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She will never get beyond the debt. The next day, before Mike was able to leave the country, the FBI arrested him in his hotel room. He has a regular life now, but 25 years ago, Ghantt was the mastermind behind the third-largest bank robbery in U.S. history. Its like, me and you sat down, I have access to pie, you like pie, all I want is my share of the pie. That was taking the long view. 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. The FBI began to question past and current employees of Loomis Fargo. For a better shopping experience, please upgrade now. Afterward, everything became comical. The $17 million was stolen last Oct. 4 from the armored-car company's vault in Charlotte. 12) Loomis Fargo heist- The aftermath Ultimately, eight co-conspirators were indicted for the Loomis Fargo bank heist. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. This technically made it abank robbery afederal offense. David's vision for all of this actually derived more from books than from movies. [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]. 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. They hadn't slept together or even fooled around much, but he was ready to commit. Library Journal "highly entertaining." Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Ghantt had worked with the branch since 1994, and had been promoted from a driver to the vault supervisor. Low 46F. They didnt expect it.. 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. 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. The woman on the phone was Kelly Jane Campbell, and David had a mad crush on her. Ghantt took $50,000 for himself and fled to Cozumel, Mexico. In this outrageously entertaining book, Jeff Diamant, the Charlotte Observer's lead reporter on the case, offers the definitive inside account of this astonishing. Chambers had no intention of wiring any money to Ghantt and intended to have him killed to keep him from implicating the others. As a privately owned web site, we reserve the right to edit or He hired a hitman to take Ghantt out, tying up the ultimate loose end. Kristen Wiig plays Kelly, who really wasn't that into David, but convinced him to take a fortune from Loomis Fargo in the fall of '97. Next month, Payne will back in the Charlotte federal courthouse, this time to be sentenced from weapons and methamphetamine trafficking charges. The money weighed as much as a compact car and he did it all by himself. 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. As an adult, he preferred Shakespeare, Tom Clancy, and any book he could find about the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Pink, Mr. Blue, Mr. Orange, Mr. Blonde. 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. He tried again to make the back gate rise, to no avail. The gang made numerous mistakes. An additional tip reached the FBI when Michelle Chambers made a large deposit at a bank. 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.. Many of the lesser players in the conspiracy have been the most effective in paying their debts. 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. The hillbilly outfit did more that just drop a few breadcrumbs. 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. 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. You can seize property. 2023 Cox Media Group. Who all wanted a Rambo movie which explored his time training as a green beret and his time serving in Vietnam as a prequel to first blood WATCH Antebellum 2020 FULL MOVIE. To be brutally honest, it was that morning, Ghantt replied. 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. FBI video shows the agency searching that home and finding drawers full of cash. LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Is this really about the needs of the poor? Butcher says the federal courts in the Western District of North Carolina have never handled a case quite like Loomis. just generally being a jerk. So its one thing to go from up here, thought, to action, he said. After discussing his job, his marriage, and his everyday struggles, they joked about Loomis and about how easy it would be to steal from the place. The FBI was inadvertently aided by the gang members extravagant spending. What kind of surprised me is how much the car smelled like money, like if you ever hold money up to your nose it has a distinct smell, Wydra said. "So he stays behind and moving over two thousand pounds of . Chambers would then occasionally wire Ghantt money and see to his basic financial needs; when the heat was off, Ghantt was to re-enter the U.S. and the money would be split up among all of the co-conspirators. The bizarre true story of the criminals behind the second-largest bank heist in American history. They had met in December 1995 on one of her first days at Loomis. 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. He angrily hung up the phone at Loomis, Fargo & Co., his soon-to-be former employer in Charlotte, North Carolina. When they hung up, she called his pager and left the code 1-4-3, beeper-speak for "I love you," based on the number of letters in each word. They located Steve and Shelley Chambers in their newly-purchased home at the top of a hill. 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. (LogOut/ Sun, sand and beaches are all part of why Jacksonville is a popular destination. Enforcement of this policy is at the Steve had hired a bodyguard named Mike McKinney. A more immediate need was securing help to move the stolen money to safety the night of the crime. Theres no way to get it back,, And with Loomis, were looking at only one case. In David's eyes, Johnson's big mistake was that he did it alone. Ghantt, his former co-worker Kelly Campbell and her friends Steve and Michelle Chambers, carried out the Loomis Fargo heist on Oct. 4, 1997. Of course, this would all be a radical departure for him, and thoughts of his wife and parents did give him pause. 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. 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. He even had to watch what he bought at the grocery store. It just happened to fall on my desk.. The plan to rob Loomis Fargo was spawned by Campbell and her friend Steve Chambers, during a casual bonfire at Chambers' home. But you cant get blood from a stone, Johns said. He had approached her inside the chain-link fence that surrounded the building and said with a flirty smile, "If you give me a cigarette, I'll be your friend. In the parking lot, David sat in his pickup truck smoking a cigarette and waving good-bye as the trainee drove home. In order to receive more evidence, the FBI decided to listen. In all, they recovered $6.6 million. The FBI became more suspicious after they interviewed Campbell for the third time. By using this website, you accept the terms of our Visitor Agreement and Privacy Policy, and understand your options regarding Ad Choices. I think if you remember some of her early photographic opportunities, shall we put it that way, she was sort of laughing, not seeming to take it seriously.. David Ghantt was just an average Joe with an average low-wage job. Have a youtube channel or website similar? Now one of the most wanted men in America with the FBI hot on his heels, Ghantt must figure out how to get his money, get away from a hit man, and get even. Anybody who gets caught up in the system is getting chewed up by it, the now-retired Gronquist told the Observer. There are multiples of thousands of these things coming every year. Instead he became paranoid, especially after Steve Chambers put a contract out on his life. They knew Steve Chambers had worked as an informant in the past, and were nervous he would smell out an undercover. The principals here are David Ghantt, a driver for Loomis, Fargo and Co.; Kelly Campbell, the woman Ghantt had a crush on, and who convinced him to commit the crime; and Steve and Michele Chambers. This station is part of Cox Media Group Television. Discover the truth behind unexplained ancient mysteries, UFO mysteries, secret locations and paranormal events. 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. In 2017, for example, Paul Burks of Lexington was ordered to pay $244 million to the victims of his worldwide Ponzi scheme, Zeek Rewards. Theres no way to get it back, Butcher told The Charlotte Observer. He put on his best pair of jeans, a button-down shirt, and his nicest cowboy boots. Paying the money back has taken a lot longer, and time is running out for the U.S. government to collect. 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. Ghantt met up with the other members of the plot and offloaded the cash. While Ghantt waited for the heat from the robbery to die down, Chambers would send Ghantt small amounts of money. But what the bank didnt tell Michelle, and Michelle didnt know, was that one of those forms get filled out if you ask about it, or if its close to $10,000 or if they suspect that any part of that transaction is suspicious, Wydra said. At 2:20 p.m., the phone rang; it was Kelly again. - 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. 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.