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. Ghantt worked at Loomis Fargos regional office vault in Charlotte. Steve Chambers has told agents the missing cash was stolen from a shed in Lincoln County. On Nov. 12, a confidential informant told the FBI about Steve Chambers's move from mobile home to mansion. That was the most painful truth to come to. Steve told Scott to ignore the remaining stacks, which were mostly ones and fives. Here's what Floyd recalls: After two games of pool, Steve told him, "You know, we do a lot of gambling. In the wee hours of the morning, Chambers and the Erics drove back to the town of Vale, North Carolina, and holed up in a double-wide trailer while counting their cash. The pager entry was 1-4-3. Steve also offered $100,000 to his 26-year-old cousin. The FBI's final challenge is finding the remaining $2 million. Agents noticed it two months later when it flowed to them through official channels, along with hundreds of similar reports involving other people. In that time, I realized most of my problems were because of me. I hear her typing. After a Gulf War stint in the Army, David got married in 1992. Her husband gave her a brown teddy bear. Will Vin Sant Leave You Jacked or Scammed? I had to go in there and tell her the whole story, and she was real cool about it. Scary. You can seize property. Michele received the best gift of the night. Back in North Carolina, Ghantts former accomplices were living high on the hog. "Every time my conscience would start bothering me," Kelly recalled, "I'd smoke another joint and forget about it.". Cool, I say. We spoke to the FBI agents who investigated the case who say the real-life. Question: Any contact with Steve Chambers or any of the others involved with the heist? I did a little research into crime statistics and the local cops. This is where it starts to unravel, Ghantt tells me with a wry laugh. David complained it wasn't enough. Soon, the couple would be paying for something else, too: a hitman. He recalled that another agent, Phil King, said, "Hey, there was an article in the [Charlotte] Observer about beeper codes. There are multiples of thousands of these things coming every year. Steve had another conversation with Kelly about killing David. Kelly found herself standing beside David while they waited together for a bond hearing. Loomis Armored Shreveport, LA, 1124 Forum Dr, Shreveport, LA, USA Shreveport, LA, USA Req #1990. I did every touristy thing you could possibly do while I was down there. Dependent care account. I mean, cause greed is a funny animal. The cart held about $2 million, and the thief made multiple trips. I was expecting her to kick me out of the house., Years later, after they married and had a child together, they watched a movie based on the whole ordeal. How Bridgerton restarted buzz about her ancestry. "I felt that if I didn't do something, I was going to snap," David said. They also left behind a life-changing fortune in small bills $3.3 million in fives and ones that they overlooked and the two videotapes that Ghantt had pulled from the security cameras at the bank. The next week, they heard Steve plan to send Mike McKinney to Mexico to kill David Ghantt. Nah, it was always about the money, he told the agents. Question: You were a consultant? Thats where they feel comfortable., This piece of information would become critical to his getaway plan. He hadnt checked ahead of time if the airport had any available flights, let alone if it would even be open. Find 145 people named Kelly Loomis along with free Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok profiles on PeekYou - true people search. Everything came crashing down on an early March morning in 1998. The van door opened. Industry leading Training and Development. In real life: False. He then began loading $17 million in unmarked bills inside a company van before driving away. 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. . Then FBI agent Wydra watched Steve's wife, Michele, deposit about $8,000 at a Gaston County, N.C., bank. That was pretty awesome., It felt like a dream vacation until he started running out of money. Until, that is, he decided to hell with it he was going to pull-off the second largest heist in U.S. history. Gaston County residents remember how that worked out. 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. The Loomis Fargo Bank Robbery was the $17.3 million cash robbery of the Charlotte, North Carolina, regional office vault of Loomis Fargo & Company on the evening of October 4, 1997, by armored car driver and vault supervisor David Scott Ghantt. 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. You can reach Kevin Ellis at 704-869-1823 or Twitter.com/TheGazetteKevin. The only person not to plead guilty in the case, former Gastonia attorney Jeff Guller, ended up doing eight years for money laundering. There, Scott and Eric paced the floor as Steve tried to calm them down. . But what did that mean? 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. The Evergreen State takes the top spot again in the U.S. News Best States ranking on the strength of its tech sector and other industries. This story was originally published October 3, 2016, 9:12 PM. She could visit friends. The best states in the U.S. come from coast to coast. Health savings account and flexible spending account. He covers culture, politics, race, and other perplexing mysteries for MEL. Depression had led to smoking a lot of marijuana and taking Prozac, a combination she figures affected her judgment. Now that Kelly believes she has found Jesus, she has become more analytical about her past. After a couple of weeks, Ghantt and the rest of the heist team were ready to strike. Or is the loot buried in somebody's yard? He had stolen $17 million from Loomis Fargo. If you go from a mobile home to a mansion, that's going to attract attention. Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand. Now two NC men face prison. Things were spiraling fast. He took bus tours of Mayan ruins. She asked about the limit for a cash deposit before "paperwork" was required. Charlotte Magazine even ran a feature story about the Loomis Fargo heist with the title, White Trash Crime. The headlines, however, never bothered Ghantt. Truth be told, Ghantt had something of a crush on Campbell, and so, he told her exactly how hed pull off such a heist. 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. By the time the month concluded, the couple had purchased a 7,000-square-foot stone mansion in a gated country club community. 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. Criminals dont usually get high-paying jobs after leaving prison. About 200 keys dangled from it. But I thought this is me being hard-headed Im going to ride this thing to the ground. And so thats what I did.. Ghantt:It's a comedy. The first weekday after the heist, Michele Chambers, co-conspirator Steve's wife, walked into a NationsBank branch with a briefcase containing $5,000. I missed my wife. At 7:45, David had finished loading. He hated his job, with its 12-hour shifts. At the time of the real robbery, Chambers was facing criminal charges hed written 30K worth of bad checks and was facing jail time for it. 