"He showed me a lot of money," McKinney said. More than 20 people ended up in the FBI's dragnet. Ghantt: My cut was supposed to be about $5 million, but that's not what I ended up with. The biggest restitution numbers for victims of financial crimes generally involve Ponzi schemes or sweepstakes fraud, not cash thefts. Steve told Scott to ignore the remaining stacks, which were mostly ones and fives. Im a very deliberate person. Steve told her to send David to Atlanta on a bus and drive back to the trailer. She was a wife and mother with two children. Starting Pay Rate: $15.50 per hour Shift: Monday - Friday from 1:00pm to 9:00pm Job Description As a Coin Processor, you work with your team to maintain inventory in our cash vaults for our Loomis customers. Steven Chambers [Misc. (John D. Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP) The Associated Press, BY MICHAEL GORDON, The Charlotte Observer. That day, FBI agents also would arrest Scott Grant and Eric Payne, who had spent his share of the money on a motorcycle and breast implants for his wife and two sisters. Basically, he needed a score to make his problems go away. Kelly says she underestimated the value of her life before the heist. They cursed. Steve tried keys on a side door. And robbing a truck was dangerous. If you want me to leave, Ill leave. Then, Ghantt went into another room. The FBI, in fact, obtained the evidence they needed to bring down the major players, including Chambers, after catching them talking about the murder plot on the telephone via wiretap. Its kind of like that. They planned to kill a man named David Ghantt, the guy who had made their extravagant new lifestyle a reality. Ultimately, though, the heist wasnt Ghantts idea, which meant he didnt decide who else was involved. For her part, Kelly Campbell spent six years in federal prison. About 20 ago, Campbell sent him a letter of apology, but he never responded. Ghantt:I hate to say it, but I had six years of sitting in a box to think about my life. ];David Scott Ghanntt [Misc.] shaka wear graphic tees is candy digital publicly traded ellen lawson wife of ted lawson real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist 25 Feb/23 (No Ratings Yet) I'll never pay it off on my paycheck." Thanksgiving and Christmas were difficult. Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. The initials on the money wrapper belonged to a Loomis employee who hadn't worked there since before the heist. There was, however, one problem with his plan. David thought about it. Or that hed gotten lucky gambling. She never really worried about the moral end of it--she was focused only on getting what she wanted out of life, what so many others seemed to have in this booming part of the South. . But agents weren't ready to arrest Kelly and Steve. ". In real life: False. He comes to my door, and hes got a brown paper bag in his hand. . Heres your money. Then he turns around and leaves., The problem was, it was nowhere near the amount Ghantt had expected: Im looking at it, and theres maybe $8,000. He has no contact with any of those convicted with him in the crime, including his former wife, and doesn't plan to see the movie, he said. They didn't know it, but they were leaving $3.3 million behind. kellis@gastongazette.com 0:04 0:57 On Oct. 4, 1997, former Kings Mountain resident David Scott Ghantt finished his shift as a vault supervisor for Loomis Fargo in Charlotte. First, in January, he tried to get someone to take some millions down to Mexico. "We kept going, '1-4-3, 1-4-3,' " recalled Vic O'Korn, assistant special agent in charge of Charlotte's FBI office. Instead of lobster, the man who stole $17 million survived on home-cooked pasta and grilled cheese sandwiches. When he said, 'I'll give you $20,000 to hold a million,' I said, 'Sure.' I had to go in there and tell her the whole story, and she was real cool about it. Guller was the attorney for Steven Chambers, who came up with the original idea for the Loomis theft. Agents began picking up signs that David definitely had help: The abandoned Loomis van with $3.3 million in small bills still inside, and phone records showing that somebody beeped him while he stole the money, using David's own cell phone. One thing about teammates, in David's view: You could always trust them. Then FBI agent Wydra watched Steve's wife, Michele, deposit about $8,000 at a Gaston County, N.C., bank. Was Queen Charlotte Black? Burks was also ordered to serve 15 years in prison, limiting his ability to balance his books. Though David had said earlier he thought there was $15 million in the vault, the sight of that much cash held them spellbound. But you cant get blood from a stone, Johns said. By the time the month concluded, the couple had purchased a 7,000-square-foot stone mansion in a gated country club community. 