kelly campbell and david ghanttkelly campbell and david ghantt

Sun, sand and beaches are all part of why Jacksonville, Florida is a popular destination. CHARLOTTE Tuesday marked 25 years since one of the biggest armored car heists in U.S. history, and it all went down in Charlotte. During the next few months they bought a BMW-Z3 roadster and tens of thousands of dollars in antiques, furniture and decorations. Another name the FBI had become very interested in is Eric Payne. More than 20 people were arrested by the FBI, making this one of the largest heists in history. From my standpoint it was just a business deal, Ghantt said. "I was unhappy with my life. The bank was robbed on Oct. 4, 1997, by one of their security guards, David Ghantt, and his girlfriend, Kelly Campbell, a former employee at the time. The FBI heard about the plot and agents knew they could no longer wait. From the start, David Ghatt was considered to be a prime suspect. Popular Lake Norman pub set to reopen after a major face lift. "I was dumb," Ghantt said Wednesday, the eve before the movie hits screens nationwide. Steven Chambers, left, and David Scott Ghantt leave federal court. $17.3 million in cash was robbed from the Charlotte, North Carolina, regional office vault of Loomis, Fargo & Co. on the evening of October 4, 1997. Within a few months, they were arrested. Ultimately, even though the film is a slightly exaggerated version of the actual events, it is not far from reality. Most people are going to forgive you. ENTERTAINMENT. I wasnt attracted to him or anything, but he was a nice guy, Campbell said. Ghantt believed the new employee would make a good replacement for his wife, but the feelings were not necessarily reciprocated. Robbing the 7-Eleven and getting $40 bucks and a pack of Marlboros was not for me. And if that gives people out there a little bit of hope, then Ive served my purpose on this earth., (WATCH BELOW: The Loomis Fargo heist: 25 years later). Masterminds: Directed by Jared Hess. Guided by federal sentencing rules, prosecutors had requested a sentence of nine years for Michele Chambers. The old man me would never survive that, Id have a heart attack.. David Ghantt worked as a vault supervisor for the armoured cash vehicles at the Charlotte, North Carolina branch of Loomis, Fargo & Co. Ironically even though he worked for a company that moved millions of dollars every day, he was relatively underpaid. Here you'll find all collections you've created before. The images of the aftermath the huge house on Cramer Mountain with its leopard-print carpet, the blue barrels full of money, the lonely hotel room in Playa del Carmen where Ghantt ate M&Ms instead of going to the beach endured long after 21 people were convicted for their connections to the heist. David Ghantt : Oh, Rio, yeah, yeah. Even with several vehicles, they underestimated how much space they would need and they had to leave $3 million behind. The phone calls began to get more intense when Steve and Eric got suspicious of a man who was running hismouth about them and the vault job over in Charlotte. Its available to stream on Netflix, and the description on the site starts with the phrase Four dim-witted Southerners, which should tip you off that this retelling deserves a few grains of salt. Thank you! David Ghantt was a Gulf War veteran who never had a problem with the law. Next, he went to the managers office and took out the tapes from two security cameras. What we know. 3 million in cash from the Charlotte, North Carolina . Then, he proceeded to load 2,800 pounds of cash into a van. David Ghantt had been a model employee for an armored car company before pulling off the second biggest cash heist in U.S. history, fleeing with more than . Still facing possible unknowns of other people involved, the FBI needed to gather more information without the suspects getting suspicious of them. Subsequently, he was to take out as much cash as he could and load it up in a van. The main players had time to conspicuously spend some of their money and, in the case of David Scott Ghantt, the Loomis Fargo employee who removed the money from the vault, flee to Mexico. To be brutally honest, it was that morning, Ghantt replied. Shortly after, investigators found Ghantt's pickup truck abandoned at the warehouse. Chambers was a small cheater who suggested to Campbell that they perform Loomis Fargo heist. That first day in prison was scary, Ghantt said. They already knew who he was-David Ghantt, a Loomis Fargo employee. A couple by the names of Steve and Shelley Chambers also became people of interest in the investigation due to their extreme