real life kelly campbell loomis fargo

It wasnt a big hit, but Ghantt, who was played by Galifianakis, gives it a rave review. Paying the money back has taken a lot longer, and time is running out for the U.S. government to collect. Next month, Payne will back in the Charlotte federal courthouse, this time to be sentenced from weapons and methamphetamine trafficking charges. He told him McKinney was in Mexico to kill somebody. Punishment needs to be fair and realistic. It wouldn't work, Kelly told him. At 6-1 and 220 pounds, Steve was stocky and imposing, a fast talker with a brown goatee. In real life: True. Jim Gronquist, Campbells defense attorney during the Loomis case, says the financial penalties levied against his client and her co-defendants are grossly excessive and unjust, particularly since most of the stolen Loomis money was actually recovered. . "We're not the type that questions everything people tell us," Floyd said. ", "I wouldn't do it. When he said, 'I'll give you $20,000 to hold a million,' I said, 'Sure.' Chambers, now 32, didn't grant an interview for this article, but last year, in response to written questions, he said the biggest lesson he learned was: "Family is more important and valuable than money. Steve and Michele invited everyone back for a Christmas party, where they gave Michele's stepfather a special gift--the pickup truck he'd always wanted. Thats nearly $11 million less than former Kings Mountain resident David Ghantt (played by Galifianakis in the film) helped steal from the vault where he worked in Charlotte back in October 1997. Ghantt, his former co-worker Kelly Campbell and her friends Steve and Michelle Chambers carried out the Loomis Fargo heist on Oct. 4, 1997. "I'd been told all my life, money will not make you happy," Kelly said. 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. He didn't want to abandon his parents. Kelly had no problem fanning the flames of their old flirtation. Not Ghantt. 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. We got to the end of the day, and he was acting like he wanted to linger. 27 febrero, 2023 . He kept looking over his shoulder. Ghantt was in fact hiding out in Mexico using McKinneys I.D., which had been sold to Chambers months earlier. Federal prosecutors would ultimately charge 21 defendants in the case, including the Floyds, who were charged with (and pleaded guilty to) money laundering. They put up mauve wallpaper. Kelly called David at Loomis; he told her he'd be ready for them with the cash at 6:30 or 7 p.m. Alone in the building, David was trying to finish loading cash from the vault into an unmarked white Ford Econoline van belonging to Loomis. He grabbed the tapes from two VCRs that connected to 16 security cameras. 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. "Love" has four. And I was thinking about just showing up there. About 200 keys dangled from it. But Ghantt, who served as an unpaid consultant to the movie and attended the big Los Angeles premiere earlier in the week, has no such reservations. Until, that is, he decided to hell with it he was going to pull-off the second largest heist in U.S. history. In the two days after the robbery, agents interviewed more than 100 people, most connected with David. His new life in Mexico had begun. Ghantt:It baffles me to this day. Then another. Her marriage--at which she was making another ambivalent effort after multiple separations--and even the jobs she'd been able to get with a diploma couldn't come close to providing the kind of life she dreamed about, the life she felt she deserved: a house in the country, a swimming pool, and enough cash so she didn't need to rely on men. Was Queen Charlotte Black? As soon as Corey left, I pretended like I was leaving. But agents weren't ready to arrest Kelly and Steve. That week, the FBI designated the theft its 142nd "major case," putting it on a list--begun in the 1970s--that includes such other infamous crimes as the World Trade Center bombing. But it wasnt. As with Kelly, the worst blotch on 29-year-old Eric's record until now was a driving-while-intoxicated conviction. The first weekday after the heist, Michele Chambers, co-conspirator Steve's wife, walked into a NationsBank branch with a briefcase containing $5,000. [Kelly] told me, 'Just think about it.' I don't want to be mean, but that's probably the dumbest thing they could do. I told the lead investigator I was glad to see him.. Yes, Carrie Underwood adopted a dog in Charlotte. Ghantt was working as a vault supervisor for Loomis Fargo in Charlotte in 1997, earning about $8 an hour and tired of his humdrum life. 