That suspicion was immediately confirmed by a quick glance at the security camera footage that showed Ghantt doing a little dance after loading all the cash into the van. This Wednesday marks the 20th anniversary of the notorious Loomis Fargo heist. The two struck up a friendship during work that would continue after Campbell left the company. Two of them, Mike and Kim Goodman, are scheduled to be sentenced today. Ghantt reported to Chambers that his supply of money was running low, but Chambers sent Ghantt just $8,000. Q: Do you ever think about what your life would be like if you had gotten away with the money? He and his wife, Michelle, moved from their mobile home in Lincoln County to a luxury house in the wealthy Cramer Mountain section of Cramerton. David Ghantt : I had a hard time liftin' it up. Ghantt believed the new employee would make a good replacement for his wife, but the feelings were not necessarily reciprocated. START or Stop: Do Nuclear Weapons Treaties Matter? The plan went off with few problems, but after Ghantt was safely in Mexico, his partners were left storing large amounts of cash. Authorities began to hone in on the group and put a wire tap on Campbell's phones. Masterminds which opens nationwide today (though youd be hard pressed to know that given the decided lack of promotion) is proof again that all the talent in the world cannot salvage a bad script, and not even a good screenwriter can make up for terrible performances. Generally, the events of the film are fairly close to reality when they follow the broad details of the case. Finally, in March 1998, the FBI traced a call from Ghantts phone and he was arrested in Mexico.
'When you have money, you just have different problems': The Loomis For a time, it was nicknamed "the hillbilly heist" because nearly all of the major players in the case came from small towns around Charlotte. Ghantt added, I really enjoyed the movie. In February 2009 the Associated Press reported that Chambers had chosen to describe himself as "changed". And drastic it was. (His wife tells him to change that word to "selfish."). Here, he amps up the most obnoxious excesses of his entire cast and lets their grating bad-improv skills run amok. C hristopher David Ghantt Phone Numbers (704) 678-8911. Kate. In October of 1997, I was a vault supervisor for armored truck company Loomis Fargo, when I made off with $17.3 million. Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. 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. 29 David Ghantt Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images. To find out more about how the thieves got caught and how long they landed behind bars, tune in the Super Heists on CNBC on Monday at 10 p.m. ET/PT.
The true crime behind Asheville-based Galifianakis film Whisler told the judge that the couple had searched for a new house before the theft, and that Michele Chambers bought rubber bands from Wal-Mart to count the money the night of the crime. A: When you're locked up, you live in an 8-by-10 box and you share that with two other people. He would eventually be arrested in Mexico in March 1998 after one of his co-conspirators put out a hit on him under the false suspicion he was the only prime suspect authorities were aware of at the time. But Ghantt has been open about what he did and how he believes it changed him for the better.
The Thieves Who Couldn'T Cope With $17 Million But because he still owes millions to the IRS, he couldnt be paid. Ghantt and seven others eventually pleaded guilty in federal court to charges directly related to one of the largest cash heists in history while more than a dozen other family members, friends and associates of those involved in the theft were found guilty of related charges, including money laundering. Ghantt was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison, though he was released on parole after five. I was working all the time and unhappy I felt cornered and one day the joking in the break room about robbing the place suddenly didnt seem so far-fetched.. Kevin McCarthy is No Edward Snowden, But He Should Find the Comparison Flattering, Assessing Nicaraguas Long Haul toward Liberation and Economic Democracy, A National Divorce?
WOMAN GETS TIME IN LOOMIS HEIST - Greensboro News and Record A former co-worker told me, "Everybody has screwed up. Q: Your troubles were self-inflicted, but you seem happy. Creative Insights. A: I like the 47-year-old David Ghantt more than I did the 20-something David Ghantt. Ghantt, in order to conserve this money, curtailed his spending. Its a farce that never farces; a comedy without jokes.
It's been 20 years since the Loomis Fargo heist. - Charlotte Observer He was like OK, yeah, we can do that, she recalled. Although the history of the predecessor Wells Fargo & Company dates back to 1852, Loomis Fargo & Company was established in 1997 by the consolidation of Wells Fargo Armored Service and Loomis Armored Inc.; the resulting corporation employed 8,500 people and provided armored transportation, cash handling services, and automatic teller machine maintenance. Chambers had broached the possibility of a robbery to Campbell earlier in the summer. The move bought him a little extra time to make his escape. David Ghantt (Zach Galifianakis), an employee of Loomis Fargo, robbed his own vault, left the $17.3 million in cash with his co-conspirators, Kelly Campbell (Kristen Wiig) and Steve Chambers (Owen Wilson) and fled the country to Mexico. After meeting up with Chambers, Campbell, and some other co-conspirators, Ghantt hightailed it to Mexico with $50,000 in cash in his car. I didnt even have a real home life because I was never there. They left behind the cash they couldnt fit in their cars. 20 years ago, on the night of October 4, 1997, David Scott Ghantt loaded $17.3 million of cash from the bank vault in Charlotte, North Carolina he was employed to supervise into a van. Then Michele made a trip to the bank. Learning about US history? Her sentence would've been ``substantially' less if she hadn't kept it, officials said. The plan was for Ghantt to commit the robbery and then quickly leave the country for Mexico but to leave the bulk of the cash with Chambers. Ghantt was joking in the breakroom with fellow Loomis Fargo employee Kelly Campbell. He is an uncomplicated man stuck in a monotonous life. The FBI investigation was aided by the gang's extravagant spending.
