Authorities said they hired a man named Michael McKinney to meet up with Ghantt and kill him, under the guise that he was planning to give Ghantt more of the money he was owed. 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. A: People are very forgiving if you're open and honest right from the start. [1], This robbery was the second-largest cash robbery on U.S. soil at the time, as only seven months earlier, on March 29, 1997 in Jacksonville, Florida, Philip Noel Johnson stole $18.8 million from the Loomis Fargo armored vehicle he was driving.[2]. Culler acknowledged that she had overheard her husband and co-defendant Kelly Campbell talk about the plan, ``but she thought it was fantasy world.'. Kelly Campbell is scheduled to be sentenced in October. Its about the 1997 Loomis Fargo robbery also known as the hillbillly heist the second largest cash robbery in the history of the United States. Investigators considered Ghantt to be the prime suspect almost from the beginning. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Oxygen Insider is your all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more. As he later recalled about his life before the 1997 heist that changed his life forever: Prior to, I would have never even considered it but one day life kinda slapped me in the face. All of the defendants except for one pleaded guilty and accepted their sentences. His wife, they said, got breast implants and used cash to purchase a 1998 BMW Z3 sports car. Once the hitman Chambers had hired arrived in Mexico, he found that he couldnt bring himself to kill Ghantt. From the beginning, the FBIs prime suspect was David Ghantt. 121 90 1,443 Show this thread David GhanttRetweeted C.A. Explain: The scary part is that as soon as you put that little bit of money in the van, that there's no going back. The Election, U.S. Foreign Policy, And Harold Pinter's 2005 Nobel Lecture, Nate Parker on Rape Allegations: 'I Don't Feel Guilty'. I didnt even know about it and overlooked it, he said. Q: You came to the North Carolina mountains during Hurricane Irma, but what do you miss about Gastonia? Please subscribe to keep reading. Separating the Red and Blue. Jared Hess directed Masterminds, and god bless the guy, but if Gentlemen Broncos and Nacho Libre were not proof enough that Napoleon Dynamite was a fluke, Masterminds should seal the deal. 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. Anonymous tips had the FBI monitoring Chambers calls. The missing couple were identified as David Harrison Robinson and his wife Lucretia Robinson. He was the only employee unaccounted for the next morning, and videotapes recovered at the Loomis Fargo Charlotte office showed Ghantt removing "cubes of cash" and loading it into a Loomis Fargo armored van for over an hour. It wasa painful process, but I learned to be happy with me and with what I've got. They called the police, who brought in the FBI, classifying the heist as a bank robbery. Here's whatGhantt says now about the heist that madethe "Cramer Mountain Hillbillies" famous and changed him forever. Campbellwho was married herselfrepresented something new and exciting. The plan to rob Loomis Fargo was spawned by Campbell and her friend Steve Chambers, during a casual bonfire at Chambers home. This article will teach you more about the SAT subject testsasync src='https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js' and help you decide whether you should take them. Creative Insights. How? 1) David Ghantt is underpaid and unhappy. The College Entrance Examination BoardTM does not endorse, nor is it affiliated in any way with the owner or any content of this site. However, the FBI knew immediately who robbed the vault (Ghant was seen on video camera), and it didnt take long for the FBI to loop in Kelly Campbell. On Oct. 4, 1997, former Kings Mountain resident David Scott Ghantt finished his shift as a vault supervisor for Loomis Fargo in Charlotte. Thirteen friends and family members were also charged with money laundering, as they had helped Ghantt, Chambers, Campbell, and the others deposit money illegally. During the hearing, Culler recounted his client's difficult personal life: her parents' divorce when she was 2 or 3 years old; a teenage stay in a Baptist Children's home; a teenage pregnancy; and various medical conditions. Everybody thinks being famous and being an actor is stupendous, and the money is fantastic, but they kind of live in afish bowl. David Scott Ghantt was the vault supervisor at the regional branch of Loomis, Fargo & Co. in Charlotte, North Carolina. He completed his prison sentence in November 2006. We were two paychecks away from being homeless at any given time.. 