"I wanted to be more like my mom and dad were.". Then he was driving in the darkness with a van full of cash. Ghantt, his former co-worker Kelly Campbell and her friends Steve and Michelle Chambers, carried out the Loomis Fargo heist on Oct. 4, 1997. Some family members hid money in bank deposit boxes, other friends were asked to mule cash to the Cayman Islands. They assumed that whoever was involved would keep the cash in a safe place, like a safe deposit box. In all, agents arrested 24 people in the heist. 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 kept looking over his shoulder. Ghantt, who by then was long out of prison, served as a consultant. Two more defendants in the $17 million Loomis Fargo & Co. robbery last year have agreed to plead guilty, and a third person entered a formal plea in court. He appeared happily matched with his high-spirited wife, Michele, and the two children from her first marriage. . 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. When she realized Ghantt never came home from work the night before, she contacted the police and filed a missing persons report. The Chambers home is now gated, which means Channel 9 crews cant drive up to it like we used to. However, the fact that a man who formerly lived in a mobile home was lavishly spending money on a luxury home ($635,000 in cash), expensive cars, and a ring ($42,000 in cash) eventually made it easy to connect the dots. And that's OK with Ghantt, who's just a few weeks shy of his 47th birthday, out of federal prison for more than a decade, married with a 9-year-old daughter . In early November, Steve lured the real Mike McKinney, an ex-Marine, to North Carolina from his Illinois home. Steve now needed a hit man. . While the agents initiated their investigation, the Chambers spent money as quickly as they could. On the evening of October 4, 1997, one man loaded $17.3 million in cash from the vaults of Loomis, Fargo & Co. into the back of a van. We got this guy named Bruno. One number is working in Campbells favor. Search by Name Search . For reasons that remain obscure, Robert spilled the beans to David. 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. About the same time, Kelly and McKinney received phone calls from agents who told them to open their doors. The Columbia airport had no available flights. Come for the Chumbawamba, and stay for the return of the Mack. Learn about careers at Cox Media Group. Website. Throughout the multi-year-long case and subsequent trials, journalists often referred to Ghantt and the others as trailer trash and hillbillies. ". When we worked together [for Loomis], we'd joke about it. In the meantime, however, Chambers not only refused to wire money to Ghantt in Mexico, but ultimately hired a hitman (Jason Sudeikis) to take him out. Except the person he offered $150,000 to mule $2.5 million down to Ghantt in Mexico turned him down and instead went to the FBI. I said, Listen, You all need to get your shit together, or Im just going to walk over here to the government building and tell them who the fuck I am. That lit a little fire under her ass, for a bit.. In the two days after the robbery, agents interviewed more than 100 people, most connected with David. Kelly says she underestimated the value of her life before the heist. But he tried to keep his face averted, so David wouldn't be able to ID him. Get to me. Its that kind of excitement.. When he landed in Cancun, his first stop was Walmart. Haz clic en Gestionar ajustes para obtener ms informacin y gestionar tus opciones. He flip-flopped on the heist idea three or four times. Just under $14 million sat in an outbuilding behind his home, inside blue steel barrels. Director Jared Hess Writers Chris Bowman (screenplay) Hubbel Palmer (screenplay) Emily Spivey (screenplay) Stars Zach Galifianakis Kristen Wiig Owen Wilson So Im like, Can you get a move on with my money? After a couple of weeks passed, I get a phone call from Kelly: Okay, Brunos coming to you, blah, blah, blah. So I get a phone call from this guy, and I tell him where to meet me. But agents weren't ready to arrest Kelly and Steve. But I thought this is me being hard-headed Im going to ride this thing to the ground. And so thats what I did.. (John D. Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP) The Associated Press, BY MICHAEL GORDON, The Charlotte Observer. Not Ghantt. Its like, me and you sat down, I have access to pie, you like pie, all I want is my share of the pie. . Loomis, then known as Loomis Fargo, experienced two inside jobs in 1997, for $17.3 million and $18.8 million. Called Masterminds, the 2016 film stars Zach Galifianakis, Kristen Wiig and Owen Wilson. Scary. Ghantt was the vault manager and was surrounded. That was the thing that sticks in my mind to this day., ALSO READ: Man released from jail, accused of robbing banks while wearing electronic monitor, police say. It was released in 2016 and Wydra was invited to the premiere. But things didnt quite work out that way. So yeah, Ghantt continues, I took a bus from there to Atlanta, and then I hopped a cab from the bus station to the airport in Atlanta., Back in North