Authorities had the receipt and had known it was missing. If you go from a mobile home to a mansion, that's going to attract attention. If I could get far enough away in a very short amount of time, my odds of getting away with it were pretty high, Ghantt said. Its attracted workers like David Ghantt. 2023 www.gastongazette.com. But last Oct. 4, when he still hadn't gotten home by 2:30 a.m., she called his parents in Hendersonville. In all, they recovered $6.6 million. Their plan was fairly straightforward: Ghantt was to remain in the vault after his shift on the night of the heist, October 4, 1997. This was all the evidence the authorities needed. 1998 The Associated Press. In August 1997, Campbell told Ghantt about an old high school friend of hers, Steve Chambers. Ghantt was the vault manager and was surrounded daily . As Campbell would later explain, If David got killed, there couldnt be any finger pointing. HOME. "So it's one thing to go from up here, thought, to action," he said. MAIL. 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. It all went down in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the man at the center of that heist, David Scott Ghantt, now lives in Jacksonville. Ghantt, who by then was long out of prison, served as a consultant. The plan was to maintain a low profile and wait for things to cool off, allowing Ghantt to return to the states and collect his cut. David Ghantt, el "cerebro" del golpe. Upon viewing it the investigators saw exactly what had taken place that night. It was the second-largest cash heist in U.S. history, and it wasnt solved right away. Fact check: Is there much truth to the new Masterminds movie? Probably very egotistical of me, I though yeah, sure, I can beat them, theyre college smart and thats about it, Ghantt said. 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 . Because Ghantt was the only employee who wasn't there that morning, he became the obvious suspect. (renews at {{format_dollars}}{{start_price}}{{format_cents}}/month + tax). Ghantt:It started out as a mental exercise and somewhere between the mental exercise and the actual event, it became serious. But his partners soon began to get greedy and were spending large amountswith Chambers and his wife, Michelle, even buying an exclusive mansion in cash. They swept the surrounding counties, locating Kelly Campbell and Eric Payne in their homes. $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. No hard feelings. Kelly : No, Rio. On the evening ofOctober 4, 1997, the Loomis Fargo & Co branch in Charlotte, North Carolina was in the process of being plundered. Loomis, Fargo offered a $500,000 reward after the theft. The movie, about a famous Charlotte bank . Once the heat from the robbery died down, Ghantt would return back to the United States and the cash would be evenly split among all of the co-conspirators. Over 88% of the money has been recovered since the heist. The judge said he would recommend that Michele Chambers be given mental health treatment in prison. Consequently, they called the police. David Ghantt: Oh, God! David Ghantt is now 47 and living with his wife and daughter in Jacksonville, Florida. Whisler told the judge that the couple had searched for a new house before the theft, and that Michele Chambers bought rubber bands from Wal-Mart to count the money the night of the crime. Bipartisan Senate group unveils rail safety bill in response to Ohio derailment, What to know about Shigella bacteria as drug-resistant strain spreads, Flying bug found at Walmart turns out to be rare Jurassic-era insect, Elizabeth Holmes has second child, seeks to delay prison, Where things stand in the Alex Murdaugh double murder trial. He would leave most of the money with Campbell and share it evenly when he returned with Campbell to leave him enough money to live. Channel 9 speaks with the man at the center of Loomis Fargo heist 25 years ago. I ride motorcycles and fish -- normal guy, Ghantt told Counts. Diamant captures the human side of the crime as well as the bizarre details, including a clown-faced lava lamp. . The ludicrous thing was that the bundles of cash still had Loomis Fargo bands stuck on them. She recruited an old friend, Steve Chambers, a convicted criminal who was once an FBI informant. Heres how to catch up on one of the Charlotte areas strangest stories. Ultimately, eight co-conspirators were indicted for the Loomis Fargo bank heist. Additionally, all the stolen cash was recovered or accounted for, except for $2 million. During the next few months they bought a BMW-Z3 roadster and tens of thousands of dollars in antiques, furniture and decorations. Steve and Michelle Chambers, who had lived in a mobile home, bought a mansion in Cramer Mountain. It still had almost $3.3 million in cash left in the back of the van. David Ghantt, a Gulf War veteran, . I wanted to get as far away as I could. You have permission to edit this article. The only person not to plead guilty in the case, former Gastonia attorney Jeff Guller, ended up doing eight years for money laundering. Im married, I got one girl, shes 15 going on 30. And then I realized that a lot of people knew who I was and they had followed the case.. Popular Lake Norman pub set to reopen after a major face lift. Let me see! . 