Anybody who gets caught up in the system is getting chewed up by it, the now-retired Gronquist told the Observer. 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. The Loomis Fargo heist: 25 years later 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, former FBI agent John Wydra said. However, Chambers had no intention of following those rules, believing the FBI would never connect him to Ghantt. The gang made numerous mistakes. White-collar criminals are pretty good at hiding their money, she said. He shut the empty vault and set its timer so the vault could not be opened for two or three days. 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. All but one took plea deals, including Ghantt, who was sentenced to seven years in prison. She had attitude. They had to be extremely careful not to tip off the group, as they could lose potential conspirators or more information important to a conviction. 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. Also charged with money laundering were innocent relatives and friends who had co-signed safe deposit boxes. White-collar criminals are pretty good at hiding their money, she said. 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. Library Journal "highly entertaining." Sure enough, she called a few days later, around September 16. of violence, racism, anti-Semitism, or 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. But with Kelly's new idea on the table, several dark realities converged on him. NASCAR. 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. David didn't appreciate her tone. His collection case, which closes in November 2026, got credit for the couples $540,000 house on Cramer Mountain in Gaston County, Butcher says. I actually loved reading through this post. For example, 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. And Kelly thought he was funny. FBI video shows the agency searching that home and finding drawers full of cash. They hadn't slept together or even fooled around much, but he was ready to commit. "Don't back out on us. If we can sit on the money for a year, maybe two, it could work.". 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. She'd left Loomis in November 1996 to take a job elsewhere as a security guard. Many of the lesser players in the conspiracy have been the most effective in paying their debts. A connection between each suspect began to emerge slowly, and as the intensity of spending grew, suspicion did as well. Although the FBI investigation was able to quickly connect Ghantt to Campbell, connecting Ghantt to Chambers was a more difficult task. FBI video shows agents searching the Cramer Mountain home and finding stacks of cash. There are multiples of thousands of these things coming every year. In 1994, they moved to Gastonia, North Carolina, where they had grown up, and David took a job driving a forklift. If we work together, we can all have plenty of pie.. Ghantt, who by then was long out of prison, served as a consultant. Later that year, he saw a newspaper ad for a job at Loomis Fargo. He had joined the army and earned an honorable discharge, but because of defense-industry cutbacks he hadn't been able to find a good job for himself. Now, at 7:45 p.m., with all the money finally inside the van, his aching muscles could take a breather. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Butcher says the federal courts in the Western District of North Carolina have never handled a case quite like Loomis. Loomis Fargo heist: 25 years later 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. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. His collection case, which closes in November 2026, got credit for the couples $540,000 house on Cramer Mountain in Gaston County, Butcher says. 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. The property has changed hands several times since then. Libraries without that edition should consider purchasing this entertaining and lightly edited version, which reads like a fast-paced novel. The towns booming construction industry attracts workers from around the country. He is a graduate of Yale and has worked for the Connecticut Post, the Associated Press, and the Palm Beach Post. Tips had led the FBI to begin monitoring Chambers (and his wifes) activities, but it was not until the FBIrecorded a phone callfrom Ghantt in Mexico that the final connection was made. Heist! Theres no way to get it back, Butcher told The Charlotte Observer. "Don't double-cross us," the woman on the phone told David Ghantt. 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. The FBI says Chambers hired a hitman to tie up the ultimate loose end -- Ghantt. There's just one hitch: Ghantt has entrusted the money to an oddball crew of accomplices who had wooed him into committing this massive theft in the first placeand who, he soon learns, are trying to take him out. He added that he would be able to send the trainee home at about 6:00 p.m. and would then need about an hour to load the money from carts, shelves, and the floor into a Loomis company van. So the original gang was all totally shocked, Wydra said. That movie, Masterminds, was filmed in 2014. In total, 24 people were convicted and all but one of the accused pleaded guilty. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Ghantt didnt know the full extent of what was happening back home -- how that lay low plan turned into a flurry of extravagant spending. Paying the money back has taken a lot longer, and time is running out for the U.S. government to collect. In all, they recovered $6.6 million. According to Butcher, Campbells last official payment came in June 2021 when the government appears to have seized a tax refund of $81.24. While Ghantt waited for the heat from the robbery to die down, Chambers would send Ghantt small amounts of money. Twenty people were convicted of roles big and small in the massive 1997 armored-car warehouse heist in west Charlotte. 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. So its one thing to go from up here, thought, to action, he said. Learn how to enable JavaScript on your browser. I made a joke once that was the hardest Id ever worked for Wells Fargo -- yeah, its a lot of work, Ghantt said. [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]. Enforcement of this policy is at the People dont seem to understand human nature. 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. Afterward, she and David would talk just occasionally on the phone. The hillbilly outfit did more that just drop a few breadcrumbs. What that says is, We will never forgive you for what youve done.'. In one case, the restitution for a Loomis defendant may be a moving target. Campbell used part of her share of the money to buy aToyota Siennaminivanin two cash installments. Conversations about stealing from the company weren't rare for Loomis employees. In order to receive more evidence, the FBI decided to listen. You can seize property. He and his wife, Michele, moved from theirmobile homeinLincoln Countyto a luxury house in the wealthy Cramer Mountain section ofCramerton. Have a youtube channel or website similar? 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. I ride motorcycles and fish -- normal guy, Ghantt told Counts. He tried again to make the back gate rise, to no avail. 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, former FBI agent John Wydra said. Chambers had no intention of wiring any money to Ghantt and intended to have him killed to keep him from implicating the others. The FBI became more suspicious after they interviewed Campbell for the third time. Well they were in some sense celebrities, Gronquist said. 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 this outrageously entertaining book, Jeff Diamant, the Charlotte Observer's lead reporter on the case, offers the definitive inside account of this astonishing. So we were able to figure out with all the denominations, it would require about 20 safe deposit boxes to store it all.. I pay (restitution to) thousands of people, but its in drips and drabs.. From there, the money was moved from the armored car to private vehicles. But they'd stayed in touch, and now they were poised to attempt a crime like almost no other. Spunk. The FBI was inadvertently aided by the gang members extravagant spending. As it neared its end, David stealthily left the vault door ajar. There was no reason to leave anything, he felt. just generally being a jerk. uncanny, eerie, unnatural, preternatural, supernatural, unearthly, other-worldly, unreal, ghostly, mysterious, mystifying, strange, abnormal, unusual. Some of that money is just gone. They also purchased expensive cars, jewelry and a breast enhancement or two. He hated his job and his bosses, he'd lost hope in his marriage, he wasn't going to advance at Loomis, and he couldn't afford to quit to enroll in college. Javascript is not enabled in your browser. The reason David didn't know Steve's last name was so they couldn't identify each other to the police or FBI, should cops or G-men ever enter the picture. CHARLOTTE (AP) During one overnight shift, a bumbling conspiracy of thieves just west of Charlotte stole more than $17 million from Loomis Fargo. But things didnt quite work out that way. Over the next two weeks, David thought about it. Agents raided safe deposit boxes, where they recovered more than $11 million. 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. 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. A parrot tattoo on her right ankle. He knew they were nervous outside waiting for him, but he also knew he wouldn't stop stealing until he had taken everything. Discover the truth behind unexplained ancient mysteries, UFO mysteries, secret locations and paranormal events. 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. Loomis Fargo heist: 25 years later While David Ghantt trusted Steve Chambers enough to leave his cut behind, Chambers had other plans. He has been a staff writer for the Star-Ledger in New Jersey since 2000. 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. The money weighed as much as a compact car and he did it all by himself. So the pieces were falling into place for investigators. He decided at that moment that if Kelly called again, he would go for it. She was five-foot-seven, had dirty-blond hair, and had worked with him for about a year at Loomis Fargo, until she left for another job in 1996. You can seize property. 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. Former Loomis employee David Scott Ghantt is accused of stealing the money. Not every agent has a case like that, he said. ", Johnson said, "Yeah, that's it. 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.. In all, agents arrested 24 people in the heist. In the grand scheme of things, the prison sentence for stealing $20 million wouldn't be much worse than for stealing just $500,000 maybe a few extra years behind bars. A more immediate need was securing help to move the stolen money to safety the night of the crime. Jeff Diamant was a reporter for the Charlotte Observer when the heist took place. 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.