loomis fargo heist kelly campbell

David Ghantt (Zach Galifianakis), an employee of Loomis Fargo, robbed his own vault, left the $17.3 million in cash with his co-conspirators, Kelly Campbell (Kristen Wiig) and Steve Chambers (Owen Wilson) and fled the country to Mexico. Though Wydra is retired, 25 years ago, he was an agent with the FBI. So the pieces were falling into place for investigators. LETTER TO THE EDITOR: But where will they park? 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. These (Loomis) guys, not so much.. A more immediate need was securing help to move the stolen money to safety the night of the crime. Campbell was released from federal custody in 2004 after serving five years, meaning her collection case will age out in December 2024. Feet Security Officer Bo Foot's Incident In Happy Town | ipl.org 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. 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. Inside the truck, they found Ghantts ring and surmised this as a sign of Ghantts intention to end his relationship with his wife. Michelle Chambers paid off only $27,000. All but one of the 24 defendants pleaded guilty, and the one who didnt take the deal was convicted. 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. Twenty people were convicted of roles big and small in the massive 1997 armored-car warehouse heist in west Charlotte. 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. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist - molecularrecipes.com Join thousands already receiving our daily newsletter. Libraries without that edition should consider purchasing this entertaining and lightly edited version, which reads like a fast-paced novel. It's still the hot topic . 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.. (John D. Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP) 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. 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. Afterward, she and David would talk just occasionally on the phone. CHARLOTTE If you didnt live in the Charlotte area 25 years ago, you might not believe it. The FBI became more suspicious after they interviewed Campbell for the third time. The Loomis case is another example where the amount of restitution ordered vs. what is actually paid are two dramatically different numbers. America's Dumbest Heist! (True Crime Documentary) | Real Stories 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. just generally being a jerk. 'Masterminds' Review: Loomis Fargo Robbery Where Are They Now? - Pajiba Of course, this would all be a radical departure for him, and thoughts of his wife and parents did give him pause. Working by himself, Ghantt would commit the robbery and then flee for Mexico, leaving the bulk of the cash with Chambers. Ghantt met up with the other members of the plot and offloaded the cash. David Ghantt was just an average Joe with an average low-wage job. You cannot fine low-income people millions of dollars. They Had 17 Million Dollars and No Sense at All - AMW Magazine It just happened to fall on my desk.. The government does not run debtors prisons, says U.S. The supervisor liked him and gave him the job. He deserved better. It has a certain feel, a smell and weight to it. While David Ghantt trusted Steve Chambers enough to leave his cut behind, Chambers had other plans. "Just think about it," she said. By using this website, you accept the terms of our Visitor Agreement and Privacy Policy, and understand your options regarding Ad Choices. Booklist "Librariesshould consider purchasing this entertaining and lightly edited version, which reads like a fast-paced novel." Then 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, Wydra said. Loomis Fargo, the nation's largest privately held armored- car company, used vans to transport hundreds of millions of dollars a day belonging to banks and other businesses, stocking automated teller machines and storing money in the Loomis vault between deliveries. Conversations about stealing from the company weren't rare for Loomis employees. But after a year, they cut it down to two agents. Investigators considered Ghantt to be the prime suspect almost from the beginning. Theres no way to get it back, Butcher told The Charlotte Observer. He played high school football at Mays High School in Atlanta, and college football at Georgia Tech . Campbell led Ghantt to think she loved him and they would flee to Mexico together, but she actually wanted to make a better life for herself in the U.S. With the plan in place, Ghantt sent a newly hired employee he had been assigned to train home early (reportedly, at 6 p.m.) and then proceeded to load a little more than $17.3 million in cash (approximately $11 million of which was in$20 bills) into the back of a company van. Guller was the attorney for Steven Chambers, who came up with the original idea for the Loomis theft. The phone calls began to get more intense when Steve and Eric got suspicious of a man who was running hismouth about them and the vault job over in Charlotte. Prosecutors say a vault. One number is working in Campbells favor. He stayed at it until the vault was empty. 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. Javascript is not enabled in your browser. In all, they recovered $6.6 million. 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. This station is part of Cox Media Group Television. Campbell used to work for Loomis and continued the friendship with Ghantt, eventually hooking him up with Chambers. 