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. Kelly was lying. Nosotros, Yahoo, somos parte de la familia de marcas de Yahoo. White-collar criminals are pretty good at hiding their money, she said. . He had even scheduled a follow-up appointment at the dentist. . Some days, the robbery seems like a memory from a different life, a choice made by a different man. His wife, Tammy, was as shocked as Loomis officials. Then another. hippie fest 2022 michigan; family picture poses for 5 adults; unforgettable who killed rachel; pacific northwest college of art notable alumni; adler sense of belonging family constellation "She said, 'What would it take to convince you to do it?' And then I realized that a lot of people knew who I was and they had followed the case.. He learned to parachute. In the wee hours of the morning, Chambers and the Erics drove back to the town of Vale, North Carolina, and holed up in a double-wide trailer while counting their cash. That led to better jobs, like the one at Loomis. At the Halloween party, though, Kelly gave in to Steve, and agreed it had to be done. Ghantt took $50,000 for himself and fled to Cozumel, Mexico. 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. Ghantt was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison. Oh were not going to talk to anybody, theyre not going to be able to convict us, that bravado happens in the beginning and then it often gets worn down by the reality, Gronquist said. ". 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. >> PHOTOS: The Loomis Fargo heist, 25 years later. The others sat in their cars across the street and watched him struggle to open the heavy gate. Hes going to start bringing you money. Alright. Him and I still talk every now and then. Agents raided safe deposit boxes, where they recovered more than $11 million. He goes, My name is Bruno. Then, I started loading the van., Money, when bound in bulk and stacked in canvas bags, is heavier than you might expect. Things were spiraling fast. Ghantt simply got ready for work one morning knowing it would be his last day on the job. 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. (John D. Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP) Steve Chambers has told agents the missing cash was stolen from a shed in Lincoln County. Its a farce that never farces; a comedy without jokes. Ghantt, who by then was long out of prison, served as a consultant. When she realized Ghantt never came home from work the night before, she contacted the police and filed a missing persons report. There was, however, one problem with his plan. his keys and wedding ring. I told the lead investigator I was glad to see him.. About 5:30 the next morning, McKinney knocked on David's door and dropped $8,500 on the bed. "He was in tears. Theres barely a laugh in the entire film, which looks like it was shot entirely in one take while the actors were still working out their characters. A third tape he didn't know about kept recording. ", "I said, 'If you drive a truck, you're always in a financial bind. All rights reserved. Then Steve pushed Scott inside, and he began throwing plastic-wrapped bundles of tens, twenties, fifties and hundreds to Eric and Steve, who placed them in three blue 55-gallon barrels. From Mexico, David usually spoke with Kelly on the phone once a week, paying with calling cards. 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. 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. Where I was going was right there near the Cayman Islands. A woman by the name of Kelly Campbell had worked there in 1996, and she and Ghantt had become friends in that time. Based on the October 1997 Loomis Fargo robbery. He placed stacks of currency on a cart and wheeled it to the van about 15 feet away, inside the building. Kelly found herself standing beside David while they waited together for a bond hearing. Steve told Scott to ignore the remaining stacks, which were mostly ones and fives. There was a little voice in my head that said, 'Don't do it. So they went to Mexico and arrested Ghantt in order to protect him. 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. Mine did. Michele told her mother she and Steve had been saving gambling winnings for the down payment. The next week, they heard Steve plan to send Mike McKinney to Mexico to kill David Ghantt. On March 1, David Ghantt left his hotel to do some laundry. 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. At first, David Ghantt said, "I didn't take her seriously. 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. 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.. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. 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. Chambers promised to wire him money in Mexico until the investigation blew over and Ghantt could return to North Carolina. It had been drilled into my head that if you give me a team of five good people, I can go anywhere, do anything," David explained. They picked me, he says with a rueful tone. He grabbed the tapes from two VCRs that connected to 16 security cameras. An officer rang the doorbell. Getting restitution, its like pulling teeth.. Exciting. Theyre meant to be trailer-park trash, but they come off as character experiments on a bad night at the Groundlings. Then another. . They loaded the wine cellar with Pabst Blue Ribbon, and Steve hung a velvet portrait of Elvis Presley in the basement. Driving away, he said he felt a mix of fear, confidence and excitement that he outsmarted the FBI. Where was Ghantt? He gave the rest to Kelly. He told him McKinney was in Mexico to kill somebody. I've got a good woman.". The Columbia airport had no available flights. . The pager entry was 1-4-3. Based on a true story, the premise itself is fascinating, which makes Masterminds all the more a waste. (John D. Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP) The Associated Press, BY MICHAEL GORDON, The Charlotte Observer. I made a joke once that was the hardest Id ever worked for Wells Fargo -- yeah, its a lot of work, Ghantt said. The towns booming construction industry attracts workers from around the country. She could walk under the trees, with the chickens and goats and dogs that live around her mobile home. About 10 frantic minutes later, Scott found the right key. Campbell used to work for Loomis and continued the friendship with Ghantt,. According to Butcher, Campbells last official payment came in June 2021 when the government appears to have seized a tax refund of $81.24. She'd heard his stories of other successful schemes, like getting refunds on phony tax returns, or operating a loan shark business. Of course the most famous thing inside the home was a velvet Elvis portrait. She was a wife and mother with two children. He didnt even really question me. (John D. Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP), Baltimore to Pay $6M in Latest Police Misconduct Settlement, Australia Family Hurt in Helicopter Crash Suing Vegas Firm, Massachusetts Governor Unveils Proposed $55.5B State Budget. Steve and Michelle Chambers, who had lived in a mobile home, bought a mansion in Cramer Mountain. With the help of Aldo, a Mexican waiter he had befriended, David found a beach apartment in Cancun. 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. Tuesday marked 25 years since a group of buddies pulled off the third-largest money grab in U.S. history -- the Loomis Fargo heist. I was burned out and just didn't know it. Kelly had no problem fanning the flames of their old flirtation. They stocked a wine cellar. Ghantt spent a solid hour moving what ended up being 2,700 pounds of cash more than an actual ton into an unmarked company van. Michelle Chambers paid off only $27,000. Steve solicited two others to help move cash during the theft. Things started to go south the night of the robbery. Her case closes in 2025. Warning! Even the outtakes during the credits are bad. For instance, after stealing $17.3 million $11 million of which was in $20 bills the conspirators had to leave behind $3 million in cash because they couldnt fit all of it in their cars. More agents waited outside to arrest them. In one case, the restitution for a Loomis defendant may be a moving target. One day, Campbell was speaking to an old friend named Steve Chambers. So the original gang was all totally shocked, Wydra said. The Loomis defendants face no additional legal jeopardy for not paying off their debts. 2022 marks the 25th anniversary of the year that everything happened 1997. Then FBI agent Wydra watched Steve's wife, Michele, deposit about $8,000 at a Gaston County, N.C., bank. At first, I just blended in with the tourists and picked up a few translation books, Ghantt explains. 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