loomis fargo heist kelly campbellbreeze airways headquarters phone number

There's just one hitch: Ghantt has entrusted the money to an oddball crew of accomplices who had wooed him into committing this massive theft in the first placeand who, he soon learns, are trying to take him out. Yet their lives seemed far easier and better than his. He tried again to make the back gate rise, to no avail. Was the temptation too much? uncanny, eerie, unnatural, preternatural, supernatural, unearthly, other-worldly, unreal, ghostly, mysterious, mystifying, strange, abnormal, unusual. Campbell was released from federal custody in 2004 after serving five years, meaning her collection case will age out in December 2024. They knew Steve Chambers had worked as an informant in the past, and were nervous he would smell out an undercover. Now one of the most wanted men in America with the FBI hot on his heels, Ghantt must figure out how to get his money, get away from a hit man, and get even. In Gastonia, David would run into high-school classmates who had never struck him as especially smart. Perry identified the other six people arrested as Steve and Michelle Chambers; Kelly Jane Campbell, a former Loomis employee; Michael L. McKinney; Thomas Nathan Grant; and Eric Haley Payne.. He shut the empty vault and set its timer so the vault could not be opened for two or three days. The biggest restitution numbers for victims of financial crimes generally involve Ponzi schemes or sweepstakes fraud, not cash thefts. David would simply empty the vault and deliver the money to the others. 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. 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. David's vision for all of this actually derived more from books than from movies. Charlotte Observer"more than a crime story, and one that's worth reading." And after two years, the case is just a file. He was on a budget for clothes, even for work boots; he had recently needed to check seven stores before finding a pair in his price range. At about 6:40 p.m., he went back inside. More than 2 million dollars are still missing to this day. He and Tammy could have one or two meals each week that he really liked, but the rest were hot dogs or Hamburger Helper. When some friends stole a stop sign from a busy intersection, David made them put it back. Thomas Grant, who served three years in prison for bank larceny, paid off restitution of $70,000; brother Eric Grant paid all of his $26,000; as did David Craig, $40,000; and Dennis and Sandra Floyd; $27,000. The plan was to exit through the building's electronic back gate, which consisted of horizontal metal plates that opened at the touch of a button. David got a kick out of her. The strange story of Mary Reeser Spontaneous Human Combustion. Im married, I got one girl, shes 15 going on 30. The property has changed hands several times since then. Of course the most famous thing inside the home was a velvet Elvis portrait. In 2017, for example, Paul Burks of Lexington was ordered to pay $244 million to the victims of his worldwide Ponzi scheme, Zeek Rewards. But this time on the phone, Kelly wasn't joking. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. What that says is, We will never forgive you for what youve done.'. Kristen Wiig plays Kelly, who really wasn't that into David, but convinced him to take a fortune from Loomis Fargo in the fall of '97. 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. David and the trainee left the warehouse. : The .17 Million Loomis Fargo Theft . "But you can still have a cigarette.". Next month, Payne will back in the Charlotte federal courthouse, this time to be sentenced from weapons and methamphetamine trafficking charges. We are happy to work with other website publishers. To be brutally honest, it was that morning, Ghantt replied. 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. After hanging up on her, David returned to work. Have a youtube channel or website similar? Ghantt, who by then was long out of prison, served as a consultant. Join thousands already receiving our daily newsletter. 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. Getting restitution, its like pulling teeth.. And with Loomis, were looking at only one case. My knee-jerk reaction was to be angry, and then the sarcastic ass side of me started laughing about it, Ghantt said. You should definitely start your own blog, I highly recommend it. Thats pretty standard in restitution matters. Tuesday marked 25 years since a group of buddies pulled off the third-largest money grab in U.S. history -- the Loomis Fargo heist. Ghantt went to Mexico leaving the money with his cohorts, thinking that he could get his share back when he needed it. Before the robber left Loomis Fargo, he made a trip to the managers office to remove two surveillance tapes in order to conceal his identity. He had stayed in a luxury hotel and paid for expensive food and activities such asscuba divingandparasailing. Curiously, Payne had recently paid of his Visa in one payment and had been driving around new and rented vehicles for the past weeks. 