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The name she gave the pup is apropos. He pocketed the money and told Chambers and Campbell to send him his cut in Mexico. He partied, met women, drank, skied and hung out at the beach. And I was thinking about just showing up there. Scary. Michelle Chambers received seven years and eight months, while Steve Chambers was handed an 11-year sentence. There was in fact a basically similar conversation involving Chambers and Campbell that took place during a barbecue the Campbells were hosting. You might as well take it all, Ghantt tells me. Steve Chambers has told agents the missing cash was stolen from a shed in Lincoln County. And I think that makes it all the more funny, because it really offends my co-defendants. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist. 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. I told them, Take it, box it up, and youll be able to ship it to me in Mexico. Back in the 1990s, you couldve probably boxed up a hot pink elephant and shipped it to Mexico; no one wouldve ever noticed. 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. Steve also offered $100,000 to his 26-year-old cousin. . It was an ear-biting, Pierce Brosnan-loving, comet-obsessed world, and were here to relive every minute of it. He frequently entertained there, buying steaks for his guests. And I knew that by that time, Id be in Cancun no matter what. 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. Twenty people were convicted of roles big and small in the massive 1997 armored-car warehouse heist in west Charlotte. Hidden in it was a 3 1/2-carat diamond ring that cost $43,000. . But agents weren't ready to arrest Kelly and Steve. . But former Kings Mountain resident David Scott Ghantt can. . At 7:45, David had finished loading. Looking for Kelly Loomis? real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist (No Ratings Yet) . At the end of October, Kelly was sentenced to 5 years 10 months in prison. 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. 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. At first, David Ghantt said, "I didn't take her seriously. Kelly said she had reason to believe Steve might be able to pull off a heist. . Kelly was no criminal. Its really just a matter of timing, more than anything. And she says, How much do you think wed get out of there? I said, Ten to 15 million. But I didnt really know.. ". When McKinney realized Ghantt was wanted for the Loomis Fargo robbery, he backed off personally because he didnt want to be anywhere near a federal investigation. Posted on . I hear her typing. After a couple of weeks, Ghantt and the rest of the heist team were ready to strike. . "I said, 'I don't want him killed.' When he landed in Cancun, his first stop was Walmart. Then another. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist seeing a woodpecker after someone dies lectomano que significa. Thats where they feel comfortable., This piece of information would become critical to his getaway plan. Why had he ever believed he'd get it? "I" has one letter. "I said, 'Yeah, sure.' Truth was, David wanted more than help leaving, he wanted company. "I work construction. Then another. I think I always knew that, but lost my way for a while.". "He showed me a lot of money," McKinney said. The best states in the U.S. come from coast to coast. It was unclear whether anyone will get that money, authorities said. Where was Ghantt? All were convicted. Steve and Michele invited everyone back for a Christmas party, where they gave Michele's stepfather a special gift--the pickup truck he'd always wanted. About the same time, Kelly and McKinney received phone calls from agents who told them to open their doors. The cash was covered with dog food. A woman by the name of Kelly Campbell had worked there in 1996, and she and Ghantt had become friends in that time. Ghantt:It's a comedy. CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS FROM 1998 and ACTORS IN MOVIE. But what did that mean? The others, though, went no farther than Cramer Mountain. "I was thinking, 'They aren't paying me enough,' " McKinney recalled. Or is the loot buried in somebody's yard? Visit us at Loomis.us. and "I love money!" He then began loading $17 million in unmarked bills inside a company van before driving away. David was living under the name Mike McKinney on a phony ID. But you cant get blood from a stone, Johns said. Were others involved? Will Vin Sant Leave You Jacked or Scammed? This meant a bump in pay, up to $8.15 an hour. In early December, Steve and Michele invited relatives to their daughter's sixth birthday party. From Mexico, David usually spoke with Kelly on the phone once a week, paying with calling cards. There, Scott and Eric paced the floor as Steve tried to calm them down. At first, I just blended in with the tourists and picked up a few translation books, Ghantt explains. 