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. Check out our top-rated graduate blogs here: PrepScholar 2013-2018. I started just chucking it as fast as I could, he said, adding the sweat was pouring off of me.. David GhanttRetweeted Iraqveteran8888 @Iraqveteran8888 Dec 9, 2022 Elect me President and I'll fire everyone, free Julian Assange, and pardon Edward Snowden. The plan went off with few problems, but after Ghantt was safely in Mexico, his partners were left storing large amounts of cash. This Wednesday marks the 20th anniversary of the notorious Loomis Fargo heist. From Oct. 6 through Feb. 20, the couple made 47 deposits totaling $271,500 at a Belmont bank, and at. U kunt uw keuzes te allen tijde wijzigen door te klikken op de links 'Privacydashboard' op onze sites en in onze apps. You take a movie like Oceans Eleven, the whole concept of that movie is so farfetched, its not even funny. I felt cornered and one day the joking in the break room about robbing the place suddenly didnt seem so far-fetched.. Because Ghantt was the only employee who wasnt there that morning, he became the obvious suspect. Robbing the 7-Eleven and getting $40 bucks and a pack of Marlboros was not for me. hbspt.cta.load(360031, '4efd5fbd-40d7-4b12-8674-6c4f312edd05', {}); Have any questions about this article or other topics? so make sure youre taking the right ones for you. (Ghantt works as a heavy machine operator in the construction industry.). But because he still owes millions to the IRS, he couldnt be paid. 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. David Bragg . They also bought a BMW Z3 with cash and made several large purchases, including a $600 cigar store Indian. 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, To find out more about how the thieves got caught and how long they landed behind bars, tune in the. For the New York State assemblyman, see. The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 4+ ACT Points, How to Get a Perfect 36 ACT, by a Perfect Scorer. The Loomis Fargo heist became something of a media lightning rod. Q: Do you ever think about what your life would be like if you had gotten away with the money? Campbell used to work for Loomis and continued the friendship with Ghantt, eventually . ABC7 Eyewitness News Watch Now In total, 24 people were convicted. Degrowth or Debunk: Do Degrowth proponents have a strategy? 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. He also took various measures to change his appearance, such as shaving, after a patron at a restaurant pointed out to him that he "looked like the man who robbed a bank of $20 million. Als u niet wilt dat wij en onze partners cookies en persoonsgegevens voor deze aanvullende doeleinden gebruiken, klik dan op 'Alles weigeren'. I got to eat my meal perfectly, but every 5 minutes, someone wanted to shoot a selfie with Zach or an autograph from Zach. Our new student and parent forum, at ExpertHub.PrepScholar.com, allow you to interact with your peers and the PrepScholar staff. Although the FBI investigation was able to quickly connect Ghantt to Campbell, connecting Ghantt to Chambers was a more difficult task. $17.3 million in cash was robbed from the Charlotte, North Carolina, regional office vault of Loomis, Fargo & Co. on the evening of October 4, 1997. The scary one is stealing the money. It's the little things like that that gnaw on you. I got no real complaints, not at this point., The heist became the premise for the movie,Masterminds, released in September 2016. Chambers and his wife Michele moved out of a trailer and into a luxury mansion in a nice neighborhood. The morning after the height, employees of Loomis Fargo realized they couldnt open the vault. CREATIVE. 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. Its easy to get somebody to do something if you know that they are that infatuated with you.. Kate. David Scott Ghantt: Vault Supervisor David Scott Ghantt was the vault supervisor at the regional branch of Loomis, Fargo & Co. in Charlotte, North Carolina. 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. But even though he worked for a company that regularly moved millions of dollars, David Ghantt himself was underpaid. David Ghantt : [voice-over] Steve was a petty thief, mostly known for stealing tiny wheelchairs from pediatric hospitals. In August 1997, Campbell informed Ghantt of an old high school friend of hers, Steve Chambers, who could assist Ghantt in executing a massive cash robbery of the Loomis Fargo vault in one night. Link your TV provider to stream full episodes and live TV. Now, here we are, two years later. Q: North Carolina native Zach Galifianakis portrayed you in "Masterminds." Her reaction seems so far away now, all these years and a Hall of Fame career later. David Ghantt on stealing 17 million dollars from Loomis Fargo (Crime & Entertainment Full Interview) Crime & Entertainment 3.77K subscribers Subscribe 4.8K views 1 year ago David Ghantt. David Ghantt attends the after party for the Premiere Of Relativity Media's "Masterminds" on September 26, 2016 in Hollywood, California. We were in Old Fortwhen they were shooting the movie and went out to eat. I really don't miss that guy. After loading the massive cache of loot into the armored truck, Ghantt set the time lock on the vault, which locked the door for days unless the employees drilled through the lock. The odds of you