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. Kelly Campbell, a former firm employee, pleaded guilty to bank larceny, money laundering, and murder conspiracy charges earlier this year. An armored car driver suspected of taking $17 million from his company's vault has been captured in Mexico after a manhunt of nearly five months. 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. Also charged with money laundering were innocent relatives and friends who had co-signed safe deposit boxes. How I held it together is beyond me, Ghantt said. 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 $17 million in untraceable bills in 1997. Driving away, he said he felt a mix of fear, confidence and excitement that he outsmarted the FBI. 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. Kelly Jane Campbell, a former Loomis . The Gaston Gazette spoke with Ghantt, who is now in his late 40s and lives in Florida as a free man. Along with Ghantt and Campbell, there were eight others, including Campbell's former high school friend Steve Chambers and his wife, Michelle. Ghantt was an on-set consultant for the film. CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) _ While the FBI spent five months looking for David Scott Ghantt, authorities say his accomplices in a $17 million heist were living the high life _ a new car, a new home, even breast implants for one. All six were charged with aiding, abetting and counseling the commission of a bank larceny and being accessories after the fact, and hindering Ghantt's apprehension. He talks about how he informs employers about his criminal . David's crush and former co-worker, Kelly Campbell (Kristen Wiig), approaches David about robbing the very company that he works for.Despite the lack of intelligence, Ghantt somehow pulls off the heist . In the first couple of weeks, they had heard both Steve and Shelley bragging about their new-found fortune, and spending remarkable amounts of money. I knew that if I did something like that, I would take a huge amount of money, Ghantt said of the brash robbery on an upcoming episode of, To find out more about how the thieves got caught and how long they landed behind bars, tune in the, Rebel Wilson 'collapsed' after Ramona Agruma proposal: 'I was so overwhelmed', Amy Grant recalls being 'so scared' to return to touring following serious bike accident, Travis Scott being sought by NYPD after alleged nightclub assault, Zachary Levi talks Shazam! future after DC shake-up: 'I'll keep playing this role as long as I can', Get your Din Djarin on with this replica 'Mandalorian' helmet. Agents found out where Ghantt was living because Chambers had put out a hit on him, foolishly believing Ghantt was the only person the FBI had fingered for the crime. Now they only had to track down Ghantt and his accomplices. $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. In real-life, Ghantt, then 27, used his access to swipe $17 million, later fleeing to Mexico with $25,000 of it stashed into the legs of pantyhose that he wore as a money belt; while he waited . I knew it was just a matter of time. He misses Tonys Ice Cream in Gastonia, and he discusses how he tells employers about his criminal history. FINANCE. But when he's convinced by his work crush, Kelly Campbell (Kristen Wiig) and her accomplices to join in a far-fetched plan to rob a bank vault, David soon throws everything on the line for love, money, and a . Agents speculate that after the Loomis robbery in Jacksonville, many Loomis employees including Ghantt and Campbell, sat around discussing the incident. Ghantt went on to explain that he left for his flight to Mexico with about $25,000, and that two or three deliveries of extra money was made to him by the man Chambers would pay to kill him. 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. Her sentence would've been ``substantially' less if she hadn't kept it, officials said. Ghantt was charged in connection with the robbery reported Oct. 5 at Loomis, Fargo & Co. The judge said he doubted she would be able to pay the $4.8 million restitution, but said federal law required him to impose it. display: none; WSOC TV facebook feed(Opens a new window), Part 1: When you have money, you just have different problems: The Loomis Fargo heist, 25 years later, ALSO READ: Trio charged following takeover-style bank robbery in South End, sources say, ALSO READ: Police: Suspect arrested in Rock Hill following bank robbery in northwest Charlotte, ALSO READ: Business owner says more than $100K in checks stolen, then forged and deposited, 13-year-old girl killed in crash involving tractor-trailer on I-485 in west Charlotte, police say, Tattooed arm of missing man found inside shark caught by fishermen, Shanquella Robinson case needing high-level diplomatic intervention, attorney says, Wells Fargo to close Charlotte-area branch, two others in NC in consolidation move, Murdaugh Trial, Day 27: Jury visits crime scene before closings at trial, WSOC - TV Public File Contact / Program Director, WAXN - TV Public File Contact / Program Director. Defense lawyer Andy Culler sought a seven-year, three-month sentence. Secondly, Where is David Scott Ghantt now? 