real life kelly campbell loomis fargo

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. Kelly drove her pickup to a lot across the street from the Loomis building, on Suttle Avenue in Charlotte. They soon realized David had stolen more money than would fit in their 55-gallon barrels. They loaded the wine cellar with Pabst Blue Ribbon, and Steve hung a velvet portrait of Elvis Presley in the basement. You can garnish wages. She never really worried about the moral end of it--she was focused only on getting what she wanted out of life, what so many others seemed to have in this booming part of the South. I would call us friends. No dry runs, no rehearsals. To celebrate Halloween, about seven of Steve's friends, including Eric Payne and Kelly, gathered for a party at Steve's house. Starting Pay Rate: $15.50 per hour Shift: Monday - Friday from 1:00pm to 9:00pm Job Description As a Coin Processor, you work with your team to maintain inventory in our cash vaults for our Loomis customers. Meanwhile, back in North Carolina, Ghantts wife woke up to find her husband missing. By the time the month concluded, the couple had purchased a 7,000-square-foot stone mansion in a gated country club community. At 7:45, David had finished loading. Hes going to start bringing you money. Alright. With the help of Aldo, a Mexican waiter he had befriended, David found a beach apartment in Cancun. Meanwhile, Michele Chambers was laughing and saying, repeatedly, "Look at all this money!" Industry leading Training and Development. Time passed, and Campbell eventually quit her job at Loomis Fargo. The only person not to plead guilty in the case, former Gastonia attorney Jeff Guller, ended up doing eight years for money laundering. . I hear her typing. 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. No hard feelings. 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. It was the first Saturday in October. Sandra Floyd, Michele Chambers's mother, remembers the first time she saw the house. Before long, the FBI had wiretaps on the ringleader, Steve Chambers, and then they waited for the right time to make their arrests. Kelly said she had reason to believe Steve might be able to pull off a heist. I threw you out, and then threw the parachute after you. Because surprise! Before David left for the airport, he had handed Scott an eight-inch key ring. Though he never found the right moment to carry out the hit, McKinney did find time to make a friend--a shady character named Robert, to whom he revealed more than was prudent. Im a very deliberate person. Truth be told, Ghantt had something of a crush on Campbell, and so, he told her exactly how hed pull off such a heist. "You" has three. That sounds like a lot of money until its compared to the $18,930,201.26 the group was ordered to pay. "I was thinking, 'They aren't paying me enough,' " McKinney recalled. 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. Chambers, who still lives in Gaston County and operates a gym, declined to comment. Campbell, 29, had pleaded guilty to charges of bank larceny, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder. He was doing what the rest of us were doing making bad decisions. Kelly had resisted this suggestion before the heist: She and David were friends. David thought about it. Things were spiraling fast. 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. When McKinney arrived in North Carolina, the plan had changed. Her husband gave her a brown teddy bear. 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 pay back more than $4 million. Should David be killed after he gave them the money? About 5:30 the next morning, McKinney knocked on David's door and dropped $8,500 on the bed. Or is the loot buried in somebody's yard? Ghantt simply got ready for work one morning knowing it would be his last day on the job. In real life: False. Hed be in contact. Only a nickel on every dollar have been collected so far. When he landed in Cancun, his first stop was Walmart. Actor Owen Wilson plays him in the movie, which includes the real names of all the major players. Chambers, now 32, didn't grant an interview for this article, but last year, in response to written questions, he said the biggest lesson he learned was: "Family is more important and valuable than money. So he convinced a local hoodlum in Mexico to try to kill Ghantt. Down in Jacksonville, a Loomis Fargo employee took $18 million from an armored van he was driving. Ultimately, though, the heist wasnt Ghantts idea, which meant he didnt decide who else was involved. Ghantt was apprehended in Mexico and returned to the United States in custody. 