Michele Chambers declined to make a statement at the hearing. After years of working hard, the realisation hit him that he was working 75-80 hrs a week for $8.15 an hour which left him feeling unhappy. Twenty years ago this Wednesday, a small group of people stole $17 million in cash from the main vault of a Loomis Fargo & Co. armored-car warehouse in west Charlotte. I knew that if we could stay off the radar for about a year, we could basically live a vacation life, Ghantt said. The Gaston Gazette spoke with Ghantt, who is now in his late 40s and lives in Florida as a free man. The FBI became more suspicious after they interviewed Campbell for the third time. The bizarre true story of the criminals behind the second-largest bank heist in American history. Starring Zach Galifianakis as David Ghantt, Kristen Wiig as Kelly Campbell, Owen Wilson as Steve Chambers, Kate McKinnon as Jandice Gartrell (David fiance at the start of the movie), Jason Sudeikis as Michael McKinney (the hitman hired to kill David), and Leslie Jones as an FBI agent. Robbing the 7-Eleven and getting $40 bucks and a pack of Marlboros was not for me. He was eventually approached to be a consultant for the 2016 movie Masterminds, which is based on the Loomis Fargo heist. Diese Aufgabe ist allerdings weitaus weniger spannend, als sie sich anhrt, und so ist Davids Tageshhepunkt nicht das Verladen der Millionen, sondern der tgliche Flirt mit seiner Kollegin Kelly. In all, they recovered $6.6 million. Steve Chambers would keep the rest. The FBI continues to search for a missing $2 million from the theft. They both made jokes about their work and how they would rather rob the place than continue with their underpaid job. Keeping with the plan, Ghantt took $50,000, which was the maximum that could by law be taken across the border of Mexico without authorization. A series of snapshots published in the Observer on March 8, 1998, just as the FBI and everyone else was getting a grip on just how strange the heist had been. Ghantt, his former co-worker Kelly Campbell and her friends Steve and Michelle Chambers carried out the Loomis Fargo heist on Oct. Campbell helped plot the robbery of Loomis' Charlotte vault on Oct. "He quickly found out when you have money, you. Chambers went from a mobile home in Lincoln County to a mansion in Cramerton. The towns booming construction industry attracts workers from around the country. When Ghantt called Campbell however, the FBI was able to track his location, and arrested him with the help of the Mexican police onMarch 1, 1998. The bank was robbed on Oct. 4, 1997, by one of their security guards, David Ghantt, and his girlfriend, Kelly Campbell, a former employee at the time. Meanwhile, Chambers would hold on to most of the cash and send Ghantt small amounts of money as and when required. So they went to Mexico and arrested Ghantt in order to protect him. 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HOME. Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand. Did you get paid? This story was originally published October 1, 2017, 6:44 PM. The irony is that before the Loomis Fargo heist they had all agreed to keep their spending to a minimum. He loves his motorcycle and enjoys going fishing and, while hes sorry for the past, hes not ashamed to talk about it. Further stating that it was not drug money. Ghantt was the vault manager and was surrounded daily by millions of dollars-worth of temptation. En marzo del 97, la empresa fue vctima del llamado "robo del siglo": un empleado se . Steve had hired a bodyguard named Mike McKinney. What we know. Popular Lake Norman pub set to reopen after a major face lift. #inline-recirc-item--id-91a2c54e-8c88-11e2-b06b-024c619f5c3d ~ .item:nth-child(5) { David Ghantt: Yeah, it feels like it just grazed my biscuits right there betwixt them. Loomis Fargo heist: 25 years later David Scott Ghantt speaks with Channel 9's Glenn Counts 25 years after the robbery. She is a self-proclaimed "super-self-aware person" and this is her first guest post on the blog. 0:44. No attempted murder charges had been filed. Thank you so much. Campbellwho was married herselfrepresented something new and exciting. Steve Chambers would keep the rest. In the first couple of weeks, they had heard both Steve and Shelley bragging about their new-found fortune, and spending remarkable amounts of money. . 25 Feb/23. He had said, then reflecting on the events: "I wouldn't have thought about it before, but one day life kind of hit me in the face. Gaston County residents remember how that worked out. Ghantt and seven others eventually pleaded guilty in federal court to charges . 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. David sneaks in and rescues Kelly. Ghantt made his way to Mexico, where he hid for several months. 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. The plan was for Ghantt to commit the Loomis Fargo heist and then quickly leave the country for Mexico. From the start, David Ghatt was considered to be a prime suspect. Ghantt took $50,000 for himself and fled to Cozumel, Mexico. This technically made it a bank robbery and a federal offense. But things didnt quite work out that way. You ever been to Rio? The plan was to maintain a low profile and wait for things to cool off, allowing Ghantt to return to the states and collect his cut. Eventually, the two teamed up with a few other people and hatched plans for a heist. Ultimately, eight co-conspirators were indicted for the Loomis Fargo bank heist. The FBI investigation was able to connect Ghantt to Campbell quickly. 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.". Finally, despite a few hiccups, Ghantt successfully made his way to Mexico with $50,000 in hand. He had just returned to his home in Jacksonville, Fla., when he agreed to talk about the heist, his life now and what went wrong when a group of friends who thought they could get away with stealing $17 million cash. Ghantt was working as a vault supervisor for Loomis Fargo in Charlotte in 1997, earning about $8 an hour and tired of his humdrum life. The Loomis Fargo heist happened in Charlotte, North Carolina when this bank was the target of a robbery. 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. They soon realised that their joke was not a far-fetched idea. This station is part of Cox Media Group Television. 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. $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. } More than 2 million dollars are still missing to this day. ``I wish she'd gotten less. That time in prison was actually good for me. While Ghantt fled to Mexico, the others went no farther than Cramer Mountain. Question: You were a consultant? Ghantt:It baffles me to this day. Two of them, Mike and Kim Goodman, are scheduled to be sentenced today. Several cars and nine safety deposit boxes were seized, authorities said. A connection between each suspect began to emerge slowly, and as the intensity of spending grew, suspicion did as well. They both made jokes about their work and how they would rather rob the place than continue with their underpaid job. It was over. Ghantt was the vault manager and was surrounded daily by millions of dollars-worth of temptation. Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. That movie, Masterminds was filmed in 2014. In this action comedy based on true events, David Ghantt (Zach Galifianakis) discovers the true meaning of adventure far beyond his wildest dreams. The pair began to daydream about whether they could really pull off the heist. The friends and neighbors of Steve and Michelle Chambers became suspicious soon after the news broke that . Top McCarthy aide, House Oversight chair each met with Ashli Babbitt's mother 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. The action takes place in 1997 and is centered on a small town in North Carolina, where David Ghantt (Galifianakis), an armored-car driver, falls desperately in love with his colleague Kelly . Ghantt didnt know the full extent of what was happening back home -- how that lay low plan turned into a flurry of extravagant spending. The phone calls began to get more intense when Steve and Eric got suspicious of a man who was running hismouth about them and the vault job over in Charlotte. All were convicted. Pocketing $50,000 for himself, that man, named David Ghantt . She recruited an old friend, Steve Chambers, a convicted criminal who was once an FBI informant. "So it's one thing to go from up here, thought, to action," he said. 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