There it was, "The Heist." 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. The next week, they heard Steve plan to send Mike McKinney to Mexico to kill David Ghantt. 6-Year Sentence For Kelly Campbell | The Seattle Times real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist. . I just want people to go to the movies and have a good laugh, even if it's at my expense. Instead of lobster, the man who stole $17 million survived on home-cooked pasta and grilled cheese sandwiches. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist. We spoke to the FBI agents who investigated the case who say the real-life. Then, on a mid-September day, as he reviewed a credit card bill, David did some math. ". Without really intending to, Kelly recalls, she turned the conversation to the possibility of a heist. That's the kind of movie they wanted to make. So the last third of the movie is almost entirely fiction. I would call us friends. Heist!: The $17 Million Loomis Fargo Theft - amazon.com The mystery 1-4-3 caller had been Kelly, though agents didn't know it yet. Why fans love it. Before David left for the airport, he had handed Scott an eight-inch key ring. "As soon as you start, you realize there's no going back," David recalled. What concerned her was the chance of getting caught. Inside were, along with other personal items, his keys and wedding ring. I wish them all a happy life and that's about it. The FBI was also surveilling Kelly Campbell and followed her to a pay phone that she used to place calls to Mexico. You've violated that trust. They discussed it further, and Campbell asked him when they should do it. It changes you. Meanwhile, Steve was keeping a close eye on Kelly. On October 5, 1997, FBI agents gathered at the Loomis, Fargo & Co. warehouse in Charlotte, North Carolina, to watch a security videotape of a man loading stacks of cash into a pushcart and wheeling them from the vault. 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. In real life: False. There were times when I drank really heavily.". The FBI, in fact, obtained the evidence they needed to bring down the major players, including Chambers, after catching them talking about the murder plot on the telephone via wiretap. David trusted her. Then another. You cannot fine low-income people millions of dollars. 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. 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. The first weekday after the heist, Michele Chambers, co-conspirator Steve's wife, walked into a NationsBank branch with a briefcase containing $5,000. 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. What that says is, We will never forgive you for what youve done.. It was late in 1996. No regrets. Kelly's company. Now worried about both the FBI and McKinney, he spent even more time alone in his room. Its hilarious. As with many recent historic events, this one had been caught on videotape, a fact that a few dozen Charlotte FBI agents would learn in a hastily organized Sunday morning meeting. He was signed by the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 2002. He partied, met women, drank, skied and hung out at the beach. Scott didn't want to, but then he remembered the hundred-grand payday. The money was heavy. . There was, however, one problem with his plan. Or is the loot buried in somebody's yard? Many of the lesser players in the conspiracy have been the most effective in paying their debts. "I was unhappy with my life. His new life in Mexico had begun. The robbery of some $17 million quickly became one of the wildest bank heists of the last quarter century. 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. Ghantt:It baffles me to this day. Too many questions remained: Where was the cash? It affects everybody different. You have to remember that it's Hollywood and they'll take what was a minor event and they'll blow it up and make it as funny as they can.". And I was thinking about just showing up there. I told the lead investigator I was glad to see him.. Thatd be the time to do it, Ghantt recalls. Ghantt was missing and no one, not even his wife, knew where he was. "I'd been told all my life, money will not make you happy," Kelly said. Thanksgiving and Christmas were difficult. He played high school football at Mays High School in Atlanta, and college football at Georgia Tech . About 5:45 a.m., he got into his pickup and began the 45-minute drive to work in Charlotte. That time in prison was actually good for me. I mentioned it to Kelly. 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. Health savings account and flexible spending account. On the evening of October 4, 1997, one man loaded $17.3 million in cash from the vaults of Loomis, Fargo & Co. into the back of a van. They heard Michele brag about her $43,000 ring. 