They kept several furnishings from the previous owners, including avelvet Elvis. But you cant get blood from a stone,, Criminals dont usually get high-paying jobs after leaving prison. Loomis Fargo employees could not open the vault the next morning, and called the police. A customs inspector, asking routine questions of bus passengers, focused her attention on him when his answers reminded her of Tommy Flanagan, the pathological-liar character played by Jon Lovitz on Saturday Night Live. Getting that off his chest calmed him some, and the conversation returned to the plan. Campbell used part of her share of the money to buy aToyota Siennaminivanin two cash installments. Ghantt was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison. He says the Loomis case shows how the criminal justice system and the courts treat lower-income people differently. That was taking the long view. The Chambers home is now gated, which means Channel 9 crews cant drive up to it like we used to.
'When you have money, you just have different problems': The Loomis When you have money, you just have different problems: The Loomis Fargo heist, 25 years later. 2023 Cox Media Group. The defendants received sentences ranging from probation for several relatives to over 11 years in federal prison for Steve Chambers. Working by himself, Ghantt would commit the robbery and then flee for Mexico, leaving the bulk of the cash with Chambers. He and his wife, Michele, moved from theirmobile homeinLincoln Countyto a luxury house in the wealthy Cramer Mountain section ofCramerton. Library Journal "highly entertaining."
TWO TO ENTER GUILTY PLEAS IN ARMORED-CAR ROBBERY - Greensboro News and But things didnt quite work out that way. In order to receive more evidence, the FBI decided to listen. Campbell was another employee at Loomis Fargo and she and Ghantt quickly struck up a relationship, one that Campbell denies was ever romantic though FBI evidence says otherwise, and one that continued after she left the company. Though much of the cash was already stacked on pushcarts in the vault, other stacks were on shelves or the floor, and they were heavy. It all seemed unfair. Next month, Payne will back in the Charlotte federal courthouse, this time to be sentenced from weapons and methamphetamine trafficking charges. Jim Gronquist, Campbells defense attorney during the Loomis case, says the financial penalties levied against his client and her co-defendants are grossly excessive and unjust, particularly since most of the stolen Loomis money was actually recovered. There are multiples of thousands of these things coming every year. ALSO READ: 14-year-old boy robbed at gunpoint while waiting for bus in east. He is a graduate of Yale and has worked for the Connecticut Post, the Associated Press, and the Palm Beach Post. They also found several stacks of money with Loomis bands still attached throughout all the homes searched. So we were able to figure out with all the denominations, it would require about 20 safe deposit boxes to store it all., WSOC TV facebook feed(Opens a new window), Part 2: Channel 9 speaks with the man at the center of Loomis Fargo heist 25 years ago, ALSO READ: 14-year-old boy robbed at gunpoint while waiting for bus in east Charlotte, mom says, ALSO READ: Leader of $3M check theft, bank fraud scheme in Charlotte area sentenced to prison, ALSO READ: Man released from jail, accused of robbing banks while wearing electronic monitor, police say, ALSO READ: Suspect from south Charlotte bank robbery found, CMPD says, NCSHP arrest driver accused of nearly hitting 2 students at bus stop in Statesville, CMS delays opening of new school meant to ease overcrowding, Mooresville orders removal of memorial at park after teens death, Chick-fil-A announces app data breach, tells customers how to protect personal information, Charlotte woman celebrates $1 million scratch-off prize, WSOC - TV Public File Contact / Program Director, WAXN - TV Public File Contact / Program Director. Its like, me and you sat down, I have access to pie, you like pie, all I want is my share of the pie. The Loomis defendants face no additional legal jeopardy for not paying off their debts. How he felt shorted by life.
'Can I Keep the Velvet Elvis?': The Great Hillbilly Heist of 1997 Johnson had stolen $18.8 million earlier in the year, on March 19, 1997, only to be caught five months later, in late August, while crossing into Texas from Mexico to retrieve some of the money, which he'd hidden in a shed in mountainous western North Carolina. 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. Copyright The Nashua Telegraph | https://www.nashuatelegraph.com | 110 Main St, Ste 1, Nashua, NH 03060 | 603-882-2741, Loomis Fargo defendants owe as much as they stole in 1997, Thats pretty standard in restitution matters. Driving away, he said he felt a mix of fear, confidence and excitement that he outsmarted the FBI.
