It has a certain feel, a smell and weight to it. Many of the lesser players in the conspiracy have been the most effective in paying their debts. Kelly called, using David's own cell phone, to ask where he was already, because she and the others were waiting outside for him. 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. They located Steve and Shelley Chambers in their newly-purchased home at the top of a hill. They swept the surrounding counties, locating Kelly Campbell and Eric Payne in their homes. He and his wife, Michele, moved from theirmobile homeinLincoln Countyto a luxury house in the wealthy Cramer Mountain section ofCramerton. The stated plan was for her to move to Mexico to be with him after the theft. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. 2023 Cox Media Group. 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. Campbell used to work for Loomis and continued the friendship with Ghantt, eventually hooking him up with Chambers. 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. In all, they recovered $6.6 million. Learn about careers at Cox Media Group.
kelly campbell masterminds - clydeautorepairs.co.uk Uh-oh, it looks like your Internet Explorer is out of date. He knew they were nervous outside waiting for him, but he also knew he wouldn't stop stealing until he had taken everything. 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. By using this website, you accept the terms of our Visitor Agreement and Privacy Policy, and understand your options regarding Ad Choices. It was 2:00 p.m. on October 4, 1997, and tension was building between two planners of what would rank high among the largest heists in United States history. It wasn't how much you stole that mattered most; it was that you had stolen in the first place. Human nature is a flexible part of life, Gronquist said. Ghantt was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison. They also purchased expensive cars, jewelry and a breast enhancement or two. Their only intimate physical contact had been kissing on a mid-September night when they had driven her pickup truck to a field behind a shooting range in Gaston County to discuss their plans and the theft's chance of success. She had attitude. 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. 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. Burks was also ordered to serve 15 years in prison, limiting his ability to balance his books. Javascript is not enabled in your browser. And they could barely afford the minimum payments, given the power bills, phone bills, car insurance bills, and home payments they had to meet. His collection case, which closes in November 2026, got credit for the couples $540,000 house on Cramer Mountain in Gaston County, Butcher says. If we work together, we can all have plenty of pie.. How he and his wife had trouble communicating. More calls between the two men, and also between Steve and Kelly Campbell, made it clear that the group was starting to turn on David Ghantt. All of the defendants are out of prison -- the longest sentence was 11 years. The inspiration behind the major motion picture Masterminds starring Zach Galifianakis, Owen Wilson, Kristen Wiig, and Jason Sudeikis! 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 don't have time to mess with you. You should definitely start your own blog, I highly recommend it. Inside $3.3 million was located along with the two stolen surveillance tapes, apparently left due to the robber and his accomplices being sloppy, or in a hurry.
6-Year Sentence For Kelly Campbell | The Seattle Times They also found several stacks of money with Loomis bands still attached throughout all the homes searched. 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. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies do not store any personal information. He angrily hung up the phone at Loomis, Fargo & Co., his soon-to-be former employer in Charlotte, North Carolina. 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. He allegedly hired a hitman to take Ghantt out, tying up the ultimate loose end. Instead he became paranoid, especially after Steve Chambers put a contract out on his life. Money. He has been a staff writer for the Star-Ledger in New Jersey since 2000. But this time on the phone, Kelly wasn't joking. 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. 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. Thats pretty standard in restitution matters. CHARLOTTE If you didnt live in the Charlotte area 25 years ago, you might not believe it. But being the vault supervisor at Loomis Fargo had one perk -- exposure to tons of cash. But if you did, youll never forget 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. The case had gotten national publicity and was the subject of numerous articles, documentaries and even a movie. Getting restitution, its like pulling teeth.. 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. Learning from this error, David planned to leave the stolen money behind with his coconspirators while he fled to Mexico. I was relieved emotionally because I knew there was a good chance my luck might run out, Ghantt said. VERDICT The first edition of this work was published in 2002. Clerk of Court Frank Johns of Charlotte.
Feet Security Officer Bo Foot's Incident In Happy Town | ipl.org 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. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. It just happened to fall on my desk.. 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., Anybody who gets caught up in the system is getting chewed up by it,, You can garnish wages. He had since served time in prison for the crime and told our sister station WSOC-TV Channel 9s Glenn Counts he learned a valuable lesson while behind bars. 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. How he felt shorted by life. https://www.charlotteagenda.com/67457/loomis-fargo-heist-masterminds-movie/, http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/state/article104506876.html, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_1997_Loomis_Fargo_robbery#Company, http://retroclt.blogspot.com/2014/07/loomis-fargo-heist.html, . While David Ghantt trusted Steve Chambers enough to leave his cut behind, Chambers had other plans. 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. To be brutally honest, it was that morning, Ghantt replied. That was the thing that sticks in my mind to this day.. Low 46F. You Save 23%. His collection case closes in two years. But he wasn't finished. His collection case closes in two years. She will never get beyond the debt. EDITORIAL: Computer Science misses the need for digital literacy, N. Carolina legislators announce Medicaid expansion deal, EDITORIAL: Fighting political forces that sever family ties, Special-use to get overhaul: Commissioners, planners take a look, Cape Carteret seeking new police chief one month after hiring New Bern resident for post, How many in North Carolina are awaiting student loan debt relief? They hadn't slept together or even fooled around much, but he was ready to commit. And after two years, the case is just a file. 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. You can garnish wages. be blocked or permanently banned without warning. Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live. He wanted to leave his wife for her, and Kelly, who also was married, let him think she wanted the same. The trainee didn't know to check to make sure it was closed. Punishment needs to be fair and realistic. 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. For people earning $8.15 an hour David's salary the jokes came naturally. The police almost immediately called theFBI, since 95% of the money handled at the facility was owned by banks. Campbell used part of her share of the money to buy aToyota Siennaminivanin two cash installments. David was supposed to be showing him the ropes of the job, which included cash pickups and deliveries. A report by the General Accounting Office found that as of budget year 2016, $110 billion in restitution ordered by the federal courts was outstanding and that more than 90% of the amount had been classified as uncollectible.. 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.
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'When you have money, you just have different problems': The Loomis The woman on the phone was Kelly Jane Campbell, and David had a mad crush on her. Burks was also ordered to serve 15 years in prison, limiting his ability to balance his books. Kelly Campbell, who one day visited a Toyota dealership to purchase a minivan with twenty-dollar bills. Kelly Campbell, 29, a former company employee, entered guilty pleas earlier to bank larceny, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder charges. "But you can still have a cigarette.". Tuesday marked 25 years since a group of buddies pulled off the third-largest money grab in U.S. history -- the Loomis Fargo heist. David didn't appreciate her tone. Then, keeping with the plan, Ghantt took $50,000 (the maximum that could be taken across the border by law without further authorization) with him and left for Mexico, winding up at the popularYucatan Peninsularesort ofCozumel.
Seven Charged In $17M Heist - CBS News The unsolved mystery of the Van Meter Visitor a winged creature! "Everything's gonna be all right," she told him. Theres no way to get it back, Butcher told The Charlotte Observer. Of course the most famous thing inside the home was a velvet Elvis portrait. The government does not run debtors prisons, says U.S. Butcher says the federal courts in the Western District of North Carolina have never handled a case quite like Loomis. None of the suspects had been in any serious trouble before this. The October 4 shift was lasting longer than expected, due to delays involving pickups and deliveries. 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.