actually getting away with something these days is pretty damn slim. Before he decided to steal $17 million from the bank, Ghantt had worked for years as a relatively taciturn and compliant employee. When she was a teacher, Hayley's students regularly scored in the 99th percentile thanks to her passion for making topics digestible and accessible. The FBI knew they needed to make their move. Philosophically, now looking back I wouldnt be who I am now if I hadnt gone through all that, said David Scott Ghantt in an interview with the Observer. If I could get far enough away in a very short amount of time, my odds of getting away with it were pretty high, Ghantt said. Going to prison helped me grow up as a human being. Holding her hands behind her back, Michele Chambers was sentenced Tuesday to seven years and eight months in prison for her role in the $17 million heist from Loomis, Fargo & Co. She was also ordered to pay $4.8 million in restitution.It was the fourth-most severe sentence given in the case, which has 21 defendants. Said Ghantt, one day life kinda slapped me in the face. At the time it was thesecond largest bank heistin U.S. history. A former co-worker told me, "Everybody has screwed up. 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. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! David Ghantt spent 11 years in the military and now works as a film consultant on the side. (I) bought jewelry, bought a van, Campbell recalled of her own spending. Robbing the 7-Eleven and getting $40 bucks and a pack of Marlboros was not for me. Working by himself, Ghantt would commit the robbery and then flee for Mexico, leaving the bulk of the cash with Chambers. I wanted to make a drastic change and I went for it, Ghantt remembered later to the Gaston Gazette. Within two days, the investigators found the van with $3 million in cash and the security camera tapes inside. Authorities began to hone in on the group and put a wire tap on Campbell's phones. 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. You may email him here, follow him on Twitter, or listen to his weekly TV podcast, Podjiba. BBC Motion Gallery. Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! Two days after the heist, the FBI found the missing van with $3.3 million of cash left in it. But it was Ghantt, now 47 and living with his wife and daughter in Jacksonville, Florida, who actually took more than 2,000 pounds of cash and just drove away from his job. Naturally, Ghantt started to run out of cash and turned to Chambers, who was annoyed by his requests for more money. Im like, You need to understand that, that money has been missing for 20 years. Ghantt plead guilty to his charges andserved six years in prison, along with21 other defendantswho received chargesrangingfrom money laundering to bank larceny. Hes a great person. Thats the big thing. As it turns out, the heist did in fact go as well as you might expect. Most high schools offer a variety of history classes, so make sure youre taking the right ones for you. According to Campbell, Chambers could help Ghantt execute a massive cash robbery of the vault at Loomis Fargo in one night. David Ghantt was portrayed by Zackary Hatfield. 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. While Ghantt waited for the heat from the robbery to die down, Chambers would send Ghantt small amounts of money. Ghantt, now 29, was a tall, decorated Persian Gulf War veteran whom early newspaper reports likened to Huckleberry Finn. He is an uncomplicated man stuck in a monotonous life. Together with his wife, Chambers bought a new luxury home (upgrading from his mobile home), a BMW Z3, and some extravagant furnishings. And with that, David Ghantt took off for Mexico. The jokes between Ghantt and Campbell about their disgruntlement with their jobs took on a more serious note when Campbell introduced Ghantt to an old high school classmate of hers named Steve Chambers. On the night of October 4, the plan went into action. 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. All rights reserved. Based on a true story, the premise itself is fascinating, which makes Masterminds all the more a waste. Elizabeth Poile was in 10th . FBI security footage of David Ghantt in the midst of the Loomis Fargo heist. David Ghantt And The Loomis Fargo Heist: The Outrageous True Story. Chambers, his wife, and several of their accomplices were arrested the next day. The only defendant to not plead guilty, Chambers's attorney Jeff Guller, was found guilty of money laundering and sentenced to eight years in prison. followed by "Don't worry, it is not drug money," the bank filled out a suspicious activity report, which ultimately reached the FBI. Once the heat was off, Ghantt would return and they would split the haul evenly. Q: You say your time in federal prison changed you. The Proposed TikTok Ban Goes Too Far. By comparison, Ghantt served seven years in prison and was fined $26,000. Hayley Milliman is a former teacher turned writer who blogs about education, history, and technology. As a vault supervisor for Loomis Fargo, David had access to the vaults and all the cash within. After years of working hard, the realisation hit . 