Thatd be the time to do it, Ghantt recalls. What made her abandon an ordinary existence to commit this spectacular, doomed crime? Ghantt was scheduled to work a shift at the armored car company Oct. 4. Kelly drove David to the airport. 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. Theres some things I want to do., Ghantt planned on traveling from Mexico to the Cayman Islands, bypassing customs along the way. Steve solicited two others to help move cash during the theft. In early December, Steve and Michele invited relatives to their daughter's sixth birthday party. Heist!: The $17 Million Loomis Fargo Theft - amazon.com What purpose does that serve other than to denigrate that person into abject poverty?. No hard feelings. Scott Grant and Steve pulled up next to her in a Mazda. Or is the loot buried in somebody's yard? "That would be living on the run, and I didn't want my kids to live that way. 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. The last time he called me, he said, Hey Ghantt, I just saw a big Loomis Fargo truck. We spoke to the FBI agents who investigated the case who say the real-life. Question: Are you happy that Wilkesboro-nativeZach Galifianakis plays you in the movie? And going to see the Mayan ruins. There it was, "The Heist." real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist - molecularrecipes.com 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. Soon thereafter, he met Kelly Campbell, a co-worker at Loomis Fargo. CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS FROM 1998 and ACTORS IN MOVIE. 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. It wasnt a big hit, but Ghantt, who was played by Galifianakis, gives it a rave review. In early November, Steve lured the real Mike McKinney, an ex-Marine, to North Carolina from his Illinois home. He then began loading $17 million in unmarked bills inside a company van before driving away. So the last third of the movie is almost entirely fiction. They stocked a wine cellar. In early September 1997, Kelly found herself chatting on the phone with a friend who still worked at Loomis, a 27-year-old man who, despite being married, had made no secret of the fact that he had a crush on her. He longed for the middle-class lifestyle of his childhood, with its private religious-school education and Disney World vacations. 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. A week later, another informant told the FBI that Eric Payne had quit his job at a printing company soon after the heist and was spending money he probably hadn't earned legally. 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) Now, I kind of know something is fishy., Alone in Mexico with limited cash, Ghantt thought about turning himself in. 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. Loomis has received $978,983.79, according to Sally Butcher, an assistant clerk in the federal courts of the Western District of North Carolina who specializes in criminal debt. Charlotte Magazine even ran a feature story about the Loomis Fargo heist with the title, White Trash Crime. The headlines, however, never bothered Ghantt. October 1997 Loomis Fargo robbery - Wikipedia But I thought this is me being hard-headed Im going to ride this thing to the ground. And so thats what I did.. Instead of lobster, the man who stole $17 million survived on home-cooked pasta and grilled cheese sandwiches. Its in the ether. But you cant get blood from a stone, Johns said. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist. In real life: False. Ghantt:We're both North Carolina boys so we had a lot to talk about from the very beginning. It wasn't known whether anyone would receive it. I think I always knew that, but lost my way for a while.". Back then, it was one of the hotspots for hiding money. Ghantt planned to live off the interest for the rest of his life. . Key benefit components include: Health insurance plans. In Florida, a Loomis Fargo employee had pulled a gun on his coworkers and gotten away with $18 million, a move that FBI agents theorize Ghantt, Campbell and other employees all sat around talking about - and what they would do with that amount of money - for a while. I was just going to get the money into the van. Loomis, Fargo offered a $500,000 reward after the theft. On the radio, the "John Boy and Billy" show played the song "Take the Money and Run. 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. 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. 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. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist. "But I had to know.". He had a favorite restaurant, Zandunga, which had a mariachi band each night and a view of the Caribbean. All rights reserved. You might as well take it all, Ghantt tells me. The Loomis defendants face no additional legal jeopardy for not paying off their debts. 