An additional tip reached the FBI when Michelle Chambers made a large deposit at a bank. The inspiration behind the major motion picture Masterminds starring Zach Galifianakis, Owen Wilson, Kristen Wiig, and Jason Sudeikis! And they hit the jackpot -- FBI video shows agents recovering most of the stolen cash. She will never get beyond the debt. Thats pretty standard in restitution matters. However, Chambers had no intention of following those rules, believing the FBI would never connect him to Ghantt. The bigger the amount, however, the bigger the damages to victims that likely will never be repaid: Amy Paynes collection account was closed in 2020 with her having paid $53,000 of the $274,000 she owed. David didn't appreciate her tone. 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 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.. Michelle Chambers paid off only $27,000. You cannot fine low-income people millions of dollars. There are multiples of thousands of these things coming every year. I pay (restitution to) thousands of people, but its in drips and drabs.. 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. In the end, the FBI was able to capture the original gang in five months, snaring 21 individuals for their participation in the crime. 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. After hanging up on her, David returned to work. And after two years, the case is just a file. The movie was called Masterminds and stars Zach Galifianakis, Kristen Wiig and Owen Wilson. They could talk about anything, even topics he couldn't discuss with his wife. His collection case closes in two years. It just happened to fall on my desk.. The plan was to exit through the building's electronic back gate, which consisted of horizontal metal plates that opened at the touch of a button. Not all of them, but some of them are going to forgive you, theyre going to overlook it., he said. The Loomis Fargo Heist Over the next months, Ghantt, Campbell, and Chambers developed a plan. just generally being a jerk. He ejected the two VCR tapes that he knew had recorded him stealing the money, took them, and prepared to leave. My knee-jerk reaction was to be angry, and then the sarcastic ass side of me started laughing about it, Ghantt said. 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. Restitution is a familiar part of sentencing in federal court. The FBI began to question past and current employees of Loomis Fargo. Change). The only other employee with him on this day was a trainee. In 2017, for example, Paul Burks of Lexington was ordered to pay $244 million to the victims of his worldwide Ponzi scheme, Zeek Rewards. 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. A third surveillance tape was carelessly left behind, and the company was able to identify the man who robbed the vault as David Ghantt. But you cant get blood from a stone, Johns said. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. 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. VERDICT The first edition of this work was published in 2002. Instead he became paranoid, especially after Steve Chambers put a contract out on his life. Jim Gronquist was Campbells defense attorney. They swept the surrounding counties, locating Kelly Campbell and Eric Payne in their homes. 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. (John D. Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP). To visit friends.". The next day, before Mike was able to leave the country, the FBI arrested him in his hotel room. Living with his wife, Tammy, in a mobile home, he had longed for the middle-class lifestyle of his childhood that had come to seem luxurious, a pipe dream for him now. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. 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.. She sounded incredulous. 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. Fourteen defendants were ordered to make restitution payments to Loomis Fargo totaling almost $19 million. Ghantt said he believes in redemption, and that his mistake 25 years ago brought him all the things that are important in his life today. They had met in December 1995 on one of her first days at Loomis. 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. His collection case, which closes in November 2026, got credit for the couples $540,000 house on Cramer Mountain in Gaston County, Butcher says. Burks was also ordered to serve 15 years in prison, limiting his ability to balance his books. 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. By using this website, you accept the terms of our Visitor Agreement and Privacy Policy, and understand your options regarding Ad Choices. true story that has captivated American audiences on the news and now on the big screen in the major motion picture, Masterminds. What purpose does that serve other than to denigrate that person into abject poverty?. This station is part of Cox Media Group Television. Kelly called, using David's own cell phone, to ask where he was already, because she and the others were waiting outside for him. Uh-oh, it looks like your Internet Explorer is out of date. 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. Getting restitution, its like pulling teeth.. 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. 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. Michelle Chambers paid off only $27,000. For example, Steve Chambers and his wife were living in a. The government does not run debtors prisons, says U.S. About the worst he had done as a teenager was stealing a construction company's Porta-Jon with a friend, tying it to the back of a pickup truck, and driving around for about fifteen minutes. 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. 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. Another time, the day after a Christmas in the late 1980s, David and some friends planted all the discarded Christmas trees from the area in one neighbor's front yard. Stealing from Loomis Fargo could make him rich, if he got away with it. 