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. No regrets. We spoke with the inside man, David Ghantt, to get the real story. He figured Tammy wouldn't go for it, and though his marriage had been troubled, he wasn't certain he wanted to leave her. He told her he wanted more of "his" cash. "But, I hate to admit it, it doesn't faze me one bit. David didn't even know Steve's name. Though David had said earlier he thought there was $15 million in the vault, the sight of that much cash held them spellbound. (The conversation was depicted as 100 percent private on screen). ', "He asked me if I'd mind holding some money for him. Thats nearly $11 million less than former Kings Mountain resident David Ghantt (played by Galifianakis in the film) helped steal from the vault where he worked in Charlotte back in October 1997. 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. Not until David was gone did Scott realize he didn't know which key to use. If you go from a mobile home to a mansion, that's going to attract attention. This was in the 1990s the Columbia Airport back then was closed at around 9:30, 10 oclock. This is where it starts to unravel, Ghantt tells me with a wry laugh. From going fishing to riding horses on the beach the whole nine yards. 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. Steve had already paid McKinney $50,000 for the use of his ID. 2022 marks the 25th anniversary of the year that everything happened 1997. When neighbors asked where they got their money, Steve said hed played in the NFL. Its in the ether. "As soon as you start, you realize there's no going back," David recalled. I flew from Atlanta to New Orleans. But McKinney never stopped trying to kill Ghantt although, initally, McKinney thought Chambers had paid for the hit over a drug deal gone bad, Diamant said. She could walk under the trees, with the chickens and goats and dogs that live around her mobile home. 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. Michele tells me you're in a financial bind. 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. Question: Are you happy that Wilkesboro-nativeZach Galifianakis plays you in the movie? Or that it was an inheritance. Steve had another conversation with Kelly about killing David. There was a third person with them, too, a man named Eric Grant. Fourteen defendants were ordered to make restitution payments to Loomis Fargo totaling almost $19 million. When he finished, the van was filled with $17 million. "He was in tears. And then I could hear her laughing. And it turned Steve into he thought he was Don Corleone all of a sudden.. He couldn't talk.". Theres no management around. A couple weeks pass, and I call again, Hey, Id like to get some more money. It didnt take the local police long to put the pieces together. Filming in the Asheville area starting in early July, and is. Records show the government has garnished his Social Security checks. They put up mauve wallpaper. "I thought he was goofing around.". Gaston County residents remember how that worked out. Ghantt was the vault manager and was surrounded. "Love" has four. In real life: Mostly true. David told her he'd need help moving the money, getting a new ID and leaving the country. In 2017, for example, Paul Burks of Lexington was ordered to pay $244 million to the victims of his worldwide Ponzi scheme, Zeek Rewards. A woman by the name of Kelly Campbell had worked there in 1996, and she and Ghantt had become friends in that time. Kelly found herself standing beside David while they waited together for a bond hearing. ];David Scott Ghanntt [Misc.] Come for the Chumbawamba, and stay for the return of the Mack. Thanksgiving and Christmas were difficult. In the meantime, the FBI was closing in looking to bust a total of 21 suspected accomplices. He hated the sweet smell of the green ink, and the $8.15-an-hour salary. The mystery 1-4-3 caller had been Kelly, though agents didn't know it yet. In December, agents got the tie-in they were looking for: Kelly Campbell had bought a $30,000 Toyota minivan with cash and registered it to one of Steve Chambers's aliases. "He said, 'Yeah, right,' and turned his head. Question: Any contact with Steve Chambers or any of the others involved with the heist? 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. . Zach always plays that bumbling kind of lunatic, but hes not, Ghantt says. And I was thinking about just showing up there. She asked about the limit for a cash deposit before "paperwork" was required. Basically, he needed a score to make his problems go away. The Columbia airport had no available flights. Butcher says the federal courts in the Western District of North Carolina have never handled a case quite like Loomis. 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.. Scott didn't want to, but then he remembered the hundred-grand payday. But as soon as he drove off, I went right back in and opened the vault. He para-sailed, power-skied and scuba-dived. 