It was unclear whether anyone will get that money, authorities said. That led to better jobs, like the one at Loomis. Loomis, Fargo offered a $500,000 reward after the theft. Scott, 26, had a larceny conviction as a teenager, but he'd since cleaned up his act and now had a steady job, a daughter and a girlfriend. Get to me. Its that kind of excitement.. It was one of those things everyone (at Loomis Fargo) joked about, but in time, it became serious. 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. Ive never taken offense to anything like that, he tells me. She could visit friends. By . Back then, it was one of the hotspots for hiding money. Ghantt planned to live off the interest for the rest of his life. "Steve said, 'I think we ought to do it that night, when he drops off the van,' " Kelly recalled. He hated his job, with its 12-hour shifts. "He said, 'Yeah, right,' and turned his head. The cart held about $2 million, and the thief made multiple trips. 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. There are multiples of thousands of these things coming every year. It was late in 1996. . In a word, "Teamwork. "I was unhappy with my life. He worked fueling airplanes, driving a forklift, and in 1994 he got a job as a vault superintendent at Loomis. It was an ear-biting, Pierce Brosnan-loving, comet-obsessed world, and were here to relive every minute of it. Kelly found herself standing beside David while they waited together for a bond hearing. Hes very articulate. Ghantt:It started out as a mental exercise and somewhere between the mental exercise and the actual event, it became serious. They set the date, Oct. 4, a Saturday when David knew he could be alone in the building after his shift. The plan was to split the money three ways: Chambers, Campbell and Ghantt would each walk away with what Ghantt estimated to be $5 million a piece the kind of money that changes lives forever. Ghantt:It baffles me to this day. In real life: False. And robbing a truck was dangerous. . Some family members hid money in bank deposit boxes, other friends were asked to mule cash to the Cayman Islands. At 7:45, David had finished loading. First, they loaded the cash into blue 55-gallon barrels, and then they moved the barrels into a rental van. When October 1997 began, Steve and Michelle Chambers lived in a double-wide trailer. Its a yes: Clover teen shakes off nerves to earn American Idol golden ticket, Mail carrier cant believe his eyes after seeing NC lottery win. She also assured the teller her cash wasn't drug money. She just called me up on the phone and said, Hey, lets meet one day after work. And then, we were talking and she says, How do you feel about robbing Loomis Fargo? Ghantt tells me. Kelly would only discover later that leading up to the heist, Steve had been writing bad checks, $17,000 worth, for which he would later be convicted. CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Kelly Campbell, the woman who helped plan the $17 million robbery of armored-car company Loomis, Fargo was sentenced yesterday to nearly six years in prison and ordered to pay back more than $4 million. In real life: True. He said every year he files his taxes and the IRS takes all of his tax return. 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. You can reach Kevin Ellis at 704-869-1823 or Twitter.com/TheGazetteKevin. . "I was thinking, 'They aren't paying me enough,' " McKinney recalled. That time in prison was actually good for me. He para-sailed, power-skied and scuba-dived. 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. Despite a mega-watt cast featuring Zach Galifianakis and a handful of some of Saturday Night Lives biggest current and former stars, Masterminds, the comedy about Loomis Fargo robbery completely tanked at the box office in its opening weekend, bowing in sixth place with just $6.6 million. Or as he tells me, How many people in the United States havent thought about robbing a bank? He says the Loomis case shows how the criminal justice system and the courts treat lower-income people differently. On March 1, David Ghantt left his hotel to do some laundry. The top-ranked pie in North Carolina doesnt look like pie at all. When McKinney arrived in North Carolina, the plan had changed. So Im like, Can you get a move on with my money? After a couple of weeks passed, I get a phone call from Kelly: Okay, Brunos coming to you, blah, blah, blah. So I get a phone call from this guy, and I tell him where to meet me. Posted on . . CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS FROM 1998 and ACTORS IN MOVIE. He recalled that another agent, Phil King, said, "Hey, there was an article in the [Charlotte] Observer about beeper codes. He pocketed the money and told Chambers and Campbell to send him his cut in Mexico. He told her he wanted more of "his" cash. Everybody seemed stunned. In real life: False. Guller was the attorney for Steven Chambers, who came up with the original idea for the Loomis theft. Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. Then Steve pushed Scott inside, and he began throwing plastic-wrapped bundles of tens, twenties, fifties and hundreds to Eric and Steve, who placed them in three blue 55-gallon barrels. Not many people can say they stole $17 million from their employer and had Zach Galifianakis play them in a movie. 