sudden increase in spending. David Ghantt received a sentence of over seven years. It took me going to prison to realize I was a bag of worms, and it took me years of work to be somebody worthy to come back into our society, he said. Learn about careers at Cox Media Group. David Ghantt's fame was short-lived as he was a prime suspect from the start. Since he was the only employee unaccounted for the following day, they checked the tapes for clues. On Oct. 4, 1997, former Kings Mountain resident David Scott Ghantt finished his shift as a vault supervisor for Loomis Fargo in Charlotte. I'll never pay it off on my paycheck." You have permission to edit this article. All those planes landin' and takin' off and such. It was over. . Required fields are marked *. He then broached the possibility of a robbery to Campbell; who subsequently introduced Ghantt to Chambers. Channel 9 speaks with the man at the center of Loomis Fargo heist 25 years ago. Trending News Perry identified the other six people arrested as Steve and Michelle Chambers; Kelly Jane Campbell, a former Loomis employee; Michael L. McKinney; Thomas Nathan Grant; and Eric Haley Payne. 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. Steve Chambers would keep the rest . This company managed the transportation of large amounts of money between banks in North Carolina. Ghantt began to complain vocally. Even if Campbell denies the relationship was ever romantic, the FBI evidence says otherwise. Ghantt:Since I still owe the federal government money I can't get paid. And that's OK with Ghantt, who's just a few weeks shy of his 47th birthday, out of federal prison for more than a decade, married with a 9-year-old daughter and happy. Loomis Fargo heist: 25 years later David Ghantt took $50,000 for himself and fled to Cozumel, Mexico. This dental device was sold to fix patients' jaws. DePriest talked to employees at the hotel where Ghantt had stayed under the name James T. Kelley and claiming to be an oilrigger on vacation. I knew it was over then, Ghantt said. Eventually, the two teamed up with a few other people and hatched plans for a heist. He talks about how he informs employers about his criminal . In less than a month after the heist, Chambers and his wife moved out of their trailer and relocated into a 7,000-square-foot, $635,000 mansion. Just outside of the building, David Ghantt met up with his girlfriend, Chambers, and others involved in the plot. I would call us friends. This had led the FBI to begin monitoring Chambers' and his wife's activities. Campbell, 29, had pleaded guilty to charges of bank larceny, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder. This former Kings Mountain resident finished his shift as a vault supervisor for the branch in Charlotte. All were convicted, and while some received probation for money laundering, many others did a hard time. It all went down in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the man at the center of that heist, David Scott Ghantt, now lives in Jacksonville. David! Question: Are you happy that Wilkesboro-nativeZach Galifianakis plays you in the movie? Kelly Campbell. Six other people also were arrested, including a couple who suddenly moved from a trailer to a $635,000 house. They located Steve and Shelley Chambers in their newly-purchased home at the top of a hill. On March 29 of last year, in the largest armored car heist in U.S. history, $18.8 million was taken from Loomis, Fargo in Jacksonville, Fla. An employee, Philip Noel Johnson , was arrested Aug.30 in connection with that theft, All but $186,000 was recovered. I actually loved reading through this post. Campbell and her husband had always been just scraping by, however in the weeks following the robbery, the two seemed to have more money than theyve ever had. 20 years ago, on the night of October 4, 1997, David Scott Ghantt loaded $17.3 million of cash from the bank vault in Charlotte, North Carolina he was employed to supervise into a van. Campbellwho was married herselfrepresented something new and exciting. 