loomis fargo heist kelly campbell
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. Libraries without that edition should consider purchasing this entertaining and lightly edited version, which reads like a fast-paced novel. David would simply empty the vault and deliver the money to the others. They located Steve and Shelley Chambers in their newly-purchased home at the top of a hill. And they hit the jackpot -- FBI video shows agents recovering most of the stolen cash. LeVaughn Kelly Campbell (born July 23, 1980 in Atlanta, Georgia) is a former football wide receiver. The investigation ultimately resulted in the conviction of eight people directly involved, as well as sixteen others who had indirectly helped them. 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. The plan was for Ghantt to commit the actual robbery and then quickly leave the country forMexico but to leave the bulk of the cash with Chambers. Theres no way to get it back, Butcher told The Charlotte Observer. Steve and Michelle Chambers, who had lived in a mobile home, bought a mansion in Cramer Mountain. They had initially agreed to control their spending for a year or two, in the belief that the government would vigorously track the spending habits of any and all suspects for at least a year before relenting. Loomis Fargo heist: 25 years later While David Ghantt trusted Steve Chambers enough to leave his cut behind, Chambers had other plans. At 2:20 p.m., the phone rang; it was Kelly again. In addition, he also rented Mike his own apartment, paid him $400/weekly and bought him a gun. You Save 23%. Loomis Fargo employees could not open the vault the next morning, and called the police. Next month, Payne will back in the Charlotte federal courthouse, this time to be sentenced from weapons and methamphetamine trafficking charges. Money. Investigators considered Ghantt to be the prime suspect almost from the beginning. Twenty people were convicted of roles big and small in the massive 1997 armored-car warehouse heist in west Charlotte. 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.. 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. Unexplained Mysteries - owned by Aliens since 2011. Sure enough, she called a few days later, around September 16. The woman on the phone was Kelly Jane Campbell, and David had a mad crush on her. About six months before the Charlotte theft, on March 29, a total of $18.8 million was taken from Loomis, Fargo in Jacksonville, Fla., in what was believed to be the largest heist in U.S.. Heist! It all seemed unfair. Steve had hired a bodyguard named Mike McKinney. In one case, the restitution for a Loomis defendant may be a moving target. He was a hard worker, smart enough, and had graduated from high school. When did you conclude Yeah, Im actually going to do this? Counts asked. He decided at that moment that if Kelly called again, he would go for it. LETTER TO THE EDITOR: But where will they park? He realized his life wouldn't improve unless he did something drastic. Campbell was released from federal custody in 2004 after serving five years, meaning her collection case will age out in December 2024. About the worst he had done as a teenager was stealing a construction company's Porta-Jon with a friend, tying it to the back of a pickup truck, and driving around for about fifteen minutes. Accompanying her was Steve Chambers, who, though unemployed, had recently moved . Her case closes in 2025. Of course, this would all be a radical departure for him, and thoughts of his wife and parents did give him pause. The trainee didn't yet know how the place worked, a fact David planned to use to his advantage. "Just remind Steve," he said, "that I might be trouble my own self." Who all wanted a Rambo movie which explored his time training as a green beret and his time serving in Vietnam as a prequel to first blood WATCH Antebellum 2020 FULL MOVIE. A woman by the name of Kelly Campbell had worked there in 1996, and she and Ghantt had become friends in that time. That sounds like a lot of money until its compared to the $18,930,201.26 the group was ordered to pay. The same applies to trolling, the use of multiple aliases, or White-collar criminals are pretty good at hiding their money, she said. He worked close-by to where the van and over $3 million dollars had been ditched, and was friends with Steve Chambers. How he felt shorted by life. David told Kelly they would have to control themselves and not spend the money too quickly, because the FBI could electronically trace a suspect's recent spending activity through bank papers, credit card records, and land transactions. - 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. She had previously been making frequent small deposits to avert suspicion. That sounds like a lot of money until its compared to the $18,930,201.26 the group was ordered to pay. You cannot fine low-income people millions of dollars. But if you did, youll never forget it. When they hung up, she called his pager and left the code 1-4-3, beeper-speak for "I love you," based on the number of letters in each word. '. She will never get beyond the debt. Getting restitution, its like pulling teeth.. I actually loved reading through this post. Thank you! Notifications from this discussion will be disabled. 