Carolina, his accomplices were working as fast as they could to hide the $17 million. What purpose does that serve other than to denigrate that person into abject poverty?. So we were able to figure out with all the denominations, it would require about 20 safe deposit boxes to store it all.. And I said, Hey, man, I got this. * I understand and. As soon as Corey left, I pretended like I was leaving. Michelle, meanwhile, purchased new breasts for herself, along with a $43,000 diamond ring and a new convertible BMW Z3. My love for my family is by far the most important thing in my life. The phone rang: Kelly had a problem. But after a year, they'll cut it down to two agents. Search Tools . On Oct. 5, the Loomis heist celebrates its 25th birthday. Money. He took bus tours of Mayan ruins. While Ghantt trusted Chambers enough to leave his cut behind, Chambers had other plans. 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 didn't actually meet Chambers until the night of the heist, though, according to Diamant, who would go on to write a book about it.The reason Ghantt got involved was always the . Part 2: Channel 9 speaks with the man at the center of Loomis Fargo heist 25 years ago. You might as well go all the way now.". Mexican police, Interpol officers and an FBI agent were watching him. "He said, 'Yeah, right,' and turned his head. They decorated their 6,000-square-foot stucco house with antiques, paintings and statues, including a six-foot wooden Indian that Michele had bought for $600. 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.. Since Ghantt was the supervisor, he sent his co-worker home first. "Things I always wanted to do, but never had the time or the money," he said. When October 1997 began, Steve and Michelle Chambers lived in a double-wide trailer. But if you did, youll never forget it. But that only tells part of the story. Michele tells me you're in a financial bind. The cash was covered with dog food. Just head on out. And so, he did. By this time, agents knew where he was and had a general idea who the other players were, so they went to every bank in town to see if any of them rented a safe deposit box. If you want me to leave, Ill leave. Then, Ghantt went into another room. In the following months, Steve persisted, even floating the notion of placing phony hand grenades on a Loomis truck to scare away the drivers, Kelly said. Chambers got 11 years. Federal law stops government collection efforts 20 years after a defendant leaves prison. But after she left, she reached back out to Ghantt and brought up what theyd talked about that day in the break room. "We kept going, '1-4-3, 1-4-3,' " recalled Vic O'Korn, assistant special agent in charge of Charlotte's FBI office. She later hired someone to kill Ghantt, though the murder never took place. Steve Chambers has told agents the missing cash was stolen from a shed in Lincoln County. Then, he proceeded to load 2,800 pounds of cash into a van. 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. The figures can be astounding. The next day, Kelly drove back to Steve's mobile home to watch the news with Steve and Michele. "But, I hate to admit it, it doesn't faze me one bit. Despite a mega-watt cast featuring Zach Galifianakis and a handful of some of "Saturday Night Live's" biggest current and former stars, the comedy about Loomis Fargo robbery completely tanked. Theres no management around. Burks was also ordered to serve 15 years in prison, limiting his ability to balance his books. Stay informed daily on the latest news and advice on COVID-19 from the editors at U.S. News & World Report. 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. And robbing a truck was dangerous. The property has changed hands several times since then. When Ghantt was on the plane home from Mexico with the FBI, he admitted to the agents that while Campbell had been integral to why hed done it and that he did indeed have a crush on her it was never his true motivation. In one case, the restitution for a Loomis defendant may be a moving target. Were others involved? He placed stacks of currency on a cart and wheeled it to the van about 15 feet away, inside the building. Its kind of like that. All of the co-defendants were arrested the next day, about six months after the heist. The barrels were Steves idea, Ghantt says. I thought, Okay, if I get out of that bubble because the cops depend on that, even the feds my chances to get away go way up.. There had been no signs. He recalled that another agent, Phil King, said, "Hey, there was an article in the [Charlotte] Observer about beeper codes. Back then, it was one of the hotspots for hiding money. Ghantt planned to live off the interest for the rest of his life. At the time of the real robbery, Chambers was facing criminal charges hed written 30K worth of bad checks and was facing jail time for it. And I think that makes it all the more funny, because it really offends my co-defendants. