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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. Kelly Campbell, who one day visited a Toyota dealership to purchase a minivan with twenty-dollar bills. In Reservoir Dogs, released just five years earlier, the pawns in a robbery knew each other only by assigned colors: Mr. As a privately owned web site, we reserve the right to edit or (LogOut/ The plan was still on, but David remained steamed. Tuesday marked 25 years since a group of buddies pulled off the third-largest money grab in U.S. history -- the Loomis Fargo heist. 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 FBI says Chambers hired a hitman to tie up the ultimate loose end -- Ghantt. So the original gang was all totally shocked, Wydra said. From my standpoint, it was just a business deal, Ghantt said. Asked the purpose of his visit, Johnson had replied, "To visit friends. The defendants received sentences ranging from probation for several relatives to over 11 years in federal prison for Steve Chambers. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. 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. Steve had hired a bodyguard named Mike McKinney. Her case closes in 2025. "But you can still have a cigarette.". Thirty years! Campbell used part of her share of the money to buy aToyota Siennaminivanin two cash installments. Then one day, while reviewing his and Tammy's credit card bill, he did some quick math and realized that even if they met the minimum monthly payments, the bill would take thirty years to pay. 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. Meanwhile, Ghantt's gang spent wildly and paid their family members and friends to hide money. One night in a small North Carolina town, a down-on-his-luck guard at Loomis Fargo manages to steal $17 millionliterally more than one ton of cash. White-collar criminals are pretty good at hiding their money, she said. Getting that off his chest calmed him some, and the conversation returned to the plan. 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. 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. I actually loved reading through this post. The robbery was committed by Loomis vault supervisor David Scott Ghantt, his married girlfriend Kelly Campbell (a former Loomis co-worker), Steven Eugene Chambers (a one-time FBI informant), his wife Michelle Chambers, Michael Gobbies, and four other co-conspirators. 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. There was a book published in 2002 as well, by author Jeff Diamant called,Heist! His eyes widened and he stopped breathing as he realized that something as mundane as a malfunctioning gate might ruin their entire plan. Pink, Mr. Blue, Mr. Orange, Mr. Blonde. 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 figures can be astounding. As it neared its end, David stealthily left the vault door ajar. What that says is, We will never forgive you for what youve done.'. Of course the problem was, the money belonged to someone else. Youre supposed to get less time for cooperating, a lesser penalty, and instead, you see what she got hit with. Gronquist said. And with Loomis, were looking at only one case. Chambers had broached the possibility of a robbery to Campbell earlier in the summer. It, too, has changed hands several times. David placed their odds of success at 85 percent, a confidence inspired by faith not just in his planning but also in his feelings for Kelly. So he and some friends decided at the end of his Oct. 4 shift he would load a company van with more than 2,000 pounds of cash and just drive away. 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. And if that gives people out there a little bit of hope, then Ive served my purpose on this earth.. Loomis, Fargo offered a $500,000 reward for his arrest and conviction. The plan to. Although the FBI investigation was able to quickly connect Ghantt to Campbell, connecting Ghantt to Chambers was a more difficult task. He and Tammy could have one or two meals each week that he really liked, but the rest were hot dogs or Hamburger Helper. The case had gotten national publicity and was the subject of numerous articles, documentaries and even a movie. Lacking a college degree, he found that his army skills felt meaningless in the 1990s job market. Not every agent has a case like that, he said. The Charlotte area's economy was booming all around him, and he felt passed over. The participants in the heist also spent lavishly on fancy jewelry, fancy cars and breast enhancement surgeries. "Don't back out on us. He was a hard worker, smart enough, and had graduated from high school. 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. You Save 23%. (John D. Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP) The woman on the phone was Kelly Jane Campbell, and David had a mad crush on her. He knew his mother would be traumatized, shocked, and appalled. He is a graduate of Yale and has worked for the Connecticut Post, the Associated Press, and the Palm Beach Post. Learn about careers at Cox Media Group. 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. She had attitude. Except for the kiss in the pickup truck a few weeks before the heist, Kelly had kept things platonic. Steve and Michelle Chambers, who had lived in a mobile home, bought a mansion in Cramer Mountain. 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. Each cart, holding about $2 million, was taking David seven or eight minutes to stack, push, and empty into the van, and there were about eight cartloads' worth in the vault. "Everything's gonna be all right," she told him. He waffled on the heist idea three or four times from late August to mid-September. Only a nickel on every dollar have been collected so far. How many people have walked the red carpet at a movie premiere in a case that was yours?. David Ghantt was just an average Joe with an average low-wage job. When you have money, you just have different problems: The Loomis Fargo heist, 25 years later. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. One number is working in Campbells favor. she asked. The Loomis case is another example where the amount of restitution ordered vs. what is actually paid are two dramatically different numbers. The plan was to maintain a low profile and wait for things to cool off, allowing Ghantt to return to the states and collect his cut. >> PHOTOS: The Loomis Fargo heist, 25 years later. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. But on Oct. 4, 1997, that no longer mattered and Ghantt took off with $17.3 million. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. We are happy to work with other website publishers. He loves his motorcycle and enjoys going fishing and, while hes sorry for the past, hes not ashamed to talk about it. 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. 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. just generally being a jerk. ALSO READ: 14-year-old boy robbed at gunpoint while waiting for bus in east. 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. In all, they recovered $6.6 million. Uh-oh, it looks like your Internet Explorer is out of date. The plan to rob Loomis Fargo was spawned by Campbell and her friend Steve Chambers, during a casual bonfire at Chambers' home. Have a youtube channel or website similar? "Are you serious?" For a better shopping experience, please upgrade now. Federal law stops government collection efforts 20 years after a defendant leaves prison. 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. 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. 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. He ejected the two VCR tapes that he knew had recorded him stealing the money, took them, and prepared to leave. Afterward, everything became comical. When Ghantt called Campbell however, the FBI was able to track his location, and arrested him with the help of the Mexican police onMarch 1, 1998. On the evening ofOctober 4, 1997, the Loomis Fargo & Co branch in Charlotte, North Carolina was in the process of being plundered. "I was unhappy with my life. 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. Steve Chambers would keep the rest. She sounded incredulous. But this time on the phone, Kelly wasn't joking. 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. For people earning $8.15 an hour David's salary the jokes came naturally. The Loomis Fargo Heist Over the next months, Ghantt, Campbell, and Chambers developed a plan. In 1994, they moved to Gastonia, North Carolina, where they had grown up, and David took a job driving a forklift. The friend was Steve Chambers, and Kelly said he knew his way around the world of crime. Now and again I run into blog posts that tends to make me want to get started on bloggin myself. His collection case, which closes in November 2026, got credit for the couples $540,000 house on Cramer Mountain in Gaston County, Butcher says. Next month, Payne will back in the Charlotte federal courthouse, this time to be sentenced from weapons and methamphetamine trafficking charges. For the defendants in the Loomis Fargo heist, its allure was irresistible. David was supposed to be showing him the ropes of the job, which included cash pickups and deliveries. Sun, sand and beaches are all part of why Jacksonville is a popular destination. They knew Steve Chambers had worked as an informant in the past, and were nervous he would smell out an undercover. [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]. 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. Tips had led the FBI to begin monitoring Chambers (and his wifes) activities, but it was not until the FBIrecorded a phone callfrom Ghantt in Mexico that the final connection was made. I pay (restitution to) thousands of people, but its in drips and drabs.. To visit friends.". 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. Many of the lesser players in the conspiracy have been the most effective in paying their debts. Was the temptation too much? uncanny, eerie, unnatural, preternatural, supernatural, unearthly, other-worldly, unreal, ghostly, mysterious, mystifying, strange, abnormal, unusual. She will never get beyond the debt. But they'd stayed in touch, and now they were poised to attempt a crime like almost no other. "What would it take to make you do it?". Restitution is a familiar part of sentencing in federal court. The strange story of Mary Reeser Spontaneous Human Combustion. Once they were in custody, the overwhelming task of clearing out possessions possibly purchased with the stolen money began. 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. According to Butcher, Campbells last official payment came in June 2021 when the government appears to have seized a tax refund of $81.24. "Don't double-cross us," the woman on the phone told David Ghantt. The FBI heard about the plot and agents knew they could no longer wait. While David Ghantt trusted Steve Chambers enough to leave his cut behind, Chambers had other plans. Ghantt, in order to conserve this money, curtailed his spending. What purpose does that serve other than to denigrate that person into abject poverty?. Theres no way to get it back, Butcher told The Charlotte Observer. 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,. He has a regular life now, but 25 years ago, Ghantt was the mastermind behind the third-largest bank robbery in U.S. history. Criminals dont usually get high-paying jobs after leaving prison. She had attitude. Authorities were notified of the robbery in the morning, when employees couldnt open the vault. 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. Instead he became paranoid, especially after Steve Chambers put a contract out on his life. '. 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. 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. Steve began talking about wiring money to overseas accounts, and even purchasing a nightclub. 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 didnt expect it.. of violence, racism, anti-Semitism, or Nathan, Steves cousin, was found in a mobile home the Chambers had abandoned. That sounds like a lot of money until its compared to the $18,930,201.26 the group was ordered to pay.