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. Or that hed gotten lucky gambling. He covers culture, politics, race, and other perplexing mysteries for MEL. The true crime behind Asheville-based Galifianakis film Anybody who gets caught up in the system is getting chewed up by it, the now-retired Gronquist told the Observer. In the meantime, the FBI was closing in looking to bust a total of 21 suspected accomplices. "Think of how many women would have stood by. Speaking of his co-defendants, Ghantt says hes not currently in contact with any of them. Basic and voluntary life insurance plan. About 10 frantic minutes later, Scott found the right key. DUMB & - The Washington Post 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. They paid for all of it in cash. If they could just sit on the money until then, he said, they'd be fine. It was unclear whether anyone will get that money, authorities said. Or does it sit in an offshore account, waiting for a prison sentence to end? You might as well go all the way now.". Kelly, using David's cell phone, kept beeping him. "I missed my family. Exhibit A was that Steve had no steady job but plenty of cash. ', "He asked me if I'd mind holding some money for him. Ghantt says he operates a bulldozer for a small company. . . In real life: False. And going to see the Mayan ruins. It was one of those things everyone (at Loomis Fargo) joked about, but in time, it became serious. The whole town I was staying in was 98.9 percent Mexican, except for when the cruise ships were in, Ghantt recalls. Ghantt and one other employee were the last to leave. At first, David Ghantt said, "I didn't take her seriously. When he walked onto the plane, he was wearing big, tall cowboy boots, where hed stuffed a majority of the smuggled cash. 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. Zach always plays that bumbling kind of lunatic, but hes not, Ghantt says. In real life: False. Kelly Campbell - Wikipedia Almost 19 years after Ghantt and a group of friends from Gaston County pulled off one of the largest cash heists in U.S. history, the movie "Masterminds" will play up the caper for laughs. I was burned out and just didn't know it. They put up mauve wallpaper. But the idea of all that money pulled at her. 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. Him and I still talk every now and then. Jeffrey Guller, who at 81 is by far the oldest of the Loomis defendants, still owes almost $1.1 million on his original court debt of $1.14 million and will remain on the governments books for another four years. See all of the stories here. She could spend time with her children and parents. (John D. Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP) The Associated Press, BY MICHAEL GORDON, The Charlotte Observer. Her husband gave her a brown teddy bear. For her part, Kelly Campbell spent six years in federal prison. She will never get beyond the debt. Everybody seemed stunned. 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. So he convinced a local hoodlum in Mexico to try to kill Ghantt. Chambers never held Campbell hostage by locking her in a shed on his property. I learned something that was valuable at the time: Most criminals never leave a 250, maybe 300-mile circle from their home base. He'd even bragged that he'd killed people. At one point, the hoodlum shows up and Ghantt is wearing a Jerome Bettis Pittsburgh Steelers jersey; the hoodlums favorite team is the Steelers, and he caves and tells Ghantt that McKinney wants him dead. Her only brush with the law had been a DUI arrest. 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. how to match 8 hypercubes in bejeweled. real kelly campbell loomis fargo heist - hankyboy.com I had a four-hour layover there, and then from New Orleans to Cancun.. Kelly says she underestimated the value of her life before the heist. That was the most painful truth to come to. Then another. Kelly Campbell, 29, a former company employee, entered guilty pleas earlier to bank larceny, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder charges. It wasn't known whether anyone would receive it. Not until David was gone did Scott realize he didn't know which key to use. He para-sailed, power-skied and scuba-dived. He learned to parachute. This meant a bump in pay, up to $8.15 an hour. 1997 Harley-Davidson Road King motorcycle for sale at auction of items bought after Loomis, Fargo armored car facility heist by Steven Chambers, wife Michele, Kelly Jane Campbell & David Scott Ghanntt (Photo by Will And Deni McIntyre/Getty Images) Nba Defensive Player Of The Year List 2022, Grandville Public Schools Salary Schedule, Mississippi Regional Housing Authority Section 8 Application, 1980 Spirit Lake Tsunami, Articles R
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