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David Ghantt on stealing 17 million dollars from Loomis Fargo (Crime The FBI quickly connected Ghantt to Campbell, who was a former Loomis Fargo employee. Unfortunately, he failed to disable the third camera. Separating the Red and Blue. Though she agreed to cooperate with the government when she pleaded guilty to bank larceny and money laundering in August 1998, Michele Chambers didn't tell the FBI she still had the ring until December, when she turned it in. They kept several furnishings from the previous owners, including a painting of Elvis Presley on black velvet. Lorsque vous utilisez nos sites et applications, nous utilisons des, authentifier les utilisateurs, appliquer des mesures de scurit, empcher les spams et les abus; et. For the New York State assemblyman, see. Chambers had no intention of following those rules, believing the FBI would never connect him to Ghantt. If you can see the obvious flaw in this plan, namely that Chambers would have no reason whatsoever to actually wire Ghantt any money, then congratulations. Campbell left her job in the summer of 1997, but she would later use Ghantts feelings for her to her own advantage to get him to agree to carry out the multi-million-dollar heist.
Memorial services for Bishop David O'Connell began Wednesday night at Having only brought $50,000 in cash, however, Ghantt soon found himself short on funds. Nous, Yahoo, faisons partie de la famille de marques Yahoo. Eventually, Ghantt called in from Mexico, seeking more money, and the FBI officially recognized Chambers as a co-conspirator. An additional tip reached the FBI when Michelle Chambers made a large deposit at a bank. Prosecutors also resisted Culler's efforts to downplay Michele Chambers' role in the theft. Just days after agreeing to the plan, the group set a day to carry out the robbery. Project #ShowUs. AMA In October of 1997, I was a vault supervisor for armored truck company Loomis Fargo, when I made off with $17.3 million. By then, the FBI had become greatly concerned for Ghantt's personal safety; they had learned that Chambers had plotted to have Ghantt killed in a murder for hire scheme using a "hit man" named Michael McKinney.
'Masterminds' Review - The Hollywood Reporter As a vault supervisor for Loomis Fargo, David had access to the vaults and all the cash within. Defense lawyer Andy Culler sought a seven-year, three-month sentence. And so this third camera caught everything that happened next. Bubbling under the surface, however, was a deep frustration at the way he was treated. He stayed at a luxury hotel and took scuba diving lesson. His partners, who planned to stay behind, agreed to send him his full cut of the money after the heat from investigators had died down. Michele Chambers 1998 BMW for sale following the prosecutions of the Loomis Fargo heist conspirators. So he hatched a plan to rob his employers. He made his own self miserable. I work construction. But even though he worked for a company that regularly moved millions of dollars, David Ghantt himself was underpaid. Dont come to me for a treasure map, Ill put it to you that way., Michael Sainatos writing has appeared in the Guardian, Miami Herald, Baltimore Sun, Denver Post, Buffalo News, the Hill, Alternet, and several other publications . Then check out another bank robber who inspired a movie, John Wojtowicz. Eventually, Ghantt would return to the United States and the full sum would be split up between the conspirators. It was over. Q: North Carolina native Zach Galifianakis portrayed you in "Masterminds." 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. All of the cash from the Loomis Fargo heist was recovered or accounted for, except for $2 million. The missing couple were identified as David Harrison Robinson and his wife Lucretia Robinson. Si vous ne souhaitez pas que nos partenaires et nousmmes utilisions des cookies et vos donnes personnelles pour ces motifs supplmentaires, cliquez sur Refuser tout. He was released in 2006. I was working sometimes 75-80 hours a week at $8.15 an hour. Now looking back, with the life I have now, Ive got a great family, got a great kid. The Army veteran and Hunter Huss High graduate was captured in Mexico five months later when one of the others involved in the theft, Steve Chambers, decided he needed to tie up loose ends by having Ghantt killed. Wyatt Redd is a freelance writer from Nashville, Tennessee. ``I wish she'd gotten less. Once Ghantt loaded the large haul from the vaultwhich could have been close to $20 millioninto a truck, he planned to drive to a second location, then head straight to the airport and fly to Mexico. You can reach Kevin Ellis at 704-869-1823 or www.Twitter.com/TheGazetteKevin.
