steve had another conversation with Kelly about killing David. Scott Grant and Steve pulled up next to her in a Mazda. He partied, met women, drank, skied and hung out at the beach. More agents waited outside to arrest them. He had even scheduled a follow-up appointment at the dentist. At the Halloween party, though, Kelly gave in to Steve, and agreed it had to be done. Question: You were a consultant? In early November, Steve lured the real Mike McKinney, an ex-Marine, to North Carolina from his Illinois home. I learned something that was valuable at the time: Most criminals never leave a 250, maybe 300-mile circle from their home base. Zaron Burnett is an investigative journalist and longform features writer based in Los Angeles. You can reach Kevin Ellis at 704-869-1823 or Twitter.com/TheGazetteKevin. The FBI was also surveilling Kelly Campbell and followed her to a pay phone that she used to place calls to Mexico. Anybody who gets caught up in the system is getting chewed up by it, the now-retired Gronquist told the Observer. Actor Owen Wilson plays him in the movie, which includes the real names of all the major players. Theres no management around. He would pay McKinney $250,000, half upfront. 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. 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. "I said, 'That's all they gave me,' " McKinney recalled. Like David, Kelly was frustrated with her marriage. This meant a bump in pay, up to $8.15 an hour. 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.. He recalled that another agent, Phil King, said, "Hey, there was an article in the [Charlotte] Observer about beeper codes. He told Steve he hadn't been able to find David. But after she left, she reached back out to Ghantt and brought up what theyd talked about that day in the break room. Exciting. He figured Tammy wouldn't go for it, and though his marriage had been troubled, he wasn't certain he wanted to leave her.
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