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. Oh were not going to talk to anybody, theyre not going to be able to convict us, that bravado happens in the beginning and then it often gets worn down by the reality, Gronquist said. So we were able to figure out with all the denominations, it would require about 20 safe deposit boxes to store it all., WSOC TV facebook feed(Opens a new window), Part 2: Channel 9 speaks with the man at the center of Loomis Fargo heist 25 years ago, ALSO READ: 14-year-old boy robbed at gunpoint while waiting for bus in east Charlotte, mom says, ALSO READ: Leader of $3M check theft, bank fraud scheme in Charlotte area sentenced to prison, ALSO READ: Man released from jail, accused of robbing banks while wearing electronic monitor, police say, ALSO READ: Suspect from south Charlotte bank robbery found, CMPD says, NCSHP arrest driver accused of nearly hitting 2 students at bus stop in Statesville, CMS delays opening of new school meant to ease overcrowding, Mooresville orders removal of memorial at park after teens death, Chick-fil-A announces app data breach, tells customers how to protect personal information, Charlotte woman celebrates $1 million scratch-off prize, WSOC - TV Public File Contact / Program Director, WAXN - TV Public File Contact / Program Director. Steve was a serious guy? David was supposed to be showing him the ropes of the job, which included cash pickups and deliveries. They succeeded in removing $17 million from the safe. All of the defendants are out of prison -- the longest sentence was 11 years. Restitution is a familiar part of sentencing in federal court. It all seemed unfair. It took me going to prison to realize I was a bag of worms, and it took me years of work to be somebody worthy to come back into our society, he said. About six months before the Charlotte theft, on March 29, a total of $18.8 million was taken from Loomis, Fargo in Jacksonville, Fla., in what was believed to be the largest heist in U.S.. "Are you serious?" He had approached her inside the chain-link fence that surrounded the building and said with a flirty smile, "If you give me a cigarette, I'll be your friend. Discover some of the worlds strangest ancient places. In the movie: Campbell invites Ghantt to a restaurant under the auspices of a date, but then springs the idea of the heist on him, as Chambers and two associates join the conversation from an . The affidavit described Chambers as a former FBI informant who had provided information on another Loomis armored car robbery that never materialized. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. I gotta go.". Ghantt had fled to Mexico with $50,000 in cash, leaving the rest of the money with Steve Chambers. David was thin six-foot-one, one hundred sixty-five pounds and heaving the stacks onto the cart, pushing the cart toward the vault door, and then emptying its contents into the van was exhausting. Criminals dont usually get high-paying jobs after leaving prison. He knew it would mean leaving Tammy. FBI video shows agents searching the Cramer Mountain home and finding stacks of cash. Ghantt didnt know the full extent of what was happening back home -- how that lay low plan turned into a flurry of extravagant spending. It all went down in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the man at the center of that heist, David Scott Ghantt, now lives in Jacksonville. In 1994, they moved to Gastonia, North Carolina, where they had grown up, and David took a job driving a forklift. In this outrageously entertaining book, Jeff Diamant, the Charlotte Observer's lead reporter on the case, offers the definitive inside account of this astonishing. Butcher says the federal courts in the Western District of North Carolina have never handled a case quite like Loomis. He also took various measures to change his appearance, such asshaving, after a patron at a restaurant pointed out to him that he looked like the man who robbed a bank of $20 million.. 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. When I put that cash in the back of the car, by the time I got to the office the whole car smelled like that. Paying the money back has taken a lot longer, and time is running out for the U.S. government to collect. A more immediate need was securing help to move the stolen money to safety the night of the crime. You cannot fine low-income people millions of dollars. He allegedly hired a hitman to take Ghantt out, tying up the ultimate loose end. The Charlotte area's economy was booming all around him, and he felt passed over. Chambers would then occasionally wire Ghantt money and see to his basic financial needs; when the heat was off, Ghantt was to re-enter the U.S. and the money would be split up among all of the co-conspirators. Jim Gronquist was Campbells defense attorney. Another time, the day after a Christmas in the late 1980s, David and some friends planted all the discarded Christmas trees from the area in one neighbor's front yard. The money weighed as much as a compact car and he did it all by himself. The movie was called Masterminds and stars Zach Galifianakis, Kristen Wiig and Owen Wilson. Asked the purpose of his visit, Johnson had replied, "To visit friends. Money. First, they tapped the Chambers phone, and began listening in on February 11th, 1998. Kelly had approached David with the idea in the summer, knowing he had a crush on her and winning him over with the promise that a shady friend of hers with Mafia ties would help them. 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. He decided at that moment that if Kelly called again, he would go for it.

Famous People Who Died In 2022, What Year Did Flip Wilson Die, Delafield Police Incident Today, What Can I Say Instead Of Just Checking In, 5 Letter Words That Start With Double Letters, Articles L