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. But last Oct. 4, when he still hadn't gotten home by 2:30 a.m., she called his parents in. Her husband, Steve Chambers, whom prosecutors have called the main defendant, began serving an 11-year sentence earlier this year. David Ghantt discovers the true meaning of adventure far beyond his wildest dreams. You'd be amazed at how much stress you can relieve yourself from in your life by just taking 20 or so minutes a day for yourself and just letting the world go. [citation needed], It was later confirmed by the FBI that more than 88% of the stolen cash had been located or otherwise accounted for. When he was done, the man drove off to a nearby printing press, where the money was distributed into private vehicles amongst a handful of people. 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). 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. On March 1, 1988, Mexican police arrested Ghantt at Playa del Carmen. Als u uw keuzes wilt aanpassen, klik dan op 'Privacyinstellingen beheren'. Just days after agreeing to the plan, the group set a day to carry out the robbery. At the time it was the second largest cash robbery ever to happen on US soil. I learned that I was an a--hole. Jimmy Carter is a Liberal Saint Now, Was a War Criminal Then. In October of 1997, I was a vault supervisor for armored truck company Loomis Fargo, when I made off with $17.3 million. Q: How do you tell prospective employers you once stole $17 million? 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. CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS FROM MASTERMIND MOVIE. I figured it had to be me. People still laugh when they think of the "velvet Elvis" Chambershad in his Cramer Mountain mansion, or how his former wife showed upat a local bankto deposit wads of cash that she assured the teller was not "drug money.". 33. START or Stop: Do Nuclear Weapons Treaties Matter? You've decided to give up on a part of your life. The FBI investigation was aided by the gang's extravagant spending. 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. In fact, David Ghantt was about to commit the heist of a lifetime. The judge said he would recommend that Michele Chambers be given mental health treatment in prison. Too bad it was so poorly planned. But after one visit, she asked a teller "How much can I deposit before you have to report it to the feds?" Answer: The painful one is getting caught. But Ghantt has been open about what he did and how he believes it changed him for the better. Both were involved in the second-largest cash heist in U.S. history, in which a group of people stole $17 million from the. In the end, eight co-conspirators were indicted for the Loomis Fargo heist. Masterminds is an atrociously bad comedy, and absolutely everyone is to blame. (His wife tells him to change that word to "selfish."). The thieves had simply abandoned whatever they couldnt carry away. In 97 me and my wife were just barely scraping by, Ghantt recalled in Mondays episode. 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? Michelle Chambers received a harsher sentence than Ghantt seven years and eight months because she had violated several bond conditions. But of course, then they had to decorate that spectacular new space and so they spent tens of thousands of dollars on things like cigar store Indians, paintings of Elvis, and a bulldog dressed up like George Patton. 29 David Ghantt Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images. 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. He made his own self miserable. As Predators' David Poile braces for retirement, his wife reveals their love story. Playing upon David's obvious feelings for her, Kelly is the . ``There are many people with those factors who don't resort to crime,' he said. 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? Thats going to be your life for quite some time, typically. At the time it was the second largest cash robbery ever to happen on US soil. While making only eight dollars an hour in his role as supervisor, Ghantt decided it was time to do something: I was unhappy with my life. In February 2009 the Associated Press reported that Chambers had chosen to describe himself as "changed". You can't get barbecue slaw in this hedonistic state (Florida), and there's nowhere to get real ice cream here like Tony's. After this look at David Ghantt and the Loomis Fargo heist, read about a more successful robbery, the Antwerp diamond heist. But it was Ghantt, now 47 and living with his wife and daughter in Jacksonville, Florida,who actually took more than 2,000 pounds of cash and just drove away from his job. The Current TikTok Ban Doesnt Go Far Enough. Ghantt has never explained where that money went. Michele Chambers declined to make a statement at the hearing.
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