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. (John D. Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP) The Associated Press, BY MICHAEL GORDON, The Charlotte Observer. Given the presence of the surveillance tapes and a gun belonging to Ghantt, they started with Ghantts phone and pager records and discovered a pattern they attributed to an accomplice. Thatd be the time to do it, Ghantt recalls. He and co-worker Kelly Campbell, 27, had developed a close relationship and were spending time together outside of work. Kelly had resisted this suggestion before the heist: She and David were friends. You cannot fine low-income people millions of dollars. The movie was overly silly and, based on a post-screening conversation with former Observer reporter Jeff Diamant who wrote a detailed 279-page book about the occasionally funny but mostly just-plain fascinating crime, titled Heist much of what wound up in the film is fiction. When neighbors asked where they got their money, Steve said hed played in the NFL. He was also a former FBI informant who had tipped the bureau off to a planned robbery of a Loomis Fargo armored truck that never came to fruition. Ghantt would go on to spend six and a half years in federal prison. His mobile home was nicely furnished, on eight acres with a stream in the back. 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. You've violated that trust. He has no contact with any of those convicted with him in the crime, including his former wife, and doesn't plan to see the movie, he said. By March, Steve Chambers decided he needed to do something more drastic about Ghantt, making plans to send a hitman to Mexico to silence him for good. In March 1997, after Loomis Fargo & Company has been robbed of $18.8 million in Jacksonville by company security guard Philip Noel Johnson, Steve Eugene Chambers and Kelly Campbell, a former employee of Loomis, decides to rob the company. On his second trip, Steve gave McKinney David's hotel address. The Evergreen State takes the top spot again in the U.S. News Best States ranking on the strength of its tech sector and other industries. After years of reflection and time in prison to work on himself, Ghantt was able to find a way to a better version of himself. Ghantt:I've always known that story had potential to be a comedy or a drama. He rewarded Robert with $3,000 and vowed never to meet McKinney alone. It was his goodbye. 2500 City West Blvd., Suite 2300 Houston, TX 77042. The Loomis defendants face no additional legal jeopardy for not paying off their debts. To protect themselves, David and Steve didn't meet or talk. Then FBI agent Wydra watched Steve's wife, Michele, deposit about $8,000 at a Gaston County, N.C., bank. Purchases included a pool table, jewelry (including a $43,000 diamond ring), a minivan, $20,000 worth of cigars, and the 7,000-square-foot home on the side of Cramer Mountain. Twenty-five years ago, a small group of rural North Carolinian amateur bank robbers pulled off the second-largest heist in American history. Ghantt was already married when he took part in the heist, to a woman named Tammy who author Diamant described as very nice. It is true, however, that she had no idea about the plot and that he fled to Mexico without telling her. Loomis, Fargo offered a $500,000 reward after the theft. Truth be told, Ghantt had something of a crush on Campbell, and so, he told her exactly how hed pull off such a heist. As it turned out, Ghantt was zipping up his scuba suit in Mexico. Her only brush with the law had been a DUI arrest. I learned something that was valuable at the time: Most criminals never leave a 250, maybe 300-mile circle from their home base. I don't blame him.". Health savings account and flexible spending account. Some days, the robbery seems like a memory from a different life, a choice made by a different man. One day, Campbell was speaking to an old friend named Steve Chambers. Her case closes in 2025. Ghantt:Since I still owe the federal government money I can't get paid. So it was weird when during the middle of the week, there were these very clean-cut, very Midwestern looking, obviously American guys in the town. . "I was dumb," Ghantt said Wednesday, the eve before the movie hits screens nationwide. She also assured the teller her cash wasn't drug money. The figures can be astounding. The teller, who hadn't asked, filed a "suspicious activity report." ". Together, they drove in a convoy to an industrial warehouse eight miles away, where Eric Payne, a fourth accomplice was. Things were spiraling fast. But in November, money ran