Money. Clerk of Court Frank Johns of Charlotte. Clerk of Court Frank Johns of Charlotte. Accompanying her was Steve Chambers, who, though unemployed, had recently moved . According to Butcher, Campbells last official payment came in June 2021 when the government appears to have seized a tax refund of $81.24. 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. By using this website, you accept the terms of our Visitor Agreement and Privacy Policy, and understand your options regarding Ad Choices. Sure enough, she called a few days later, around September 16. There are multiples of thousands of these things coming every year. 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. The woman on the phone was Kelly Jane Campbell, and David had a mad crush on her. The towns booming construction industry attracts workers from around the country. By now, you probably know the names -- David Ghantt, Steve Chambers and his wife Michelle, and Kelly Campbell. Steve and Michelle Chambers, who had lived in a mobile home, bought a mansion in Cramer Mountain. He knew his mother would be traumatized, shocked, and appalled. >> PHOTOS: The Loomis Fargo heist, 25 years later. Kelly Campbell, who one day visited a Toyota dealership to purchase a minivan with twenty-dollar bills. While David Ghantt trusted Steve Chambers enough to leave his cut behind, Chambers had other plans. Also charged with money laundering were innocent relatives and friends who had co-signed safe deposit boxes. All of the defendants are out of prison -- the longest sentence was 11 years. For people earning $8.15 an hour David's salary the jokes came naturally. Tuesday marked 25 years since a group of buddies pulled off the third-largest money grab in U.S. history -- the Loomis Fargo heist. 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. Unexplained Mysteries - owned by Aliens since 2011. This station is part of Cox Media Group Television. It just happened to fall on my desk.. The old man me would never survive that, Id have a heart attack.. The corporation handled armored transportation, ATM maintenance and other cash handling services, and had millions of currency stashed in the vault of the North Carolina branch. For the defendants in the Loomis Fargo heist, its allure was irresistible. 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. His eyes widened and he stopped breathing as he realized that something as mundane as a malfunctioning gate might ruin their entire plan. The $17 million Loomis Fargo heist in Charlotte, North Carolina, was the second largest armored car robbery in U.S. history. Then, he proceeded to load 2,800 pounds of cash into a van. My knee-jerk reaction was to be angry, and then the sarcastic ass side of me started laughing about it, Ghantt said. The biggest restitution numbers for victims of financial crimes generally involve Ponzi schemes or sweepstakes fraud, not cash thefts. Some of that money is just gone. The van used to move the money was later located a few miles from the warehouse. She'd left Loomis in November 1996 to take a job elsewhere as a security guard. 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. He shut the empty vault and set its timer so the vault could not be opened for two or three days. Only a nickel on every dollar have been collected so far. 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. I ride motorcycles and fish -- normal guy, Ghantt told Counts. 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Marine Fisheries Commission advocates for water quality, North Carolina the only state allowing unnecessary killing of sea turtles, 'Pagan' bike gang leader in N. Carolina sentenced to prison, Deputy cleared in shooting death of Gloucester woman, Beaufort amends charter to allow four-year mayoral term. The same applies to trolling, the use of multiple aliases, or We dont have the manpower to track all that (restitution) money down I pay (restitution to) thousands of people, but its in drips and drabs.. David got a kick out of her. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Guller was the attorney for Steven Chambers, who came up with the original idea for the Loomis theft. 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. Driving away, he said he felt a mix of fear, confidence and excitement that he outsmarted the FBI. They also found several stacks of money with Loomis bands still attached throughout all the homes searched. They assumed that whoever was involved would keep the cash in a safe place, like a safe deposit box. Campbell was another employee at Loomis Fargo and she and Ghantt quickly struck up a relationship, one that Campbell denies was ever romantic though FBI evidence says otherwise, and one that continued after she left the company. To the community, the Loomis Fargo heist was a big joke -- the largest hillbilly caper of all time. Thats pretty standard in restitution matters. On Oct. 5, the Loomis heist celebrates its 25th birthday. But he wasn't finished. Moving the money into the van quickly proved an onerous task. You can garnish wages. The biggest restitution numbers for victims of financial crimes generally involve Ponzi schemes or sweepstakes fraud, not cash thefts. She had attitude. : The .17 Million Loomis Fargo Theft [Jeff Diamant] on Amazon.com. ALSO READ: 14-year-old boy robbed at gunpoint while waiting for bus in east. He has been a staff writer for the Star-Ledger in New Jersey since 2000. Prosecutors say a vault. Well she was a pretty happy-go-lucky person, he said. You can seize property. Working by himself, Ghantt would commit the robbery and then flee for Mexico, leaving the bulk of the cash with Chambers. VERDICT The first edition of this work was published in 2002. 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. According to Butcher, Campbells last official payment came in June 2021 when the government appears to have seized a tax refund of $81.24. Instead he became paranoid, especially after Steve Chambers put a contract out on his life. Have a youtube channel or website similar? Still facing possible unknowns of other people involved, the FBI needed to gather more information without the suspects getting suspicious of them. Who was she to be pressuring him? I made a joke once that was the hardest Id ever worked for Wells Fargo -- yeah, its a lot of work, Ghantt said. 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. 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. At that point, Kelly and David had known each other for two years. Worlds Biggest Heists London Hatton Garden 200m Diamond Robbery, Easter 2015. He and Tammy could have one or two meals each week that he really liked, but the rest were hot dogs or Hamburger Helper. >> 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.. The bag held his mobile phone and handgun. Ghantts spending in Mexico was extravagant at first. Though Wydra is retired, 25 years ago, he was an agent with the FBI. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. "Just remind Steve," he said, "that I might be trouble my own self." But you cant get blood from a stone, Johns said. A customs inspector, asking routine questions of bus passengers, focused her attention on him when his answers reminded her of Tommy Flanagan, the pathological-liar character played by Jon Lovitz on Saturday Night Live. These (Loomis) guys, not so much.. They also purchased expensive cars, jewelry and a breast enhancement or two. Loomis Fargo employees could not open the vault the next morning, and called the police. We dont have the manpower to track all that (restitution) money down I pay (restitution to) thousands of people, but its in drips and drabs., Anybody who gets caught up in the system is getting chewed up by it,, You can garnish wages. 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. And after two years, the case is just a file. Ghantt, who by then was long out of prison, served as a consultant. To the community, the Loomis Fargo heist was a big joke -- the largest hillbilly caper of all time. But with Kelly's new idea on the table, several dark realities converged on him. In Reservoir Dogs, released just five years earlier, the pawns in a robbery knew each other only by assigned colors: Mr. He decided at that moment that if Kelly called again, he would go for it. 12) Loomis Fargo heist- The aftermath Ultimately, eight co-conspirators were indicted for the Loomis Fargo bank heist. contact us to submit an unexplained mystery article, or to join the team on the email address below. Friends of Campbell had also begun spending large amounts of cash. 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 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. While Ghantt trusted Chambers enough to leave his cut behind, Chambers had other plans. 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. what is a high priestess in the bible,
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