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. "I've moved on with my life," he said Tuesday. This opportunity was forged by Chambers and supported by Campbell earlier in the summer. Federal Judge Graham Mullen sentenced her to between those lengths. According to federal indictments, some of Ghantts co-conspirators were planning to fly to Mexico and kill him. However, the irony was that the same hitman who was sent to assassinate Ghantt ended up becoming friends with him. If I hadn't done what I did the, the life I have now with my wife and child, I wouldn't have. Diese Aufgabe ist allerdings weitaus weniger spannend, als sie sich anhrt, und so ist Davids Tageshhepunkt nicht das Verladen der Millionen, sondern der tgliche Flirt mit seiner Kollegin Kelly. One night in a small North Carolina town, a down-on-his-luck guard at Loomis Fargo manages to steal $17 millionliterally more than one ton of cash. This caused them just to leave the cash they could not take with them in the back of the van. . On Oct. 5, 1997, Ghantt carried out the heist during his regular shift after sending another employee home, stealing more than $17 million from the bank vault. "We had David Ghantt and Kelly Campbell tied together, and we had Steven Chambers and Eric Payne with unexplained wealth, but we didn't have a tie between them," Agent John Wydra said. Question: Any contact with Steve Chambers or any of the others involved with the heist? FBI video shows agents searching the Cramer Mountain home and finding stacks of cash. Ghantt:It's kid-friendly, it's family-friendly (the movie is rated PG-13). Three of the 21 defendants in the case haven't been sentenced. David! 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. No regrets. Well, we bring to you a bank heist so ridiculous and poorly planned, that you will think I can plan a better heist!. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist (No Ratings Yet) . The bizarre true story of the criminals behind the second-largest bank heist in American history. In that time, I realized most of my problems were because of me. . He had sent home early a newly hired employee and then proceeded with the loading of the funds. I appreciate your kind words! The man at the center of that heist was David Scott Ghantt. En marzo del 97, la empresa fue vctima del llamado "robo del siglo": un empleado se . David Ghantt: [after the loaded gun in the back of his trousers goes off] Oh, that burns! The FBI continues to search for a missing $2 million from the theft. David gets Steve to confess to planning the heist. You can reach Kevin Ellis at 704-869-1823 or Twitter.com/TheGazetteKevin. The plot revolves around Ghantt who teamed up with his former loomis co-worker Kelly Campbell. Ghantt stole $17 million from the Loomis vault at work. Keeping with the plan, Ghantt took $50,000, which was the maximum that could by law be taken across the border of Mexico without authorization. When Ghantt was found in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, five months after the heist, DePriest and photographer Kent Johnson raced to the airport, according to Observer records. 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. Several cars and nine safety deposit boxes were seized, authorities said. NEWS. . In fact, they got carried away and upgraded to a sudden lavish lifestyle. The robbers left it behind as they simply didnt have room for all that cash. All were convicted. Ghantt had worked with the branch since 1994, and had been promoted from a driver to the vault supervisor. The FBI became more suspicious after they interviewed Campbell for the third time. Ghantt:I've burned that bridge years ago. Its easy to get somebody to do something if you know that they are that infatuated with you.. Ghantt didnt know the full extent of what was happening back home -- how that lay low plan turned into a flurry of extravagant spending. Thank you so much. David Ghantt : Oh, Rio, yeah, yeah. Learn about careers at Cox Media Group. The van used to move the money was later located a few miles from the warehouse. The pair began to daydream about whether they could really pull off the heist. 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. Curiously, Payne had recently paid of his Visa in one payment and had been driving around new and rented vehicles for the past weeks. 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