low. Soon thereafter, he met Kelly Campbell, a co-worker at Loomis Fargo. Question: Do you ever think you could have been killed? At 6 that morning, FBI supervisor Rick Shaffer led 12 agents and several Gaston County police officers up a winding road on Cramer Mountain to Steve's home. Cool, I say. . When McKinney arrived in North Carolina, the plan had changed. You can seize property. As with Kelly, the worst blotch on 29-year-old Eric's record until now was a driving-while-intoxicated conviction. A couple weeks pass, and I call again, Hey, Id like to get some more money. Things went from bad to worse when, in November, Michelle strolled into a bank with a briefcase filled with 200 grand and asked the manager, How much can I deposit without the bank reporting the transaction? When she showed the bank manager that she really had the money to invest, the cash was still bound in Loomis Fargo wrappers. The initials on the money wrapper belonged to a Loomis employee who hadn't worked there since before the heist. The biggest restitution numbers for victims of financial crimes generally involve Ponzi schemes or sweepstakes fraud, not cash thefts. 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. I did every touristy thing you could possibly do while I was down there. The plan called for David to leave the vault door ajar, then maneuver a few minutes alone at the end of his shift, long enough to loot the cash, then pass it to Kelly and Steve. The FBI now knew Chambers had Loomis cash. But as he later recalled to the media, as soon as he stepped through those big-box doors, he realized he was flush with cash, and he didnt need to shop at Walmart ever again. He gave the rest to Kelly. By . And so, he told her, Google my name. Tags: Associated Press, courts, crime, North Carolina. Here's what Floyd recalls: After two games of pool, Steve told him, "You know, we do a lot of gambling. Its kind of like that. That October, the Chamberses' bank accounts ballooned. What made her abandon an ordinary existence to commit this spectacular, doomed crime? He's a very likable person. Kelly told the FBI she had done drugs with David but denied knowing about the theft. 1997 Harley-Davidson Road King motorcycle for sale at auction of items bought after Loomis, Fargo armored car facility heist by Steven Chambers, wife Michele, Kelly Jane Campbell & David Scott Ghanntt (Photo by Will And Deni McIntyre/Getty Images) Ghantt:I hate to say it, but I had six years of sitting in a box to think about my life. Meanwhile, Steve was keeping a close eye on Kelly. In real life: Mostly true. Until, that is, he decided to hell with it he was going to pull-off the second largest heist in U.S. history. Chambers went from a mobile home in Lincoln County to a mansion in Cramerton. Before long, the tales of high living by Chambers and his now former wife, Michelle, led the thieves to be labeled either the "Cramer Mountain Hillbillies" or "The gang that couldn't steal straight." There it was, "The Heist." Though David had said earlier he thought there was $15 million in the vault, the sight of that much cash held them spellbound. Loomis employees drive the very core of our business. Ghantt:I don't think he ever really meant to harm me. Scott Grant and Steve pulled up next to her in a Mazda. Twelve hours later, at 6 that evening, Eric Payne drove a rented Budget van to his workplace, a graphics company on Performance Road in western Mecklenburg County called Reynolds & Reynolds, which was closed for the night and had a secluded parking lot where they intended to transfer the cash. They stocked a wine cellar. 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. Why fans love it. I missed my wife. After a Gulf War stint in the Army, David got married in 1992. Because surprise! The robbery of some $17 million quickly became one of the wildest bank heists of the last quarter century. At the Halloween party, though, Kelly gave in to Steve, and agreed it had to be done. Its in the ether. It's about the 1997 Loomis Fargo robbery also known as the "hillbillly heist" the second largest cash robbery in the history of the United States. If you want me to leave, Ill leave. Then, Ghantt went into another room. In the first days after the arrests, agents recovered or accounted for all but about $2 million of the stolen money. But first they wanted to know if it was a robbery or a robbery-homicide. At that same time, Steve was growing sick of the calls to send more money to Ghantt, and was looking for a way to end that issue. They ditched the Loomis van, then drove the cash-heavy Budget van to Steve's mobile home in Lincoln County, where his wife, Michele, waited with a calculator and rubber bands. Zach always plays that bumbling kind of lunatic, but hes