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. Loomis employees drive the very core of our business. In one case, the restitution for a Loomis defendant may be a moving target. Now worried about both the FBI and McKinney, he spent even more time alone in his room. No hard feelings. Punishment needs to be fair and realistic. It was an ear-biting, Pierce Brosnan-loving, comet-obsessed world, and were here to relive every minute of it. He partied, met women, drank, skied and hung out at the beach. Our success depends on our team members, and that's why it's important for us to offer an employee benefits program that is not only extremely comprehensive but also one of the best in the industry. Though he never found the right moment to carry out the hit, McKinney did find time to make a friend--a shady character named Robert, to whom he revealed more than was prudent. Stay informed daily on the latest news and advice on COVID-19 from the editors at U.S. News & World Report. There were times when I drank really heavily.". She could walk under the trees, with the chickens and goats and dogs that live around her mobile home. Her case closes in 2025. Two days after theyd robbed the Loomis Fargo truck the very same day the police found the abandoned van in the woods Steve and Michelle Chambers walked into a bank and deposited their cut of the stolen money into their account. In the first days after the arrests, agents recovered or accounted for all but about $2 million of the stolen money. My love for my family is by far the most important thing in my life. To say nothing of their art purchases like the aforementioned velvet Elvis portrait and a painting of a bulldog dressed as General George S. Patton. Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand. At one point, the hoodlum shows up and Ghantt is wearing a Jerome Bettis Pittsburgh Steelers jersey; the hoodlums favorite team is the Steelers, and he caves and tells Ghantt that McKinney wants him dead. Ghantt and one other employee were the last to leave. What made her do it? These (Loomis) guys, not so much.. shes now Miss USA. Where I was going was right there near the Cayman Islands. Then he and Campbell drove 90 miles to Columbia, South Carolina, where Ghantt planned to purchase a ticket to Mexico so he could be out of the country before news of the robbery broke the next morning. The top-ranked pie in North Carolina doesnt look like pie at all. ", "Even then . I was just going to get the money into the van. Field Operations; Corporate; Why Loomis. Or is the loot buried in somebody's yard? "I work construction. He flip-flopped on the heist idea three or four times. Tags: Associated Press, courts, crime, North Carolina. Then another. When neighbors asked where they got their money, Steve said hed played in the NFL. Ghantt was in fact hiding out in Mexico using McKinneys I.D., which had been sold to Chambers months earlier. He told her he wanted more of "his" cash. At the sight of all that money, Scott and Eric had the same thought: They'd made the worst mistake of their lives. 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 couple weeks pass, and I call again, Hey, Id like to get some more money. Why did this Charlotte engineer leave her job? By late November, McKinney made a third trip to Mexico, saying he'd help David move to Mexico City. Hes well thought-out. Eric Payne got out of prison in 2006 for his role in the heist and has since paid $11,357 on his $292,000 debt. She asked about the limit for a cash deposit before "paperwork" was required. David was excited, jabbering about their future together. More agents waited outside to arrest them. The FBI now knew Chambers had Loomis cash. But the idea of all that money pulled at her. Health savings account and flexible spending account. The Loomis case is another example where the amount of restitution ordered vs. what is actually paid are two dramatically different numbers. And I think that makes it all the more funny, because it really offends my co-defendants. Question: What made you, Chambers and the others think you could get away with this? real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist seeing a woodpecker after someone dies lectomano que significa. Charlotte hotel chef who serves with a smile recognized as outstanding ambassador, Eritrean, Ethiopian restaurant owner was a big brother and father to many in Charlotte, Home tours: This wired-up Weddington smart home has a pool big enough for the neighborhood. Kelly had recently left a job driving an armored-car for Loomis, Fargo & Co. "He's the one who brought it up first," said Kelly, a year after her arrest. There had been no signs. Get to me. Its that kind of excitement.. So the last third of the movie is almost entirely fiction. In early September 1997, Kelly found herself chatting on the phone with a friend who still worked at Loomis, a 27-year-old man who, despite being married, had made no secret of the fact that he had a crush on her. Too many questions remained: Where was the cash? Twenty-five years ago, a small group of rural North Carolinian amateur bank robbers pulled off the second-largest heist in American history. I would call us friends. The last time he called me, he said, Hey Ghantt, I just saw a big Loomis Fargo truck. Before long, the FBI had wiretaps on the ringleader, Steve Chambers, and then they waited for the right time to make their arrests. Federal law stops government collection efforts 20 years after a defendant leaves prison. All the while, Ghantt prepared himself for the task at hand.

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