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. A woman by the name of Kelly Campbell had worked there in 1996, and she and Ghantt had become friends in that time. Ghantt was the vault manager and was surrounded daily by millions of dollars-worth of temptation. This was why he devised a plan for the Loomis Fargo heist. All but one took plea deals, including Ghantt, who was sentenced to seven years in prison. Its a once-in-a-lifetime thing, and I went down and talked to them, got to meet Zach Galifianakis and the director, Ghantt said. Question: Do you ever think you could have been killed? Loomis Fargo heist: 25 years later David Scott Ghantt. David wrote her first book "Self-Awareness for Beginners" and now teaches courses and retreats on self-awareness. He was like OK, yeah, we can do that, she recalled. } 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. That was the most painful truth to come to. Authorities said they hired a man named Michael McKinney to meet up with Ghantt and kill him, under the guise that he was planning to give Ghantt more of the money he was owed. The Gaston Gazette spoke with Ghantt, who is now in his late 40s and lives in Florida as a free man. Ghantt:It's a comedy. All but one of the defendants pleaded guilty. The FBI says Chambers hired a hit man to tie up the ultimate loose end -- Ghantt. Then Campbell turned his attention to her boyfriend. Ghantt says he operates a bulldozer for a small company. It was one of those things everyone (at Loomis Fargo) joked about, but in time, it became serious. Steve and Michelle Chambers, who had lived in a mobile home, bought a mansion in Cramer Mountain. Some received probation for money laundering, many others did hard time. Over 88% of the money has been recovered since the heist. The bizarre true story of the criminals behind the second-largest bank heist in American history. Zach Galifianakis stars as Ghantt, sporting an impressively pronounced bowl-cut and a perpetually pained smile. The receptionist told DePriest that she could see the pain on Ghantts face, though she didnt know what caused it. We are talking about the 1997 Loomis Fargo heist. The reason for this was because, after the Loomis Fargo heist, the thieves had miscalculated the sheer bulk of the small denomination currency. . Afterward, outside the courthouse, her parents said the length was about what she had expected. Now on the lam and in over his head, David must dodge the authorities, evade a hilarious hit man, Mike McKinney, and try to turn the tables on the ones he trusted most. CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS FROM 1998 and ACTORS IN MOVIE. So I guess I have no regrets. . The friends and neighbors of Steve and Michelle Chambers became suspicious soon after the news broke that . I felt stiff and one day the jokes during the break about the robbery of that place suddenly didn't look so obvious. David Ghantt 2) A joke that gave birth to an idea. To connect Chambers to them was more difficult. February 18, 1999. After this, Chambers would occasionally wire Ghantt money and see to his basic financial needs. Ghantt ended up doing more than five years in prison, Chambers did more than 11 years. No attempted murder charges had been filed. The plan was for Ghantt to commit the Loomis Fargo heist and then quickly leave the country for Mexico. Yes, happy. I knew I was going to be the prime suspect. I hope everyone has moved on. Campbell, a mother of two, was in the process of divorcing her husband. This company employed 8,500 people and provided armored transportation, cash handling services, and automatic teller machine maintenance. The plan went off with few problems, but after Ghantt was safely in Mexico, his partners were left storing large amounts of cash. The Loomis Fargo Bank Robbery was a robbery of $17.3 million in cash from the Charlotte, North Carolina, regional office vault of Loomis, Fargo & Co. on the evening of October 4, 1997, by vault supervisor David Scott Ghantt, his married girlfriend Kelly Campbell (a former Loomis co-worker), Steve Chambers, his wife Michelle Chambers, Michael Gobbies and four other co-conspirators. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. But there was just one thing the group hadnt been counting on: the massive weight of that amount of cash. stockpile guns, Timeline puts Murdaugh at crime scene, SC prosecutor says in trial closing after Moselle visit, Get ready for less sleep in Charlotte. Hes a family man with a wife and daughter. Michelle Chambers received a few more months than Ghantt, because she had violated several bond conditions. David Ghantt (Zach Galifianakis), an employee of Loomis Fargo, robbed his own vault, left the $17.3 million in cash with his co-conspirators, Kelly Campbell (Kristen Wiig) and Steve Chambers (Owen Wilson) and fled the country to Mexico. The FBI began to question past and current employees of Loomis Fargo. He worked close-by to where the van and over $3 million dollars had been ditched, and was friends with Steve Chambers. The judge said he would recommend that Michele Chambers be given mental health treatment in prison. What the men didnt know was that the FBI was listening to their phone call. 2023 