Seven Charged In $17M Heist - CBS News CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) During one overnight shift, a bumbling conspiracy of thieves just west of Charlotte stole more than $17 million from Loomis Fargo. If the American Dream involved being better off as adults than your parents were, David was experiencing a version of the American Nightmare. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. Ghantt had worked with the branch since 1994, and had been promoted from a driver to the vault supervisor. Her case closes in 2025. Getting restitution, its like pulling teeth..
Man at the center of Loomis Fargo heist 25 years ago now a 'normal guy : The .17 Million Loomis Fargo Theft [Jeff Diamant] on Amazon.com. He hired a hitman to take Ghantt out, tying up the ultimate loose end. Her case closes in 2025. He realized his life wouldn't improve unless he did something drastic. He was on a budget for clothes, even for work boots; he had recently needed to check seven stores before finding a pair in his price range. On Oct. 5, the Loomis heist celebrates its 25th birthday. just generally being a jerk. It wasn't how much you stole that mattered most; it was that you had stolen in the first place. 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. Low 46F. Libraries without that edition should consider purchasing this entertaining and lightly edited version, which reads like a fast-paced novel. We are happy to work with other website publishers. 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. Except for the kiss in the pickup truck a few weeks before the heist, Kelly had kept things platonic. In August 1997, Campbell informed Ghantt about an old high school friend of hers named Steve Chambers, who could assist Ghantt to execute a massive cash robbery of the Loomis Fargo vault in one night. David placed their odds of success at 85 percent, a confidence inspired by faith not just in his planning but also in his feelings for Kelly. We dont have the manpower to track all that (restitution) money down I pay (restitution to) thousands of people, but its in drips and drabs.. The Charlotte area's economy was booming all around him, and he felt passed over. While Ghantt trusted Chambers enough to leave his cut behind, Chambers had other plans. OWLS director fired in wake of new board taking over, New rules will require flood history disclosure in real estate, North Carolina recreational spring flounder season canceled for 2023, Supreme Court seems ready to sink student loan forgiveness, Beach commission gets update on search for new sources of sand for beach nourishment. Hes a family man with a wife and daughter. Holding her hands behind her back, Michele Chambers was sentenced Tuesday to seven years and eight months in prison for her role in the $17 million heist from Loomis, Fargo & Co. She was also. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. She had previously been making frequent small deposits to avert suspicion. They also purchased expensive cars, jewelry and a breast enhancement or two. If we can sit on the money for a year, maybe two, it could work.". He even had to watch what he bought at the grocery store. You can seize property. 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. In Reservoir Dogs, released just five years earlier, the pawns in a robbery knew each other only by assigned colors: Mr. EDITORIAL: Computer Science misses the need for digital literacy, N. Carolina legislators announce Medicaid expansion deal, EDITORIAL: Fighting political forces that sever family ties, Special-use to get overhaul: Commissioners, planners take a look, Cape Carteret seeking new police chief one month after hiring New Bern resident for post, How many in North Carolina are awaiting student loan debt relief? We dont have the manpower to track all that (restitution) money down I pay (restitution to) thousands of people, but its in drips and drabs., Anybody who gets caught up in the system is getting chewed up by it,, You can garnish wages. The Loomis defendants face no additional legal jeopardy for not paying off their debts. Ghantts spending in Mexico was extravagant at first. That was the thing that sticks in my mind to this day.. In preparation for what lay ahead, David had backed an unmarked company Ford Econoline van near the vault entrance and opened the van's back door. 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. 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. A connection between each suspect began to emerge slowly, and as the intensity of spending grew, suspicion did as well. Just after the last employees left that day, surveillance footage shows a man enter the vault, and begin to load more than 2,740 pounds in cash into a nearby van, totaling around over $17 million. In all, they recovered $6.6 million. Thats pretty standard in restitution matters. That sounds like a lot of money until its compared to the $18,930,201.26 the group was ordered to pay. Former Loomis employee David Scott Ghantt is accused of stealing the money. And once he started, he didn't stop with one cartful. A woman by the name of Kelly Campbell had worked there in 1996, and she and Ghantt had become friends in that time. He played high school football at Mays High School in Atlanta, and college football at Georgia Tech . ", Johnson said, "Yeah, that's it. I gotta go.". 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. In fact, he had recently finished a book about the FBI and felt it provided insight into the agency's investigative techniques, insight he thought could help the little gang succeed. The trainee didn't yet know how the place worked, a fact David planned to use to his advantage.