How Did David Ghantt, Kelly Campbell, Steve Chambers Steal More Than Guided by federal sentencing rules, prosecutors had requested a sentence of nine years for Michele Chambers. David Scott Ghantt was the vault supervisor at the regional branch of Loomis, Fargo & Co. in Charlotte, North Carolina. Ten days later, the group was indicted for bank larceny and money laundering. But thanks in part to the film, the outlandish story of David Ghannt and the Loomis Fargo heist will surely live on for years to come. In addition to his phone calls with Ghantt, Chambers began extravagantly spending the money, even though the co-conspirators had agreed to lay low for a year or two. David Ghantt, a Gulf War veteran, had never been in trouble with the law. Ghantt @ChristyGhantt Dec 7, 2022 I just entered the @clxgaming Ra PC Giveaway! The brother of a man killed by a woman now charged with murder in Chambers County said he sees similarities in his brother's case and the case of woman's latest husband's death. A: People are very forgiving if you're open and honest right from the start. The judge said he doubted she would be able to pay the $4.8 million restitution, but said federal law required him to impose it. Instead, the bandits just started throwing as much money as they could into the van until they couldnt fit anymore. [15], "David Ghantt" redirects here. Theres barely a laugh in the entire film, which looks like it was shot entirely in one take while the actors were still working out their characters. We were in Old Fortwhen they were shooting the movie and went out to eat.
October 1997 Loomis Fargo robbery - Wikipedia Meanwhile, David Ghantt was relaxing on a beach in Cozumel, Mexico. Ghantt, now 29, was a tall, decorated Persian Gulf War veteran whom early newspaper reports likened to Huckleberry Finn. Steve Chambers and his wife (Mary Elizabeth Ellis) were a little more difficult to connect to the heist. The FBI knew they needed to make their move. BBC Motion Gallery. Michele Chambers declined to make a statement at the hearing.
'Sister Wives': Everything We Know About David Woolley's Late Wife The connection to Chambers took more time. Over the next months, Ghantt, Campbell, and Chambers developed a plan.
DUMB & - The Washington Post David Ghantt struck up a relationship with fellow Loomis Fargo employee Kelly Campbell, and they continued to maintain contact even after Campbell left the company. Si vous souhaitez personnaliser vos choix, cliquez sur Grer les paramtres de confidentialit.
twitter.com Chambers was a small-time crook who suggested to Campbell that they rob Loomis Fargo. Thats going to be your life for quite some time, typically.
The real story behind the second largest bank heist in history, which Victoria Beckham's Family Including Brooklyn and Wife Nicola Create your free profile and get access to exclusive content. They asked me how I felt about it and I said, Its my story, but its your movie so have at me. I'd probably be that infamous gringo living in Belize, kicked back on the beach, fishing and bored out of my mind. Said Ghantt, one day life kinda slapped me in the face. Her reaction seems so far away now, all these years and a Hall of Fame career later. Lindy Hop: The Dance That Defined The Golden Age of Jazz, Inside The Unsolved Disappearance Of Jennifer Kesse, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch, David Ghantt attends the 2016 after party for the Hollywood premiere of. David Ghantt normally came home between 6 and 8 p.m., and often he was late, his wife said.
As Predators' David Poile braces for retirement, wife reveals love story They also bought a BMW Z3 with cash and made several large purchases, including a $600 cigar store Indian. While Ghantt waited for the heat from the robbery to die down, Chambers would send Ghantt small amounts of money. Defense attorney Jim Griffin laid out his team's side of the case to the jury for more than two hours, arguing . Director Jared Hess Writers Chris Bowman (screenplay) Hubbel Palmer (screenplay) Emily Spivey (screenplay) Stars Zach Galifianakis Kristen Wiig Owen Wilson There is nothing of value in this movie. But neither of those things would matter after he met Kelly Campbell. So with the assistance of a co-worker and possible love interest as well as a small-time criminal, David Ghantt pulled off the then-second-largest cash heist in U.S. history. Q: You came to the North Carolina mountains during Hurricane Irma, but what do you miss about Gastonia? The True Story of David Ghantt and the Loomis Fargo Heist, Get Free Guides to Boost Your SAT/ACT Score, check out some of these books on our AP History Exam reading list. In addition to her work for PrepScholar, Hayley is the author of Museum Hack's Guide to History's Fiercest Females. The judge said he would recommend that Michele Chambers be given mental health treatment in prison.