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. There is nothing of value in this movie. So they went to Mexico and arrested Ghantt in order to protect him. And I knew that by that time, Id be in Cancun no matter what. But what did that mean? He loves his motorcycle and enjoys going fishing and, while hes sorry for the past, hes not ashamed to talk about it. At the time, it was the largest cash heist in history. The government does not run debtors prisons, says U.S. She just called me up on the phone and said, Hey, lets meet one day after work. And then, we were talking and she says, How do you feel about robbing Loomis Fargo? Ghantt tells me. Now that Kelly believes she has found Jesus, she has become more analytical about her past. She laughed for like 45 minutes. It changes you. I made a joke once that was the hardest Id ever worked for Wells Fargo -- yeah, its a lot of work, Ghantt said. "We're not the type that questions everything people tell us," Floyd said. Thatd be the time to do it, Ghantt recalls. 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. "Every time my conscience would start bothering me," Kelly recalled, "I'd smoke another joint and forget about it.". Though David had no criminal experience, he felt he could offer expert advice: He'd just finished reading a book on the FBI. First, in January, he tried to get someone to take some millions down to Mexico. ALSO READ: 14-year-old boy robbed at gunpoint while waiting for bus in east Charlotte, mom says. A guard at an armored car company in the Southern U.S. organizes one of the biggest bank heists in American history. Kelly, using David's cell phone, kept beeping him. Human nature is a flexible part of life, Gronquist said. On March 1, David Ghantt left his hotel to do some laundry. Exhibit A was that Steve had no steady job but plenty of cash. Why had he ever believed he'd get it? . I just had to call you., Today, Ghantt cant look back on the whole ordeal without some degree of pride. As soon as you put that first bag of stolen money in that van, theres no going back. Although David was in on most of the planning, one discussion between Steve and Kelly was kept a secret. Here, he amps up the most obnoxious excesses of his entire cast and lets their grating bad-improv skills run amok. She tried to apologize for the murder plot. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist (No Ratings Yet) . About 5:45 a.m., he got into his pickup and began the 45-minute drive to work in Charlotte. There was, however, one problem with his plan. No dry runs, no rehearsals. He said at first, they were very proud of what they had been able to do. But because David's relationship with his Loomis bosses had been rocky, he says, he doesn't feel sorry about what he did to the company. Now, at 7:45 p.m., with all the money finally inside the van, his aching muscles could take a breather. Nah, it was always about the money, he told the agents. Kelly drove her pickup to a lot across the street from the Loomis building, on Suttle Avenue in Charlotte. I couldn't understand why I hadn't been more successful," David said. . Ghantt met up with the other members of the plot and offloaded the cash. . Meanwhile, Steve was keeping a close eye on Kelly. And youre like, Come on parachute. And then I could hear her laughing. I mean, cause greed is a funny animal. Steve led the planning. Without really intending to, Kelly recalls, she turned the conversation to the possibility of a heist. Her husband gave her a brown teddy bear. ", "Even then . I mentioned it to Kelly. I loved it. Here's what Floyd recalls: After two games of pool, Steve told him, "You know, we do a lot of gambling. FBI video shows the agency searching that home and finding drawers full of cash. 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.. and "I love money!" They bought a BMW roadster. 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. Back in North Carolina, Ghantts former accomplices were living high on the hog. Loomis officials--forced to break into their own vault because David had taken the keys with him--calculated that he had stolen $17,044,000, making the second biggest heist in U.S. history, following the $18.8 million theft of an armored car by another Loomis Fargo employee just six months earlier. [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]. This meant a bump in pay, up to $8.15 an hour. Zaron Burnett is an investigative journalist and longform features writer based in Los Angeles. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. "He showed me a lot of money," McKinney said. Ghantt had fled to Mexico with $50,000 in cash, leaving the rest of the money with Steve Chambers. 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. About 10 frantic minutes later, Scott found the right key. The old man me would never survive that, Id have a heart attack.. They cursed. And I was thinking about just showing up there. That day, FBI agents also would arrest Scott Grant and Eric Payne, who had spent his share of the money on a motorcycle and breast implants for his wife and two sisters. It was an ear-biting, Pierce Brosnan-loving, comet-obsessed world, and were here to relive every minute of it. Eventually, Steve made Kelly believe they could steal from Loomis and get away with it, she said. 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