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. true story that has captivated American audiences on the news and now on the big screen in the major motion picture, Masterminds. Human nature is a flexible part of life, Gronquist said. People dont seem to understand human nature. Worlds Biggest Heists London Hatton Garden 200m Diamond Robbery, Easter 2015. There are many robberies registered in the history of America, but the Loomis Fargo Robbery is known to be the second largest robbery in the United States. The defendants received sentences ranging from probation for several relatives to over 11 years in federal prison for Steve Chambers. 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. Despite being caught on camera wheeling the money from the vault to the getaway van, David Ghantt makes off to Mexico before the FBI can blink. So he and some friends decided at the end of his Oct. 4 shift he would load a company van with more than 2,000 pounds of cash and just drive away. David was supposed to be showing him the ropes of the job, which included cash pickups and deliveries. The gang made numerous mistakes. Cool interesting stuff features everything odd, weird, bizzare, strange or unusual. Ghantt, who by then was long out of prison, served as a consultant. Then we went on a mission to calculate exactly how much size-wise the money was, $11.3 million in $20 bills, and it weighed over 2,000 pounds, Wydra said. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Steve decided to send his cousin, Nathan with money down to Mexico as a ruse, while Mike the bodyguard would follow behind to take care of Ghantt. Now, at 7:45 p.m., with all the money finally inside the van, his aching muscles could take a breather. His eyes widened and he stopped breathing as he realized that something as mundane as a malfunctioning gate might ruin their entire plan. Current price is $11.49, Original price is $14.99. 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. 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Campbell led Ghantt to think she loved him and they would flee to Mexico together, but she actually wanted to make a better life for herself in the U.S. With the plan in place, Ghantt sent a newly hired employee he had been assigned to train home early (reportedly, at 6 p.m.) and then proceeded to load a little more than $17.3 million in cash (approximately $11 million of which was in$20 bills) into the back of a company van. The figures can be astounding. Chambers had no intention of wiring any money to Ghantt and intended to have him killed to keep him from implicating the others. David got a kick out of her. He knew it would mean leaving Tammy. Ghantt had worked with the branch since 1994, and had been promoted from a driver to the vault supervisor. Of course the most famous thing inside the home was a velvet Elvis portrait. The towns booming construction industry attracts workers from around the country. One number is working in Campbells favor. But after one visit, she asked a teller How much can I deposit before you have to report it to the feds? followed by Dont worry, it is notdrug money, the bank filled out asuspicious activity report, which ultimately reached the FBI. Sunny. CHARLOTTE (AP) During one overnight shift, a bumbling conspiracy of thieves just west of Charlotte stole more than $17 million from Loomis Fargo. This technically made it abank robbery afederal offense. He waffled on the heist idea three or four times from late August to mid-September. Steve began talking about wiring money to overseas accounts, and even purchasing a nightclub. Another name the FBI had become very interested in is Eric Payne. 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. "What would it take to convince you to do it?" They could talk about anything, even topics he couldn't discuss with his wife. She will never get beyond the debt. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. He is a graduate of Yale and has worked for the Connecticut Post, the Associated Press, and the Palm Beach Post. : The .17 Million Loomis Fargo Theft [Jeff Diamant] on Amazon.com. The strange story of Mary Reeser Spontaneous Human Combustion. David and the trainee left the warehouse. The friend was Steve Chambers, and Kelly said he knew his way around the world of crime. More than 2 million dollars are still missing to this day. They swept the surrounding counties, locating Kelly Campbell and Eric Payne in their homes. Records show the government has garnished his Social Security checks. Campbell used to work for Loomis and continued the friendship with Ghantt, eventually hooking him up with Chambers. But on Oct. 4, 1997, that no longer mattered and Ghantt took off with $17.3 million. The plan to. These (Loomis) guys, not so much.. 