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. The FBI, in fact, obtained the evidence they needed to bring down the major players, including Chambers, after catching them talking about the murder plot on the telephone via wiretap. You cannot fine low-income people millions of dollars. David had grabbed $50,000 cash, but could figure out only how to carry $25,000 with him on the plane. Based on a true story, the premise itself is fascinating, which makes Masterminds all the more a waste. Kelly relayed his message to Steve. ". Were others involved? They involve Loomis armored car driver David Scott Ghantt. Its kind of like that. At the Halloween party, though, Kelly gave in to Steve, and agreed it had to be done. He had just returned to his home in Jacksonville, Fla., when he agreed to talk about the heist, his life now and what went wrong when a group of friends who thought they could get away with stealing $17 million cash. Or as he tells me, How many people in the United States havent thought about robbing a bank? I was looking at small sailboats and theyre not cheap, he tells me. The next week, they heard Steve plan to send Mike McKinney to Mexico to kill David Ghantt. An Ohio police officer who shot and killed a Black man as he lay in bed in his home last summer is no longer on the force, Three Kansas City police officers who were shot while serving a search warrant have been released from the hospital, Officials say one passenger died when a business jet experienced severe turbulence, forcing a landing at Bradley International Airport in Connecticut. 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. About 5:45 a.m., he got into his pickup and began the 45-minute drive to work in Charlotte. Key benefit components include: Health insurance plans. Alert: Obviously, spoilers abound. Question: What made you, Chambers and the others think you could get away with this? Tickle Me Kaczynski: How the Inventor of the Ultimate Elmo Toy Became a Unabomber Suspect, A Highly Questionable Cultural History of Richard Geres Ass Gerbil. In hindsight, it doesnt surprise me a bit, Ghantt says, a bitter laugh catching in his throat. But in November, money ran low. Get to me. Its that kind of excitement.. Called Masterminds, the 2016 film stars Zach Galifianakis, Kristen Wiig and Owen Wilson. 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. Exciting. About the same time, Kelly and McKinney received phone calls from agents who told them to open their doors. They tried to break the van's bulletproof windows. Or that hed gotten lucky gambling. In a word, "Teamwork. Together, they drove in a convoy to an industrial warehouse eight miles away, where Eric Payne, a fourth accomplice was. I knew that the news wouldnt break until later that morning. The money was heavy. Few who were living in the area at the time can forget the "Velvet Elvis" painting Chambers had hanging in his mansion or the tales of cosmetic surgery, BMW convertibles and other signs of excess. These (Loomis) guys, not so much.. 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. "I was dumb," Ghantt said Wednesday, the eve before the movie hits screens nationwide. Ghantt was in fact hiding out in Mexico using McKinneys I.D., which had been sold to Chambers months earlier. But it wasnt. His assignment was to deliver the cash to David and keep him happy until they could find a way to kill him, McKinney said. To that end, Campbell brought in her childhood friend Steve Chambers, who was characterized in the local press as a small-time drug dealer and a local fence for stolen goods, to lead the team. The Loomis Fargo Bank Robbery was the $17.3 million cash robbery of the Charlotte, North Carolina, regional office vault of Loomis Fargo & Company on the evening of October 4, 1997, by armored car driver and vault supervisor David Scott Ghantt. And youre like, Come on parachute. Just under $14 million sat in an outbuilding behind his home, inside blue steel barrels. In real life: True. That was great. Too many questions remained: Where was the cash? "I felt that if I didn't do something, I was going to snap," David said. His new life in Mexico had begun. They also left behind a life-changing fortune in small bills $3.3 million in fives and ones that they overlooked and the two videotapes that Ghantt had pulled from the security cameras at the bank. "Things I always wanted to do, but never had the time or the money," he said. "I've learned that I'm a fortunate man," he said. 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. Loomis, Fargo offered a $500,000 reward after the theft. Best States is an interactive platform developed by U.S. News for ranking the 50 U.S. states, alongside news analysis and daily reporting. We got this guy named Bruno. 