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. There used to be a consulate in Cancun. Ghantt pulled out $50,000 from the back of the unmarked Loomis Fargo van. "I've learned that I'm a fortunate man," he said. 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. Why did this Charlotte engineer leave her job? ". Together, they drove in a convoy to an industrial warehouse eight miles away, where Eric Payne, a fourth accomplice was. Loomis - Home But it was the rural, Southern backgrounds of many of the key players, along with the many botched twists and bungled turns, that led the media to dub it the hillbilly heist.. Steven Chambers [Misc. Now two NC men face prison. "But, I hate to admit it, it doesn't faze me one bit. "I felt that if I didn't do something, I was going to snap," David said. I couldn't understand why I hadn't been more successful," David said. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist seeing a woodpecker after someone dies lectomano que significa. We need to set up some way for me to get my money. She said, We got it all worked out. This meant a bump in pay, up to $8.15 an hour. 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. As he and Kelly met in a field behind a shooting range to refine the plan, she allowed him to believe she was falling for him. He kept looking over his shoulder. His collection case closes in two years. Before long, the FBI had wiretaps on the ringleader, Steve Chambers, and then they waited for the right time to make their arrests. But Ghantt, who served as an unpaid consultant to the movie and attended the big Los Angeles premiere earlier in the week, has no such reservations. I threw you out, and then threw the parachute after you. Kelly was no criminal. Because lets be brutally honest: Theyre not wrong, okay? If you were one of the much-smaller-than-expected group of people who caught Masterminds at the theater this weekend, and are looking for a fact-check of the events depicted on screen, here are some of the highlights of our chat with Diamant. The van door opened. It was an ear-biting, Pierce Brosnan-loving, comet-obsessed world, and were here to relive every minute of it. These days, the 52-year-old husband and father lives in Jacksonville, Florida, where he works at a heavy equipment rental agency. . Looking back at the Loomis heist - Gaston Gazette First, in January, he tried to get someone to take some millions down to Mexico. Ghantt and one other employee were the last to leave. Industry leading Training and Development. And robbing a truck was dangerous. It was unclear whether anyone will get that money, authorities said. The name she gave the pup is apropos. He didnt even really question me. There were times when I drank really heavily.". Butcher says the federal courts in the Western District of North Carolina have never handled a case quite like Loomis. But after a year, they'll cut it down to two agents. Kelly told the FBI she had done drugs with David but denied knowing about the theft. 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. The barrels were Steves idea, Ghantt says. 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. He worked fueling airplanes, driving a forklift, and in 1994 he got a job as a vault superintendent at Loomis. At the time, it was the largest cash heist in history. Depression had led to smoking a lot of marijuana and taking Prozac, a combination she figures affected her judgment. They heard Michele brag about her $43,000 ring. She could walk under the trees, with the chickens and goats and dogs that live around her mobile home. We got to the end of the day, and he was acting like he wanted to linger. I hear her typing. For his part, Ghantt was now officially on his way to Mexico, his future stretched out before him. 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). (John D. Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP), Police: Officer Who Shot Black Man Retired 'In Bad Standing', 3 Kansas City Officers Who Were Shot Released From Hospital, 1 Killed When Business Jet Encounters Severe Turbulence. Or that it was an inheritance. They tried to break the van's bulletproof windows. The phone rang: Kelly had a problem. He was an old friend from East Gaston High School, tough and sure of himself. "I'd been told all my life, money will not make you happy," Kelly said. Once I start something, Im going to the end., As for how he felt in the moment, he says, Imagine me and you went on an airplane. David was living under the name Mike McKinney on a phony ID. Michele received the best gift of the night. They picked me, he says with a rueful tone. About 10 frantic minutes later, Scott found the right key. 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. 