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. Stealing from Loomis Fargo could make him rich, if he got away with it. All of the defendants are out of prison -- the longest sentence was 11 years. Then, he proceeded to load 2,800 pounds of cash into a van. Some of that money is just gone. Federal law stops government collection efforts 20 years after a defendant leaves prison. It was David who was hours away from committing the most daring act of his life, and she was going off about Steve being a serious guy? Two days later, when the FBI found the Loomis Fargo armored van, they discovered almost $3.3 million in cash left in the back of the van; it was later discovered that the thieves had miscalculated the sheer bulk of the small denomination currency, and that they simply left the cash that they could not take with them in the back of the van. According to Butcher, Campbells last official payment came in June 2021 when the government appears to have seized a tax refund of $81.24. 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. Restitution is a familiar part of sentencing in federal court. Theres no way to get it back, Butcher told The Charlotte Observer. There are multiples of thousands of these things coming every year. In all, agents arrested 24 people in the heist. 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. In order to receive more evidence, the FBI decided to listen. 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. "I'm busy," he said. Lacking a college degree, he found that his army skills felt meaningless in the 1990s job market. "For the first year after a crime," he told her, "they're all over you, with six to ten agents. I ride motorcycles and fish -- normal guy, Ghantt told Counts. Not every agent has a case like that, he said. Spunk. They also bought aBMW Z3with cash and made several large purchases, including a $600 statue of aNative American. Some of that money is just gone. The unsolved mystery of the Van Meter Visitor a winged creature! Steve Chambers and his wife were living in a trailer and upgraded to what would today be a multi-million-dollar mansion at Cramer Mountain. The walk-in vault was a fortified gray room, more wide than long, with shelves, cabinets, desks, and multiple pushcarts stocked with shrink-wrapped cash. He also stole both existing sets of vault keys and hurried into the manager's office, where three TV security screens and two VCRs were visible. That was the thing that sticks in my mind to this day.. Steve Chambers would keep the rest. And with Loomis, were looking at only one case. He'd already done enough, he realized, to get himself fired and arrested, even if the gate prevented him from moving the money outside the building. As beads of sweat formed under his red hair, he loaded up another cart and repeated the process. Paying the money back has taken a lot longer, and time is running out for the U.S. government to collect. CHARLOTTE If you didnt live in the Charlotte area 25 years ago, you might not believe it. Inside the truck, they found Ghantts ring and surmised this as a sign of Ghantts intention to end his relationship with his wife. Campbell, a mother of two, was in the process of divorcing 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. The van used to move the money was later located a few miles from the warehouse. You can have your whole career and not have a case like that. The October 4 shift was lasting longer than expected, due to delays involving pickups and deliveries. Michelle Chambers paid off only $27,000. Anybody who gets caught up in the system is getting chewed up by it, the now-retired Gronquist told the Observer. As it neared its end, David stealthily left the vault door ajar. personal/abusive/condescending attacks on other users or goading The Loomis defendants face no additional legal jeopardy for not paying off their debts. He had stayed in a luxury hotel and paid for expensive food and activities such asscuba divingandparasailing. Fourteen defendants were ordered to make restitution payments to Loomis Fargo totaling almost $19 million. Over the next two weeks, David thought about it. 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 had since held one low-paying job after another. By now, you probably know the names -- David Ghantt, Steve Chambers and his wife Michelle, and Kelly Campbell. Thats pretty standard in restitution matters. Steve's a serious guy.". If a prank seemed dangerous, David backed out. We are happy to work with other website publishers. David knew this was important from having followed the recent news about a Florida man who had brazenly committed the biggest heist from an armored-car company in United States history, a loner named Philip Noel Johnson, who also had worked for Loomis. Growing up, David had been a nice kid, a decent student who was at worst a minor troublemaker and prankster. Not all of them, but some of them are going to forgive you, theyre going to overlook it., he said. "its a great readsuspenseful, often funny, just the thing for those wondering what it might feel like to have, as these hapless, small-town criminals did, literally too darn much cash lying around. " Unexplained Mysteries and Strange Things,Cool Interesting stuff has been online since early 2011. He called Kelly to say he was coming and hopped into the driver's seat of the loaded Loomis van. I think if you remember some of her early photographic opportunities, shall we put it that way, she was sort of laughing, not seeming to take it seriously.. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. The government does not run debtors prisons, says U.S. A parrot tattoo on her right ankle. So its one thing to go from up here, thought, to action, he said. He says the Loomis case shows how the criminal justice system and the courts treat lower-income people differently. And then I realized that a lot of people knew who I was and they had followed the case.. How many people have walked the red carpet at a movie premiere in a case that was yours?. The next day, before Mike was able to leave the country, the FBI arrested him in his hotel room. For people earning $8.15 an hour David's salary the jokes came naturally. She had attitude. 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. >> PHOTOS: The Loomis Fargo heist, 25 years later. RELATED: When you have money, you just have different problems: The Loomis Fargo heist, 25 years later, How I held it together is beyond me, Ghantt said. Moving the money into the van quickly proved an onerous task. In his youth, his mother had taken him to Sears and JCPenney, but as a man he shopped at Walmart, and while he knew there was nothing wrong with that, he wished he could afford more. The biggest restitution numbers for victims of financial crimes generally involve Ponzi schemes or sweepstakes fraud, not cash thefts. Expanded two-hour true crime story about the 1997 Loomis-Fargo armored car heist in North Carolina and the serio-comic fate of its bumbling underdog perpetra. He added that money can be a motivator for anyone. The Loomis case is another example where the amount of restitution ordered vs. what is actually paid are two dramatically different numbers. He knew they were nervous outside waiting for him, but he also knew he wouldn't stop stealing until he had taken everything. Many of the lesser players in the conspiracy have been the most effective in paying their debts. A more immediate need was securing help to move the stolen money to safety the night of the crime. 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. 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. Its like, me and you sat down, I have access to pie, you like pie, all I want is my share of the pie. 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. From there, the money was moved from the armored car to private vehicles. Their most important conversation occurred one afternoon in August 1997 after Kelly paged him at work. Ghantt met up with the other members of the plot and offloaded the cash. What it does is put a ball and chain on that person for the rest of their lives, they are walking around and they are basically an indentured servant, Gronquist said. I pay (restitution to) thousands of people, but its in drips and drabs.. sole discretion of the site administrators and repeat offenders may It wasn't how much you stole that mattered most; it was that you had stolen in the first place. "I don't have time to mess with you. It has a certain feel, a smell and weight to it. He was signed by the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 2002. Thirty years! Chambers had broached the possibility of a robbery to Campbell earlier in the summer. My knee-jerk reaction was to be angry, and then the sarcastic ass side of me started laughing about it, Ghantt said. Learn how to enable JavaScript on your browser. Youre supposed to get less time for cooperating, a lesser penalty, and instead, you see what she got hit with. Gronquist said. In 2017, for example, Paul Burks of Lexington was ordered to pay $244 million to the victims of his worldwide Ponzi scheme, Zeek Rewards. [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]. Punishment needs to be fair and realistic. 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 they've ever had. Agents raided safe deposit boxes, where they recovered more than $11 million. Of course the problem was, the money belonged to someone else. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. But you cant get blood from a stone,, Criminals dont usually get high-paying jobs after leaving prison. them. 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. - 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. Then one day, while reviewing his and Tammy's credit card bill, he did some quick math and realized that even if they met the minimum monthly payments, the bill would take thirty years to pay. 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.. More than half of the amount came from the seizure of a luxury home purchased by husband-and-wife defendants during their post-heist spending spree. Breakdown by congressional district, States' push to define sex decried as erasing trans people, North Carolina Supreme Court hears felony voting rights case, North Carolina House GOP modifies rules on veto overrides, N. 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