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. . He and his wife, Tammy, lived in a mobile home in Kings Mountain, N.C. Money was always tight. ];Kelly Jane Campbell [Misc. If they could just sit on the money until then, he said, they'd be fine. Ghantt ended up doing more than five years in prison, Chambers did more than 11 years. He had even scheduled a follow-up appointment at the dentist. The plan to rob Loomis Fargo was spawned by Campbell and her friend Steve Chambers, during a casual bonfire at Chambers' home. At the party, Steve invited Michele's stepfather, truck driver Dennis Floyd, to the basement to play pool. But after a year, they'll cut it down to two agents. No dry runs, no rehearsals. He couldn't talk.". Soon thereafter, he met Kelly Campbell, a co-worker at Loomis Fargo. And though she had been made night shift supervisor at Allied Security, she still felt she would never make the money she needed. In real life: True. Down in Jacksonville, a Loomis Fargo employee took $18 million from an armored van he was driving. It changes you. Kelly was no criminal. 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. ". Our Benefits. Im a very deliberate person. Though David had no criminal experience, he felt he could offer expert advice: He'd just finished reading a book on the FBI. Kelly Jane Campbell, a former Loomis employee; Michael L. McKinney . Theres less security. . The movie was overly silly and, based on a post-screening conversation with former Observer reporter Jeff Diamant who wrote a detailed 279-page book about the occasionally funny but mostly just-plain fascinating crime, titled Heist much of what wound up in the film is fiction. Youre supposed to get less time for cooperating, a lesser penalty, and instead, you see what she got hit with. Gronquist said. 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. She could spend time with her children and parents. David was sentenced to 7 1/2 years. See all of the stories here. David didn't even know Steve's name. Chambers and Campbell were waiting for him in the Loomis Fargo parking lot, both in separate vehicles. The phone rang: Kelly had a problem. They stocked a wine cellar. "I felt that if I didn't do something, I was going to snap," David said. They soon realized David had stolen more money than would fit in their 55-gallon barrels. . . Question: What made you, Chambers and the others think you could get away with this? But because David's relationship with his Loomis bosses had been rocky, he says, he doesn't feel sorry about what he did to the company. The Loomis defendants face no additional legal jeopardy for not paying off their debts. Things started to go south the night of the robbery. At 6-1 and 220 pounds, Steve was stocky and imposing, a fast talker with a brown goatee. Kelly drove her pickup to a lot across the street from the Loomis building, on Suttle Avenue in Charlotte. In the meantime, the FBI was closing in looking to bust a total of 21 suspected accomplices. [Kelly] told me, 'Just think about it.' Was that really what it was about? In real life: Yes and no. But first they wanted to know if it was a robbery or a robbery-homicide. The next day, Kelly drove back to Steve's mobile home to watch the news with Steve and Michele. David was excited, jabbering about their future together. Theres no management around. 1-4-3 is 'I love you.' One of them tapped him on the back. Ghantt:I've always known that story had potential to be a comedy or a drama. By late November, McKinney made a third trip to Mexico, saying he'd help David move to Mexico City. Exhibit A was that Steve had no steady job but plenty of cash. By March, Steve Chambers decided he needed to do something more drastic about Ghantt, making plans to send a hitman to Mexico to silence him for good. Him and I still talk every now and then. Meanwhile, outside Reynolds & Reynolds, Steve, Scott and Eric needed to move 2,748 pounds of cash, quickly, from the Loomis van into the Budget van. These days, the 52-year-old husband and father lives in Jacksonville, Florida, where he works at a heavy equipment rental agency. Its hilarious. Chambers, who still lives in Gaston County and operates a gym, declined to comment. LeVaughn Kelly Campbell (born July 23, 1980 in Atlanta, Georgia) is a former football wide receiver. It didnt take the local police long to put the pieces together. 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. There it was, "The Heist." Here's what Floyd recalls: After two games of pool, Steve told him, "You know, we do a lot of gambling. I told them, Take it, box it up, and youll be able to ship it to me in Mexico. Back in the 1990s, you couldve probably boxed up a hot pink elephant and shipped it to Mexico; no one wouldve ever noticed. And it turned Steve into he thought he was Don Corleone all of a sudden.. As it turned out, Ghantt was zipping up his scuba suit in Mexico. When he walked onto the plane, he was wearing big, tall cowboy boots, where hed stuffed a majority of the smuggled cash. Scott Grant and Steve pulled up next to her in a Mazda. The others sat in their cars across the street and watched him struggle to open the heavy gate. "I wanted to be more like my mom and dad were.". They put up mauve wallpaper. Field Operations; Corporate; Why Loomis. On his way out, he grabbed the surveillance video, hoping to cover his tracks. Hidden in it was a 3 1/2-carat diamond ring that cost $43,000. Sandra Floyd, Michele Chambers's mother, remembers the first time she saw the house. When neighbors asked where they got their money, Steve said hed played in the NFL. Called Masterminds, the 2016 film stars Zach Galifianakis, Kristen Wiig and Owen Wilson. All the while, Ghantt prepared himself for the task at hand. He wouldn't give me the opportunity to say anything else. He approached a longtime friend, Eric Payne, who lived in a mobile home south of Belmont, N.C. Steve offered him $100,000 to help. 