www.gastongazette.com. We were two paychecks away from being homeless at any given time.. He has been open about the heist and his life and had no qualms about it. Ghantt went on to explain that he rarely even looks at his debt statement to the government, but believes the IRS says he still owes them $3.8 million. David Ghantt, a Gulf War veteran, . Michele Chambers declined to make a statement at the hearing. When Ghantt called Campbell asking for more money, a plan was set in motion to take him out. Finally, despite a few hiccups, Ghantt successfully made his way to Mexico with $50,000 in hand. The corporation handled armored transportation, ATM maintenance and other cash handling services, and had millions of currency stashed in the vault of the North Carolina branch. organizes one of the biggest bank heists in American history. La vie de David Ghantt n'a rien de compliqu. He have since served time in prison for the crime, and told Channel 9s Glenn Counts he learned a valuable lesson while behind bars. David Ghantt was sentenced to seven years in prison and Steven Chambers was sentenced to 11. The only person not to plead guilty in the case, former Gastonia attorney Jeff Guller, ended up doing eight years for money laundering. But before the hit could be carried out, the FBI swooped in and arrested Ghantt and the others. ". I knew that if we could stay off the radar for about a year, we could basically live a vacation life, Ghantt said. The events that led to the Loomis Fargo heist started with Ghantt entering a relationship with fellow employee Kelly Campbell. "I've moved on with my life," he said Tuesday. While they had initially agreed to control their spending for a year or two, Chambers had no intention of following those rules. However, they didnt heed their own advice. Question: What made you, Chambers and the others think you could get away with this? When the cheerleading coach broke the news to Katrina Kohel that she was the only one left on the cheer squad, Kohel was determined to compete anyway. Le seul rayon de soleil dans son existence banale, c'est sa jolie collgue, Kelly Campbell. Today's guest author is David Ghantt. Ghantt, his former co-worker Kelly Campbell and her friends Steve and Michelle Chambers carried out the Loomis Fargo heist on Oct. 4, 1997. Though she agreed to cooperate with the government when she pleaded guilty to bank larceny and money laundering in August 1998, Michele Chambers didn't tell the FBI she still had the ring until December, when she turned it in. But former Kings Mountain resident David Scott Ghantt can. David Ghantt, el "cerebro" del golpe. Ghantt made his way to Mexico, where he hid for several months. The tapes showed Ghantt removing cash cubes and loading them into a Loomis Fargo armored van for over an hour. It was nearly the perfect crime, but while Ghantt fled to Mexico to lay low, his partners lavish spendingand their own alleged plans for murderwould ultimately be the groups demise. They also found several stacks of money with Loomis bands still attached throughout all the homes searched. Now and again I run into blog posts that tends to make me want to get started on bloggin myself. Loomis Fargo & Company was established in 1997 by the consolidation of Wells Fargo Armored Service and Loomis Armored Inc. One fact at a time! Kelly : No, Rio. Ghantt:It baffles me to this day. . Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Day in and day out he drives an armored vehicle, transporting millions of other people's money with no escape in sight. At the time . With Zach Galifianakis, Kristen Wiig, Owen Wilson, Ross Kimball. David gets Steve to confess to planning the heist. The affidavit also cited telephone conversations between Steve Chambers and McKinney that indicated they may have been plotting Ghantt's murder in Mexico only days ago. Ghantt:I don't think he ever really meant to harm me. The movie, about a famous Charlotte bank . Her husband, Steve Chambers, whom prosecutors have called the main defendant, began serving an 11-year sentence earlier this year. All rights reserved. There was a book published in 2002 as well, by author Jeff Diamant called,Heist! David Ghantt, along with girlfriend Kelly Campbell, robbed $17.3 million from Loomis Fargo in 1997. "I work construction. She also . Later, they also arrested Nathans older brother. That time in prison was actually good for me. Kelly Campbell, a former firm employee, pleaded guilty to bank larceny, money laundering, and murder conspiracy charges earlier this year. During a layover in Florida, they learned that Ghantt was already on his way back to the U.S. with authorities, but they flew to Cancun anyway and rented a car to reach Playa del Carmen, a resort town. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Curiously, Payne had recently paid of his Visa in one payment and had been driving around new and rented vehicles for the past weeks. I worked sometimes 75-80 hours a week for $ 8.15 an hour, I didn't even have a real life at home because I was never there, I worked all the time and was unhappy, which is understandable considering how old I was then. David Ghantt helps steal $17 million from Loomis Fargo mostly due to his love for Kelly Campbell, but the leader of the operation, Steve Chambers, wants to get rid of David for being a liability. SEARCH. The investigation ultimately resulted in the conviction of eight people directly involved, as well as sixteen others who had indirectly helped them. 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." Top McCarthy aide, House Oversight chair each met with Ashli Babbitt's mother According to federal indictments, some of Ghantts co-conspirators were planning to fly to Mexico and kill him. MAIL. The next day, before Mike was able to leave the country, the FBI arrested him in his hotel room. Just days after agreeing to the plan, the group set a day to carry out the robbery. In this action comedy based on true events, David Ghantt (Zach Galifianakis) discovers the true meaning of adventure far beyond his wildest dreams. She is a self-proclaimed "super-self-aware person" and this is her first guest post on the blog. By Sue Anne Pressley. After this, he began loading $17 million in unmarked bills inside a company van before driving away. The irony is that before the Loomis Fargo heist they had all agreed to keep their spending to a minimum. But neither of those things would matter after he met Kelly Campbell. Agents raided safe deposit boxes, where they recovered more than $11 million. He left for the border, winding up at the popular Yucatan Peninsula resort island. jim martin death couples massage class san diego beaver falls football real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist. I started just chucking it as fast as I could, he said, adding the sweat was pouring off of me.. Also charged with money laundering were innocent relatives and friends who had co-signed safe deposit boxes. Almost 19 years after Ghantt and a group of friends from Gaston County pulled off one of the largest cash heists in U.S. history, the movie "Masterminds" will play up the caper for laughs. Ghantt, his former co-worker Kelly Campbell and her friends Steve and Michelle Chambers carried out the Loomis Fargo heist on Oct. 4, 1997. A guard at an armored car company in the Southern U.S. organizes one of the biggest bank heists in American history. Inside $3.3 million was located along with the two stolen surveillance tapes, apparently left due to the robber and his accomplices being sloppy, or in a hurry. Ghantt says he believes in redemption, and that his mistake 25 years ago brought him all the things that are important in his life today. The pair began to daydream about whether they could really pull off the heist. Chaque jour, c'est la mme routine : au volant de son camion blind, il transporte des millions de dollars qui ne lui appartiennent pas. Answer It is based on the October 1997 Loomis Fargo Robbery in North Carolina, which was the subject of the 2016 American comedy film Masterminds. Twenty years ago this Wednesday, a small group of people stole $17 million in cash from the main vault of a Loomis Fargo & Co. armored-car warehouse in west Charlotte. Ghantt was the vault manager and was surrounded daily by millions of dollars-worth of temptation. He was doing what the rest of us were doing making bad decisions. 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. He had just returned to his home in Jacksonville, Florida when he agreed to talk about the heist, his life now, and what went wrong with a group of friends who thought they could get away with stealing $17 million cash. 69-year-old suffers stroke in his home; Realtor showing house leaves him there. FBI agents got to him first. Kelly Campbell: Oh, my gosh. Investigators eventually connected Campbell and Chambers to the robbery, which led to the arrest of more than 20 people. The robbers left it behind as they simply didnt have room for all that cash. . ``This defendant was second to Steve Chambers in (benefiting) from the crime,' he said. En marzo del 97, la empresa fue vctima del llamado "robo del siglo": un empleado se . 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 .

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