What Happened to Steve Chambers After Prison Fitness Center? Ghantt was. Two days later, when the FBI found the Loomis Fargo armored van, they discovered almost $3.3 million in cash left in the back of the van; it was later discovered that the thieves had miscalculated the sheer bulk of the small denomination currency, and that they simply left the cash that they could not take with them in the back of the van. David Ghantt had been a model employee for an armored car company before pulling off the second biggest cash heist in U.S. history, fleeing with more than . David Ghantt attends the after party for the Premiere Of Relativity Media's "Masterminds" on September 26, 2016 in Hollywood, California. Lees ons privacybeleid en cookiebeleid voor meer informatie over hoe we uw persoonsgegevens gebruiken. Campbell used part of her share of the money to buy a Toyota Sienna minivan in two cash installments. David Scott Ghantt: Vault Supervisor David Scott Ghantt was the vault supervisor at the regional branch of Loomis, Fargo & Co. in Charlotte, North Carolina. I got no real complaints, not at this point., The heist became the premise for the movie,Masterminds, released in September 2016. Working by himself, Ghantt would commit the robbery and then flee for Mexico, leaving the bulk of the cash with Chambers. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading.
American Couple Who Disappeared in Greece Found Dead Ghantt's spending in Mexico was extravagant at first. David Ghantt was the vault supervisor for Loomis, Fargo & Co. armored cars, which managed the transportation of large sums of cash between banks in North Carolina. Loomis Fargo employees could not open the vault the next morning and called the police. From there, the money was moved from the company vehicle to private vehicles. SAT is a registered trademark of the College Entrance Examination BoardTM. ", The much-faster-than-expected economic recovery thats followed the easing of the coronavirus pandemic has produced several encouraging develo. This article will teach you more about the SAT subject tests. Officers responded just after 5 a.m. Wednesday to an area near the intersection of Martin Luther King Drive and Carolyn Coleman Way and found , "The Wall Street Journal just so happened to have a supportive op-ed ready to publish within hours of the meeting.
Looking back at the Loomis heist - Gaston Gazette Steven Chambers, left, and David Scott Ghantt leave federal court. Its gone! While listening in, they uncovered another more sinister alleged plan to kill Ghantt. I knew that if I did something like that, I would take a huge amount of money, Ghantt said of the brash robbery on an upcoming episode of CNBCs Super Heists, airing Monday at 10 p.m. Ghantt, a U.S. Army veteran, was living a relatively boring life working as the vault superintendent at a Loomis Fargo armored car warehouse just outside Charlotte, North Carolina making a relatively meager paycheck, when he crossed paths with Kelly Campbell. Did you know that the SAT offers subject exams, too? ACT Writing: 15 Tips to Raise Your Essay Score, How to Get Into Harvard and the Ivy League, Is the ACT easier than the SAT? Campbell was receptive and brought the idea up to Ghantt. 5 min read. She had previously been making frequent small deposits to avert suspicion. They received sentences and probation ranging from several years to 11 years and three months in federal prison for Steve Chambers, who was also fined more than $3,500,000. As the FBI listened in to Chambers calls, they discovered that he was also planning to have Ghantt assassinated, hoping to keep all the money for himself. The next day, the Chambers, Campbell, and some other notable parties were arrested in Charlotte. Where ever it was, it is long gone now. dvelopper et amliorer nos produits et services.
25th anniversary of the incredible Loomis Fargo bank heist | wcnc.com As Campbell would later explain, If David got killed, there couldnt be any finger pointing. Galifianakis will play the armored car driver, David, who evades authorities, will be searching for his co-conspirators who betrayed him, Kelly (Kristen Wiig) and Steve (Owen Wilson). Question: Which do you regret more, stealing the money or getting caught? My Proof: https://twitter.com/DavidGhantt/status/827476087596789760, My AMA time is up now, but thank you all for your participation in the Ask Me Anything session :-), New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast, https://twitter.com/DavidGhantt/status/827476087596789760. Chambers was always considered the "mastermind" behind the theft, but he doesn't talkmuch about his Loomis heist days, not even when actor Owen Wilson portrayed him in the 2016comedy about the heist titled"Masterminds.".
Too stupid to be true? Five 'Masterminds' missteps that actually happened Investigators also found Ghantt's pickup truck, abandoned at the warehouse. Authorities say Steve and Michele Chambers moved from a mobile home into a $635,000 house three weeks after the theft. Michele Chambers' sentence was two months longer than that given to David Scott Ghantt, the Loomis employee who removed the money from the company vault on Oct. 4, 1997. Its kind of out of sight, out of mind, she said of the reasoning. Besides wearing the ring, driving the BMW, and living in the new house, prosecutors say Michele Chambers helped others deposit millions of dollars in safe-deposit boxes in the area, and that she took $200,000 in cash into a Salisbury bank in November 1997 and came out with a $200,000 check. David Ghantt And The Loomis Fargo Heist: The Outrageous True Story. Together with his wife, Chambers bought a new luxury home (upgrading from his mobile home), a BMW Z3, and some extravagant furnishings. When the rest of the Loomis Fargo employees showed up the next morning and found that they couldnt open the vault, they called the police.