not, Ghantt says. One day, the two employees were in the break room and got to talking about the news of the day a massive bank heist that just occurred in Florida by someone at their company. In mid-November, McKinney carried $10,000 to Cancun but wound up spending most of it on himself. If they could just sit on the money until then, he said, they'd be fine. Actor Owen Wilson plays him in the movie, which includes the real names of all the major players. When I call Ghantt to discuss his involvement in the Loomis Fargo heist, he confesses that hes feeling a bit tired from a day of honest labor. Soon, the couple would be paying for something else, too: a hitman. There were times when I drank really heavily.". Even still, he was 27, married and struggling to provide for his family. Kelly, she says now, was thinking about how happy she would be to send this man far away from her. That led to better jobs, like the one at Loomis. "I was trying to figure out a way to [leave my husband] and take care of my kids without having to depend on him or any other man," Kelly said. 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. The audacity of the act was breathtaking. 1-4-3 is 'I love you.' Kelly, using David's cell phone, kept beeping him. Everybody seemed stunned. In real life: False. It wasn't known whether anyone would receive it. I'd probably change jobs. Heres your money. Then he turns around and leaves., The problem was, it was nowhere near the amount Ghantt had expected: Im looking at it, and theres maybe $8,000. Copyright 2022 TheAssociated Press. . I don't want to be mean, but that's probably the dumbest thing they could do. Steve, who had sworn Kelly, Eric and Scott to secrecy the night of the theft, named them all to the FBI. I had a four-hour layover there, and then from New Orleans to Cancun.. She could visit friends. "But I had to know.". The plan to rob Loomis Fargo was spawned by Campbell and her friend Steve Chambers, during a casual bonfire at Chambers' home. Chambers did hire McKinney to kill Ghantt, but initially McKinney was making personal cash deliveries to Ghantt in Mexico on behalf of Chambers. Kelly called David at Loomis; he told her he'd be ready for them with the cash at 6:30 or 7 p.m. Alone in the building, David was trying to finish loading cash from the vault into an unmarked white Ford Econoline van belonging to Loomis. David complained it wasn't enough. Ghantt:We're both North Carolina boys so we had a lot to talk about from the very beginning. I did a little research into crime statistics and the local cops. He hadnt checked ahead of time if the airport had any available flights, let alone if it would even be open. kellis@gastongazette.com 0:04 0:57 On Oct. 4, 1997, former Kings Mountain resident David Scott Ghantt finished his shift as a vault supervisor for Loomis Fargo in Charlotte. Ghantt was the vault manager and was surrounded. Not Ghantt. Thats one of my personality flaws. Kelly was lying. "He said, 'Yeah, right,' and turned his head. October was "a blast," he said. Zaron Burnett is an investigative journalist and longform features writer based in Los Angeles. Records show the government has garnished his Social Security checks. Why do we feel its so necessary to treat people like this, to say, OK, well just ruin the rest of your life because you made a bad decision., Punishment should not last a lifetime. He flew in an ultra-light plane. They loaded the wine cellar with Pabst Blue Ribbon, and Steve hung a velvet portrait of Elvis Presley in the basement. He figured Tammy wouldn't go for it, and though his marriage had been troubled, he wasn't certain he wanted to leave her. Kelly had no problem fanning the flames of their old flirtation. So he convinced a local hoodlum in Mexico to try to kill Ghantt. 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. In one case, the restitution for a Loomis defendant may be a moving target. . ", "I wouldn't do it. Now he offered to pay him to carry cash to David--Steve said he was a friend hiding out after a bad drug deal, McKinney recalled. Some of that money is just gone. His collection case closes in two years. The authorities didn't know yet how much was missing from the armored-car company, but Steve did. He longed for the middle-class lifestyle of his childhood, with its private religious-school education and Disney World vacations. Steve tried keys on a side door. Kelly would only discover later that leading up to the heist, Steve had been writing bad checks, $17,000 worth, for which he would later be convicted. Her husband gave her a brown teddy bear. There are multiples of thousands of these things coming every year. So yeah, Im kind of proud of it.. Theres no way to get it back, Butcher told The Charlotte Observer.