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 Mountain. 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. It changes you. That October, the Chamberses' bank accounts ballooned. They picked me, he says with a rueful tone. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist seeing a woodpecker after someone dies lectomano que significa. He gave the rest to Kelly. You've violated that trust. I don't blame him.". You might as well take it all, Ghantt tells me. 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. They involve Loomis armored car driver David Scott Ghantt. But after a year, they'll cut it down to two agents. . 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. Her only brush with the law had been a DUI arrest. She was like, Well, at least you had guts, he says. Our Benefits. Soon thereafter, he met Kelly Campbell, a co-worker at Loomis Fargo. What purpose does that serve other than to denigrate that person into abject poverty?. Ghantt was working a late shift, and just after 6:30 p.m., his coworkers were packing up and heading for home. 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. In the two days after the robbery, agents interviewed more than 100 people, most connected with David. We spoke with the inside man, David Ghantt, to get the real story. "I'd been told all my life, money will not make you happy," Kelly said. At that same time, Steve was growing sick of the calls to send more money to Ghantt, and was looking for a way to end that issue. Were others involved? I flew from Atlanta to New Orleans. 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. In real life: False. There were times when I drank really heavily.". He learned to parachute. The government does not run debtors prisons, says U.S. The cash was covered with dog food. Sweat soaked David's uniform. They paid for all of it in cash. "He was in tears. Campbell, 29, had pleaded guilty to charges of bank larceny, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder. But former Kings Mountain resident David Scott Ghantt can. But it didnt really hit me until later., On March 2nd, when the FBI agents walked up to Ghantt in Playa del Carmen and told him he was under arrest, Ghantt was relieved. Thatd be the time to do it, Ghantt recalls. In real life: Yes and no. ". He didn't want to abandon his parents. 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. They stocked a wine cellar. In real life: False. "Love" has four. Kelly told the FBI she had done drugs with David but denied knowing about the theft. Twelve hours later, at 6 that evening, Eric Payne drove a rented Budget van to his workplace, a graphics company on Performance Road in western Mecklenburg County called Reynolds & Reynolds, which was closed for the night and had a secluded parking lot where they intended to transfer the cash. Chambers, who still lives in Gaston County and operates a gym, declined to comment. But few could have guessed how spectacularly the heist would go wrong after the criminals initially got away with it. Ghantt:Since I still owe the federal government money I can't get paid. And to me, if it pisses them off, Im all for it.. Scott Grant and Steve pulled up next to her in a Mazda. Ghantt was the vault manager and was surrounded. He told her he wanted more of "his" cash. "He said, 'Yeah, right,' and turned his head. "I was dumb," Ghantt said Wednesday, the eve before the movie hits screens nationwide. I pay (restitution to) thousands of people, but its in drips and drabs.. She declined to take a lie-detector test. She also must . David told her he'd need help moving the money, getting a new ID and leaving the country. At the end of October, Kelly was sentenced to 5 years 10 months in prison. That's the kind of movie they wanted to make. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist. He was an old friend from East Gaston High School, tough and sure of himself. The others sat in their cars across the street and watched him struggle to open the heavy gate. It had been drilled into my head that if you give me a team of five good people, I can go anywhere, do anything," David explained. You cannot fine low-income people millions of dollars. CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) During one overnight shift, a bumbling conspiracy of thieves just west of Charlotte stole more than $17 million from Loomis Fargo. About 20 ago, Campbell sent him a letter of apology, but he never responded. In the dark, Scott inserted one key into the back door slot. Dental plans . 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. She was a wife and mother with two children. Once in a lifetime, Murdaugh verdict sends a Lowcountry message: No one is above the law | Opinion, Charlotte Waffle House found with live roach, unclean equipment during health inspection. 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. That time in prison was actually good for me. . Campbell, a mother of two, was in the process of divorcing her. Because surprise! He's a very likable person. One day, Campbell was speaking to an old friend named Steve Chambers. Called Masterminds, the 2016 film stars Zach Galifianakis, Kristen Wiig and Owen Wilson. . Steve told me to tell [David] whatever was necessary to keep him happy.". He drove to the edge of the Loomis compound, which was surrounded by a chain-link fence. So he convinced a local hoodlum in Mexico to try to kill Ghantt. Ghantt:We're both North Carolina boys so we had a lot to talk about from the very beginning. When he landed in Cancun, his first stop was Walmart. . So yeah, Ghantt continues, I took a bus from there to Atlanta, and then I hopped a cab from the bus station to the airport in Atlanta., Back in North Carolina, his accomplices were working as fast as they could to hide the $17 million. It wasnt a big hit, but Ghantt, who was played by Galifianakis, gives it a rave review. If you want me to leave, Ill leave. Then, Ghantt went into another room. "I said, 'That's all they gave me,' " McKinney recalled. From going fishing to riding horses on the beach the whole nine yards. "Steve said, 'I think we ought to do it that night, when he drops off the van,' " Kelly recalled. Some family members hid money in bank deposit boxes, other friends were asked to mule cash to the Cayman Islands. Kelly's company. The others, though, went no farther than Cramer Mountain. For his part, Ghantt was now officially on his way to Mexico, his future stretched out before him. ". He flew in an ultra-light plane. 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. Kelly drove David to the airport. Her case closes in 2025. You might as well go all the way now.". Ghantt would go on to spend six and a half years in federal prison. Question: Do you ever think you could have been killed? Some of that money is just gone. Going south, nobody really looks at what youre shipping. "I've learned that I'm a fortunate man," he said. In the following months, Steve persisted, even floating the notion of placing phony hand grenades on a Loomis truck to scare away the drivers, Kelly said.
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