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. "I said, 'I don't want him killed.' "He was in tears. Campbell, 29, had pleaded guilty to charges of bank larceny, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder. He was an old friend from East Gaston High School, tough and sure of himself. She declined to take a lie-detector test. On March 1, David Ghantt left his hotel to do some laundry. They bought a BMW roadster. In that time, I realized most of my problems were because of me. The next week, they heard Steve plan to send Mike McKinney to Mexico to kill David Ghantt. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist. "He showed me a lot of money," McKinney said. He had just returned to his home in Jacksonville, Fla., when he agreed to talk about the heist, his life now and what went wrong when a group of friends who thought they could get away with stealing $17 million cash. Meanwhile, Michele Chambers was laughing and saying, repeatedly, "Look at all this money!" In real life: False. So much so that one suspicious neighbor called the FBI. No regrets. Purchases included a pool table, jewelry (including a $43,000 diamond ring), a minivan, $20,000 worth of cigars, and the 7,000-square-foot home on the side of Cramer. She laughed for like 45 minutes. The robbery of some $17 million quickly became one of the wildest bank heists of the last quarter century. Gaston County residents remember how that worked out. You've violated that trust. Back in North Carolina, Ghantts former accomplices were living high on the hog. Scott Grant and Steve pulled up next to her in a Mazda. I hear her typing. 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. On the radio, the "John Boy and Billy" show played the song "Take the Money and Run. Meanwhile, back in North Carolina, Ghantts wife woke up to find her husband missing. It affects everybody different. Together, they drove in a convoy to an industrial warehouse eight miles away, where Eric Payne, a fourth accomplice was. He comes to my door, and hes got a brown paper bag in his hand. The agents tapped the phone, and it didnt take long to locate Ghantt after that. Kelly drove her pickup to a lot across the street from the Loomis building, on Suttle Avenue in Charlotte. Field Operations; Corporate; Why Loomis. 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. Ghantt was already married when he took part in the heist, to a woman named Tammy who author Diamant described as very nice. It is true, however, that she had no idea about the plot and that he fled to Mexico without telling her. So it was weird when during the middle of the week, there were these very clean-cut, very Midwestern looking, obviously American guys in the town. She was the group's only contact with David, and she was smoking marijuana "like other people smoke cigarettes," she said. A version of this story originally appeared on CharlotteObserver.com. Three weeks later, the couple purchased, in cash, a $635,000 stone mansion. About 5:45 a.m., he got into his pickup and began the 45-minute drive to work in Charlotte. 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. Some amateur thieves might turn to movies and TV shows for lessons on criminal behavior. Kelly was lying. Ghantt simply got ready for work one morning knowing it would be his last day on the job. From going fishing to riding horses on the beach the whole nine yards. I missed my wife. As you probably know, it's loosely based on the Loomis Fargo heist in Charlotte back in the late nineties. Because lets be brutally honest: Theyre not wrong, okay? The van door opened. 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. David said he realized then, for the first time, he might not see the millions he thought he had coming to him. In real life: False. They paid for all of it in cash. Alert: Obviously, spoilers abound. Ghantt was missing and no one, not even his wife, knew where he was. In 2017, for example, Paul Burks of Lexington was ordered to pay $244 million to the victims of his worldwide Ponzi scheme, Zeek Rewards. On October 5, 1997, FBI agents gathered at the Loomis, Fargo & Co. warehouse in Charlotte, North Carolina, to watch a security videotape of a man loading stacks of cash into a pushcart and wheeling them from the vault. She could visit friends. She will never get beyond the debt. The bigger the amount, however, the bigger the damages to victims that likely will never be repaid: Amy Paynes collection account was closed in 2020 with her having paid $53,000 of the $274,000 she owed. Not a documentary. Besides her prison sentence . I mean, it was dark, Ghantt explains. In real life: False. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. 