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 says the Loomis case shows how the criminal justice system and the courts treat lower-income people differently. Why fans love it. A third tape he didn't know about kept recording. "He was speechless," said Sandra Floyd. Reach our Customer Contact Center by calling 877.877.0560 from 6:30 AM to 11:30 PM CT every day or by completing the provided form. This was in the 1990s the Columbia Airport back then was closed at around 9:30, 10 oclock. He partied, met women, drank, skied and hung out at the beach. Some amateur thieves might turn to movies and TV shows for lessons on criminal behavior. Just head on out. And so, he did. 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. Down in Jacksonville, a Loomis Fargo employee took $18 million from an armored van he was driving. 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 . real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist. how to match 8 hypercubes in bejeweled. Explain? 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. CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) _ A woman who helped plan the $17 million robbery of armored car company Loomis, Fargo & Co. was sentenced Tuesday to nearly six years in prison and ordered to pay back more than $4 million. Given his position at the bank, hed be the one to pull off the robbery, and he intended to be ready. 2022 marks the 25th anniversary of the year that everything happened 1997. 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. Steve bought a truck, a Rolex and a motorboat. The figures can be astounding. Ghantt ended up doing more than five years in prison, Chambers did more than 11 years. Question: Do you ever think you could have been killed? So much so that one suspicious neighbor called the FBI. Was Queen Charlotte Black? Harley-Davidson Road King motorcycle for sale at auction of items Steve told Scott to ignore the remaining stacks, which were mostly ones and fives. I pay (restitution to) thousands of people, but its in drips and drabs.. Steve led the planning. I'd probably change jobs. Figure in Loomis Heist Gets Prison | AP News Will Vin Sant Leave You Jacked or Scammed? In real life: True. David complained it wasn't enough. I knew that the news wouldnt break until later that morning. He comes to my door, and hes got a brown paper bag in his hand. Ghantt simply got ready for work one morning knowing it would be his last day on the job. Soon thereafter, he met Kelly Campbell, a co-worker at Loomis Fargo. As soon as Corey left, I pretended like I was leaving. Before David left for the airport, he had handed Scott an eight-inch key ring. The top-ranked pie in North Carolina doesnt look like pie at all. More than 20 people ended up in the FBI's dragnet. All were convicted. Exhibit A was that Steve had no steady job but plenty of cash. I was looking at small sailboats and theyre not cheap, he tells me. The number of people involved had ballooned after Steve started asking friends and family to help him launder the stolen cash. Not a documentary. Throughout the multi-year-long case and subsequent trials, journalists often referred to Ghantt and the others as trailer trash and hillbillies. And to me, if it pisses them off, Im all for it.. When we worked together [for Loomis], we'd joke about it. "I'm glad I've grown out of that.". Still, she wasn't happy. . After a couple of weeks, Ghantt and the rest of the heist team were ready to strike. . Actor Owen Wilson plays him in the movie, which includes the real names of all the major players. All I needed was a change of pace.". The whole town I was staying in was 98.9 percent Mexican, except for when the cruise ships were in, Ghantt recalls. And with Loomis, were looking at only one case. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist - legal-innovation.com 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. I missed my wife. ". To protect themselves, David and Steve didn't meet or talk. She was a wife and mother with two children. The others sat in their cars across the street and watched him struggle to open the heavy gate. At first, David Ghantt said, "I didn't take her seriously. 'Masterminds' Review: Loomis Fargo Robbery Where Are They Now? - Pajiba Besides her prison sentence, Campbell must undergo mental health and drug treatment and spend two years in a supervised release program. 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. I mentioned it to Kelly. Burks was also ordered to serve 15 years in prison, limiting his ability to balance his books. He wouldn't give me the opportunity to say anything else. I don't blame him.". The pager entry was 1-4-3. Ghantt ultimately agreed to the plan, largely, due to a mountain of credit-card debt and in hopes of changing his life for the better. Based on a true story, the premise itself is fascinating, which makes Masterminds all the more a waste. And then I could hear her laughing. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist - hankyboy.com 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. Ghantt says he operates a bulldozer for a small company. He's a very likable person. "Think of how many women would have stood by. In real life: Mostly true.