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 Loomis case is another example where the amount of restitution ordered vs. what is actually paid are two dramatically different numbers. That way, outsiders couldn't see money being loaded. Steve and Michelle Chambers, who had lived in a mobile home, bought a mansion in Cramer Mountain. Ghantt, who by then was long out of prison, served as a consultant. You Save 23%. Jeff Diamant was a reporter for the Charlotte Observer when the heist took place. 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. In August 1997, Campbell informed Ghantt about an old high school friend of hers named Steve Chambers, who could assist Ghantt to execute a massive cash robbery of the Loomis Fargo vault in one night. To the community, the Loomis Fargo heist was a big joke -- the largest hillbilly caper of all time. The affidavit described Chambers as a former FBI informant who had provided information on another Loomis armored car robbery that never materialized. 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, former FBI agent John Wydra said. Steve decided to send his cousin, Nathan with money down to Mexico as a ruse, while Mike the bodyguard would follow behind to take care of Ghantt. 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. In the grand scheme of things, the prison sentence for stealing $20 million wouldn't be much worse than for stealing just $500,000 maybe a few extra years behind bars. 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. 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. He was the only employee unaccounted for the next morning, and videotapes recovered at the Loomis Fargo Charlotte office showed Ghantt removing cubes of cash and loading it into a Loomis Fargo armored van for over an hour. He knew it would mean leaving Tammy. Ghantt was the vault manager and was surrounded daily by millions of dollars worth of temptation. 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. On Oct. 5, the Loomis heist celebrates its 25th birthday. 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. Human nature is a flexible part of life, Gronquist said. As beads of sweat formed under his red hair, he loaded up another cart and repeated the process. A parrot tattoo on her right ankle. 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. You can seize property. Thank you! JACKSONVILLE, Fla. This month marked 25 years since one of the biggest armored car heists in U.S. history. Youre supposed to get less time for cooperating, a lesser penalty, and instead, you see what she got hit with. Gronquist said. 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. To the community, the Loomis Fargo heist was a big joke -- the largest hillbilly caper of all time. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. They kept several furnishings from the previous owners, including avelvet Elvis. Campbell used to work for Loomis and continued the friendship with Ghantt, eventually hooking him up with Chambers. But being the vault supervisor at Loomis Fargo had one perk -- exposure to tons of cash. "So he stays behind and moving over two thousand pounds of . Also charged with money laundering were innocent relatives and friends who had co-signed safe deposit boxes. As a privately owned web site, we reserve the right to edit or Investigators also found Ghantts pickup truck, abandoned at the warehouse. 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. Except for the kiss in the pickup truck a few weeks before the heist, Kelly had kept things platonic. personal/abusive/condescending attacks on other users or goading The actual crime itself required none of Hollywood's imagination. Ghantt, his former co-worker Kelly Campbell and her friends Steve and Michelle Chambers, carried out the Loomis Fargo heist on Oct. 4, 1997. These weren't the hardest of criminals, and though there was logic to not knowing each other's names, they had derived some of their methods from Hollywood depictions of crime. 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. On Oct. 5, the Loomis heist celebrates its 25th birthday. In one case, the restitution for a Loomis defendant may be a moving target. The theft at the time the second-largest cash robbery in U.S. history has been the brunt of mocking movies and books, mostly on how the thieves, who had little money to begin with, could not control their spending habits once they did. They also bought aBMW Z3with cash and made several large purchases, including a $600 statue of aNative American. This technically made it abank robbery afederal offense. He hated his job and his bosses, he'd lost hope in his marriage, he wasn't going to advance at Loomis, and he couldn't afford to quit to enroll in college. 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. The gang made numerous mistakes. Ghantt took $50,000 for himself and fled to Cozumel, Mexico. One number is working in Campbells favor. 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. Fourteen defendants were ordered to make restitution payments to Loomis Fargo totaling almost $19 million. There are multiples of thousands of these things coming every year. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. sole discretion of the site administrators and repeat offenders may 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. David and Kelly had driven to Rock Hill, South Carolina, and used the documents to obtain a fake ID that David would also rely on after the theft. Clerk of Court Frank Johns of Charlotte. They also purchased expensive cars, jewelry and a breast enhancement or two. Just after the last employees left that day, surveillance footage shows a man enter the vault, and begin to load more than 2,740 pounds in cash into a nearby van, totaling around over $17 million. The government does not run debtors prisons, says U.S. 