2500 City West Blvd., Suite 2300 Houston, TX 77042. We spoke with the inside man, David Ghantt, to get the real story. As with many recent historic events, this one had been caught on videotape, a fact that a few dozen Charlotte FBI agents would learn in a hastily organized Sunday morning meeting. He says the Loomis case shows how the criminal justice system and the courts treat lower-income people differently. When Chambers and the two Erics were done loading the stolen millions into barrels, they abandoned the van in the woods. Twice a week over the next 12 months, we will take you back to the winter of sheep cloning and the summer of Con Air. To protect themselves, David and Steve didn't meet or talk. Ghantt says he operates a bulldozer for a small company. That was great. For her part, Kelly Campbell spent six years in federal prison. 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. Careers. 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. When neighbors asked where they got their money, Steve said hed played in the NFL. It was his goodbye. It will be some time before she can commune with domestic animals again. The last time he called me, he said, Hey Ghantt, I just saw a big Loomis Fargo truck. What that says is, We will never forgive you for what youve done.. Note: No quotes were altered, although in some cases additional quotes were added to the questions as Ghantt expanded on his thoughts. Question: What made you, Chambers and the others think you could get away with this? Kelly Campbell, 29, a former company employee, entered guilty pleas earlier to bank larceny, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder charges. Loomis has received $978,983.79, according to Sally Butcher, an assistant clerk in the federal courts of the Western District of North Carolina who specializes in criminal debt. Although David was in on most of the planning, one discussion between Steve and Kelly was kept a secret. The FBI's final challenge is finding the remaining $2 million. Health savings account and flexible spending account. First, in January, he tried to get someone to take some millions down to Mexico. Nah, it was always about the money, he told the agents. He was doing what the rest of us were doing making bad decisions. You can seize property. In the meantime, the FBI was closing in looking to bust a total of 21 suspected accomplices. Ghantt fled to Mexico. Everybody seemed stunned. Michelle Chambers paid off only $27,000. And youre like, Come on parachute. Best States is an interactive platform developed by U.S. News for ranking the 50 U.S. states, alongside news analysis and daily reporting. But first they wanted to know if it was a robbery or a robbery-homicide. Ghantt: My cut was supposed to be about $5 million, but that's not what I ended up with. David had grabbed $50,000 cash, but could figure out only how to carry $25,000 with him on the plane. You can reach Kevin Ellis at 704-869-1823 or Twitter.com/TheGazetteKevin. By . Michelle Chambers received seven years and eight months, while Steve Chambers was handed an 11-year sentence. They cursed. He longed for the middle-class lifestyle of his childhood, with its private religious-school education and Disney World vacations. "I said, 'Yeah, sure.' In real life: Mostly true. Steve solicited two others to help move cash during the theft. There were times when I drank really heavily.". At 7:45, David had finished loading. What made her abandon an ordinary existence to commit this spectacular, doomed crime? No dry runs, no rehearsals. David didn't even know Steve's name. It was the first Saturday in October. 1-4-3 is 'I love you.' By late November, McKinney made a third trip to Mexico, saying he'd help David move to Mexico City. But after she left, she reached back out to Ghantt and brought up what theyd talked about that day in the break room. 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 Chambers, Michael Gobbies, and four other co-conspirators. The plan to rob Loomis Fargo was spawned by Campbell and her friend Steve Chambers, during a casual bonfire at Chambers' home. Ghantt worked at Loomis Fargos regional office vault in Charlotte. Kelly found herself standing beside David while they waited together for a bond hearing. I mean, cause greed is a funny animal. But what did that mean? In real life: False. Did you get paid? So he got in a cab and went to a mall. In March 1997, after Loomis Fargo & Company has been robbed of $18.8 million in Jacksonville by company security guard Philip Noel Johnson, Steve Eugene Chambers and Kelly Campbell, a former employee of Loomis, decides to rob the company. He went deep-sea fishing. If you want to go ahead and go, I got it. Youre supposed to get less time for cooperating, a lesser penalty, and instead, you see what she got hit with. Gronquist said. "I was unhappy with my life. I hope everyone has moved on. This story was originally published October 3, 2016, 9:12 PM. Hidden in it was a 3 1/2-carat diamond ring that cost $43,000.

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