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. The gang made numerous mistakes. >> 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.. Steve Chambers would keep the rest. Steve began talking about wiring money to overseas accounts, and even purchasing a nightclub. Well she was a pretty happy-go-lucky person, he said. He is a graduate of Yale and has worked for the Connecticut Post, the Associated Press, and the Palm Beach Post. Ms. Campbell worked at Loomis for 11 months, leaving in November 1996, according to court papers. In the movie: Campbell invites Ghantt to a restaurant under the auspices of a date, but then springs the idea of the heist on him, as Chambers and two associates join the conversation from an . "Do you know how much there's gonna be?" 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. One day, Campbell was speaking to an old friend named Steve Chambers. 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. When some friends stole a stop sign from a busy intersection, David made them put it back. 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. The FBI began to question past and current employees of Loomis Fargo. The police almost immediately called theFBI, since 95% of the money handled at the facility was owned by banks. "I don't have time to mess with you. 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. Loomis Fargo defendants owe as much as they stole in 1997 They succeeded in removing $17 million from the safe. The FBI heard about the plot and agents knew they could no longer wait. We are happy to work with other website publishers. All but one of the defendants pleaded guilty. But with Kelly's new idea on the table, several dark realities converged on him. 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. Chambers had broached the possibility of a robbery to Campbell earlier in the summer. David would simply empty the vault and deliver the money to the others. Arrests Made in $17 Mil. N.C. Heist | AP News Figure in Loomis Heist Gets Prison | AP News [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]. Its in the ether. 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. Butcher says the federal courts in the Western District of North Carolina have never handled a case quite like Loomis. 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. Pink, Mr. Blue, Mr. Orange, Mr. Blonde. uncanny, eerie, unnatural, preternatural, supernatural, unearthly, other-worldly, unreal, ghostly, mysterious, mystifying, strange, abnormal, unusual. Some of that money is just gone. Stealing from Loomis Fargo could make him rich, if he got away with it. The Charlotte area's economy was booming all around him, and he felt passed over. If the American Dream involved being better off as adults than your parents were, David was experiencing a version of the American Nightmare. Federal law stops government collection efforts 20 years after a defendant leaves prison. Anybody who gets caught up in the system is getting chewed up by it, the now-retired Gronquist told the Observer. He added that money can be a motivator for anyone. Cool interesting stuff features everything odd, weird, bizzare, strange or unusual. them. Paying the money back has taken a lot longer, and time is running out for the U.S. government to collect. The real story behind the second largest bank heist in history, which The October 4 shift was lasting longer than expected, due to delays involving pickups and deliveries. They didnt expect it.. If it didn't work out, he could return to the United States later with a new identity. Charlotte Observer"more than a crime story, and one that's worth reading." They swept the surrounding counties, locating Kelly Campbell and Eric Payne in their homes. When you have money, you just have different problems: The Loomis Fargo heist, 25 years later. Records show the government has garnished his Social Security checks. The government does not run debtors prisons, says U.S. To be brutally honest, it was that morning, Ghantt replied. Ghantt studied how to rob his employer and advised the others not to spend the money lavishly. Hes a family man with a wife and daughter. The Loomis case is another example where the amount of restitution ordered vs. what is actually paid are two dramatically different numbers. Ghantt took $50,000 for himself and fled to Cozumel, Mexico. Some of that money is just gone. Federal law stops government collection efforts 20 years after a defendant leaves prison. Next month, Payne will back in the Charlotte federal courthouse, this time to be sentenced from weapons and methamphetamine trafficking charges. I made a joke once that was the hardest Id ever worked for Wells Fargo -- yeah, its a lot of work, Ghantt said. This was several years before the advent of smartphones and the post-9/11 increase in federal surveillance of electronic communications, and public knowledge about this tracking was less widespread. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. 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. From there, the money was moved from the armored car to private vehicles. Agents raided safe deposit boxes, where they recovered more than $11 million. There are multiples of thousands of these things coming every year. His collection case, which closes in November 2026, got credit for the couples $540,000 house on Cramer Mountain in Gaston County, Butcher says. It's been 20 years since the Loomis Fargo heist. - Charlotte Observer The plan was still on, but David remained steamed.

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