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. Ghantt and one other employee were the last to leave. Her only brush with the law had been a DUI arrest. She tried to apologize for the murder plot. His collection case, which closes in November 2026, got credit for the couples $540,000 house on Cramer Mountain in Gaston County, Butcher says. Then another. Ghantt worked at Loomis Fargos regional office vault in Charlotte. Because lets be brutally honest: Theyre not wrong, okay? So yeah, Im kind of proud of it.. and "I love money!" The Loomis case is another example where the amount of restitution ordered vs. what is actually paid are two dramatically different numbers. Kelly was lying. . They found Ghantts truck, and in it were his keys, some personal items and his wedding ring. On Monday, October 6th, the FBI agents who were investigating the robbery located the Loomis Fargo van abandoned in the woods. You're an idiot.'". When he was done, the man drove off to a nearby printing press, where the money was distributed into private vehicles amongst a handful of people. The last time he called me, he said, Hey Ghantt, I just saw a big Loomis Fargo truck. Now, I kind of know something is fishy., Alone in Mexico with limited cash, Ghantt thought about turning himself in. Some days, the robbery seems like a memory from a different life, a choice made by a different man. Hes very articulate. 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.. She was devastated, Diamant said. As you probably know, it's loosely based on the Loomis Fargo heist in Charlotte back in the late nineties. He gave the rest to Kelly. He approached a longtime friend, Eric Payne, who lived in a mobile home south of Belmont, N.C. Steve offered him $100,000 to help. Tags: Associated Press, courts, crime, North Carolina. "Steve said, 'I think we ought to do it that night, when he drops off the van,' " Kelly recalled. Then another. I loved it. The agents tapped the phone, and it didnt take long to locate Ghantt after that. "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. He said every year he files his taxes and the IRS takes all of his tax return. Federal law stops government collection efforts 20 years after a defendant leaves prison. Burks was also ordered to serve 15 years in prison, limiting his ability to balance his books. Money'll turn your head, I don't care who you are. David Ghantt, who pulled off the Loomis, Fargo & Co. vault robbery in 1997 and was sentenced to seven years in prison for the crime, served as a consultant for the film (in theaters Friday). So much so that one suspicious neighbor called the FBI. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist (No Ratings Yet) . Down in Jacksonville, a Loomis Fargo employee took $18 million from an armored van he was driving. And when everybody else voted to kill me, she voted with them, he explains. You can reach Kevin Ellis at 704-869-1823 or Twitter.com/TheGazetteKevin. It's one of the biggest jokes at the place. Back in North Carolina, Ghantts former accomplices were living high on the hog. In real life: False. So I guess I have no regrets. 2500 City West Blvd., Suite 2300 Houston, TX 77042. On October 5, 1997, FBI agents gathered at the Loomis, Fargo & Co. warehouse in Charlotte, North Carolina, to watch a security videotape of a man loading stacks of cash into a pushcart and wheeling them from the vault. Yes, Carrie Underwood adopted a dog in Charlotte. 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. You can seize property. 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. He says the Loomis case shows how the criminal justice system and the courts treat lower-income people differently. Im on the phone with Kelly [Campbell], and Im like, Hey, I really was expecting a package to arrive. Its everything thats coming north.. 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. On Nov. 12, a confidential informant told the FBI about Steve Chambers's move from mobile home to mansion. Our Benefits. Now worried about both the FBI and McKinney, he spent even more time alone in his room. shaka wear graphic tees is candy digital publicly traded ellen lawson wife of ted lawson real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist 25 Feb/23 (No Ratings Yet) Ghantt would go on to spend six and a half years in federal prison. 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'm rich!". Until, that is, he decided to hell with it he was going to pull-off the second largest heist in U.S. history. He grabbed the tapes from two VCRs that connected to 16 security cameras. First, in January, he tried to get someone to take some millions down to Mexico. They also purchased tanning beds, a pool table, a Harley-Davidson Road King motorcycle and all kinds of expensive furniture. "I missed my family. That October, the Chamberses' bank accounts ballooned. In real life: False. You might as well go all the way now.". He had even scheduled a follow-up appointment at the dentist. Once in a lifetime, Murdaugh verdict sends a Lowcountry message: No one is above the law | Opinion, Charlotte Waffle House found with live roach, unclean equipment during health inspection. 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. They agreed that after the heist, David would immediately move to Mexico, alone, but Kelly would soon join him there, with her two children. Thats where they feel comfortable., This piece of information would become critical to his getaway plan. 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.

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