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. Kelly said she had reason to believe Steve might be able to pull off a heist. We got to the end of the day, and he was acting like he wanted to linger. I hear her typing. Theres some things I want to do., Ghantt planned on traveling from Mexico to the Cayman Islands, bypassing customs along the way. A week later, another informant told the FBI that Eric Payne had quit his job at a printing company soon after the heist and was spending money he probably hadn't earned legally. The FBI was also surveilling Kelly Campbell and followed her to a pay phone that she used to place calls to Mexico. The teller, who hadn't asked, filed a "suspicious activity report." Where was Ghantt? I mean, it was dark, Ghantt explains. Kelly, she says now, was thinking about how happy she would be to send this man far away from her. Butcher says the federal courts in the Western District of North Carolina have never handled a case quite like Loomis. But you cant get blood from a stone, Johns said. Together, they drove in a convoy to an industrial warehouse eight miles away, where Eric Payne, a fourth accomplice was. Except the person he offered $150,000 to mule $2.5 million down to Ghantt in Mexico turned him down and instead went to the FBI. At the Halloween party, though, Kelly gave in to Steve, and agreed it had to be done. That's the kind of movie they wanted to make. The bash had a Cinderella theme, with a three-tiered cake that looked like a castle. She was like, Well, at least you had guts, he says. They sweated, though the night was cool. His wife, Tammy, was as shocked as Loomis officials. "That would be living on the run, and I didn't want my kids to live that way. Criminals dont usually get high-paying jobs after leaving prison. Tags: Associated Press, courts, crime, North Carolina. From Mexico, David usually spoke with Kelly on the phone once a week, paying with calling cards. An Ohio police officer who shot and killed a Black man as he lay in bed in his home last summer is no longer on the force, Three Kansas City police officers who were shot while serving a search warrant have been released from the hospital, Officials say one passenger died when a business jet experienced severe turbulence, forcing a landing at Bradley International Airport in Connecticut. 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. Twenty people were convicted of roles big and small in the massive 1997 armored-car warehouse heist in west Charlotte. It was the first Saturday in October. So yeah, Im kind of proud of it.. Time passed, and Campbell eventually quit her job at Loomis Fargo. Why had he ever believed he'd get it? Eventually, Steve made Kelly believe they could steal from Loomis and get away with it, she said. He gave the rest to Kelly. But agents weren't ready to arrest Kelly and Steve. "I'd been told all my life, money will not make you happy," Kelly said. "I said, 'Yeah, sure.' Next month, Payne will back in the Charlotte federal courthouse, this time to be sentenced from weapons and methamphetamine trafficking charges. "I was trying to figure out a way to [leave my husband] and take care of my kids without having to depend on him or any other man," Kelly said. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist. I knew I was going to be the prime suspect. Federal law stops government collection efforts 20 years after a defendant leaves prison. 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. Military + Veterans. Restitution is a familiar part of sentencing in federal court. She will never get beyond the debt. Ghantt spent a solid hour moving what ended up being 2,700 pounds of cash more than an actual ton into an unmarked company van. 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. On Oct. 7, 1997, two FBI agents arrived at Kelly Campbell's home after two Loomis employees had told agents she and David had once dated. Two more defendants in the $17 million Loomis Fargo & Co. robbery last year have agreed to plead guilty, and a third person entered a formal plea in court. I mean, cause greed is a funny animal. When McKinney realized Ghantt was wanted for the Loomis Fargo robbery, he backed off personally because he didnt want to be anywhere near a federal investigation. ', "He asked me if I'd mind holding some money for him. And that's OK with Ghantt, who's just a few weeks shy of his 47th birthday, out of federal prison for more than a decade, married with a 9-year-old daughter and happy. . The FBI now knew Chambers had Loomis cash. When he said, 'I'll give you $20,000 to hold a million,' I said, 'Sure.' Getting restitution, its like pulling teeth.. I'll never pay it off on my paycheck." Records show the government has garnished his Social Security checks. Steve told her to send David to Atlanta on a bus and drive back to the trailer. He flew in an ultra-light plane. Actor Owen Wilson plays him in the movie, which includes the real names of all the major players. Ghantt was scheduled to work a shift at the armored car company Oct. 4. 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. 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. 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. In that time, I realized most of my problems were because of me. He hadnt checked ahead of time if the airport had any available flights, let alone if it would even be open. More agents waited outside to arrest them. ". I loved it. Until, that is, he decided to hell with it he was going to pull-off the second largest heist in U.S. history. I would call us friends. He rewarded Robert with $3,000 and vowed never to meet McKinney alone. He grabbed the tapes from two VCRs that connected to 16 security cameras. 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. I was just going to get the money into the van. Exciting. In mid-November, McKinney carried $10,000 to Cancun but wound up spending most of it on himself. When she realized Ghantt never came home from work the night before, she contacted the police and filed a missing persons report. Things were spiraling fast. 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.