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. He had since held one low-paying job after another. The property has changed hands several times since then. The biggest restitution numbers for victims of financial crimes generally involve Ponzi schemes or sweepstakes fraud, not cash thefts. Youre supposed to get less time for cooperating, a lesser penalty, and instead, you see what she got hit with. Gronquist said. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ). Tuesday marked 25 years since a group of buddies pulled off the third-largest money grab in U.S. history -- the Loomis Fargo heist. Thats pretty standard in restitution matters. 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. Afterward, everything became comical. Ghantt met up with the other members of the plot and offloaded the cash. But you cant get blood from a stone, Johns said. It wasn't how much you stole that mattered most; it was that you had stolen in the first place. 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. Now, at 7:45 p.m., with all the money finally inside the van, his aching muscles could take a breather. The FBI says Chambers hired a hitman to tie up the ultimate loose end -- Ghantt. >> 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.. That sounds like a lot of money until its compared to the $18,930,201.26 the group was ordered to pay. 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. Her case closes in 2025. All but one of the defendants pleaded guilty. 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. Oh were not going to talk to anybody, theyre not going to be able to convict us, that bravado happens in the beginning and then it often gets worn down by the reality, Gronquist said. I gotta go.". Heist! The world is full of unexplained events, strange mysteries, and mysterious legends. >> PHOTOS: The Loomis Fargo heist, 25 years later. 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,. Well she was a pretty happy-go-lucky person, he said. 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.. Sure enough, she called a few days later, around September 16. He realized his life wouldn't improve unless he did something drastic. If the American Dream involved being better off as adults than your parents were, David was experiencing a version of the American Nightmare. Even with several vehicles, they underestimated how much space they would need and they had to leave $3 million behind. OWLS director fired in wake of new board taking over, New rules will require flood history disclosure in real estate, North Carolina recreational spring flounder season canceled for 2023, Supreme Court seems ready to sink student loan forgiveness, Beach commission gets update on search for new sources of sand for beach nourishment. Thirty years! The investigation ultimately resulted in the conviction of eight people directly involved, as well as sixteen others who had indirectly helped them. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. "Don't back out on us. 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. At that point, Kelly and David had known each other for two years. He stayed at it until the vault was empty. Though much of the cash was already stacked on pushcarts in the vault, other stacks were on shelves or the floor, and they were heavy. : The .17 Million Loomis Fargo Theft [Jeff Diamant] on Amazon.com. I made a joke once that was the hardest Id ever worked for Wells Fargo -- yeah, its a lot of work, Ghantt said. I actually loved reading through this post. He and his wife, Michele, moved from theirmobile homeinLincoln Countyto a luxury house in the wealthy Cramer Mountain section ofCramerton. Ghantt reported to Chambers that his supply of money was running low, but Chambers sent Ghantt just $8,000. The woman on the phone was Kelly Jane Campbell, and David had a mad crush on her. 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. 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. The woman on the phone was Kelly Jane Campbell, and David had a mad crush on her. 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. 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) Criminals dont usually get high-paying jobs after leaving prison. 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. Current price is $11.49, Original price is $14.99. But with Kelly's new idea on the table, several dark realities converged on him. White-collar criminals are pretty good at hiding their money, she said. Kelly had approached David with the idea in the summer, knowing he had a crush on her and winning him over with the promise that a shady friend of hers with Mafia ties would help them. I was relieved emotionally because I knew there was a good chance my luck might run out, Ghantt said. Steve had hired a bodyguard named Mike McKinney. Not every agent has a case like that, he said. They succeeded in removing $17 million from the safe. In the parking lot, David sat in his pickup truck smoking a cigarette and waving good-bye as the trainee drove home. If we can sit on the money for a year, maybe two, it could work.". Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Its in the ether. 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. By then, the FBI had become greatly concerned for Ghantts personal safety; they had learned of Chambersmurder for hirescheme. Meanwhile, Ghantt's gang spent wildly and paid their family members and friends to hide money. she asked. Im married, I got one girl, shes 15 going on 30. Chambers had no intention of wiring any money to Ghantt and intended to have him killed to keep him from implicating the others. In addition, he also rented Mike his own apartment, paid him $400/weekly and bought him a gun. Anybody who gets caught up in the system is getting chewed up by it, the now-retired Gronquist told the Observer.