6-Year Sentence For Kelly Campbell | The Seattle Times Probably very egotistical of me, I thought, Yeah, sure, I can beat them, theyre college smart and thats about it, Ghantt said. There was a book published in 2002 as well, by author Jeff Diamant called,Heist! David and Steve had never met, but Steve had already secured somebody else's birth certificate and social security card for him and given it to Kelly to pass along. Some of that money is just gone. I was relieved emotionally because I knew there was a good chance my luck might run out, Ghantt said. 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. But after a year, they cut it down to two agents. I pay (restitution to) thousands of people, but its in drips and drabs.. Kelly Campbell, 29, a former company employee, entered guilty pleas earlier to bank larceny, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder charges. "What would it take to make you do it?". You can seize property. She had attitude. They hadn't slept together or even fooled around much, but he was ready to commit. It was released in 2016 and Wydra was invited to the premiere. Each cart, holding about $2 million, was taking David seven or eight minutes to stack, push, and empty into the van, and there were about eight cartloads' worth in the vault.
One number is working in Campbells favor. In total, 24 people were convicted and all but one of the accused pleaded guilty. Campbell was released from federal custody in 2004 after serving five years, meaning her collection case will age out in December 2024. The FBI began to question past and current employees of Loomis Fargo. A former FBI agent who helped crack the case sat down with Channel 9 Reporter Glenn Counts to talk about the clues that led to solving the crime, and how the group got caught. Change). LETTER TO THE EDITOR: But where will they park? "But you can still have a cigarette.". Human nature is a flexible part of life, Gronquist said. He has a regular life now, but 25 years ago, Ghantt was the mastermind behind the third-largest bank robbery in U.S. history. As a child, he had preferred reading to playing sports, and he would say, as an adult, that although he couldn't have told you "who was on first," he knew as a kid who the Egyptian god of the dead was. He and co-worker Kelly Campbell, 27, had developed a close relationship and were spending time together outside of work. Winds light and variable. Another time, the day after a Christmas in the late 1980s, David and some friends planted all the discarded Christmas trees from the area in one neighbor's front yard. The bag held his mobile phone and handgun. David Ghantt was just an average Joe with an average low-wage job.
Kelly Campbell - Wikipedia Former FBI agent John Wydra, who helped crack the case, sat down with Channel 9 Reporter Glenn Counts to talk about the clues that led to solving the crime, and how the group got caught. In David's eyes, Johnson's big mistake was that he did it alone. White-collar criminals are pretty good at hiding their money, she said. LeVaughn Kelly Campbell (born July 23, 1980 in Atlanta, Georgia) is a former football wide receiver. 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.. The property has changed hands several times since then. He knew his mother would be traumatized, shocked, and appalled. If it didn't work out, he could return to the United States later with a new identity. Hed never really been in trouble, he wasnt a career criminal, said retired FBI agent John Wydra. But if you did, youll never forget it. Loomis Fargo heist: 25 years later While David Ghantt trusted Steve Chambers enough to leave his cut behind, Chambers had other plans. More calls between the two men, and also between Steve and Kelly Campbell, made it clear that the group was starting to turn on David Ghantt. So its one thing to go from up here, thought, to action, he said. He was a hard worker, smart enough, and had graduated from high school.
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