They kept several furnishings from the previous owners, including a painting of Elvis Presley on black velvet. He was like OK, yeah, we can do that, she recalled. David GhanttRetweeted Iraqveteran8888 @Iraqveteran8888 Dec 9, 2022 Elect me President and I'll fire everyone, free Julian Assange, and pardon Edward Snowden. Thats going to be your life for quite some time, typically. Its a farce that never farces; a comedy without jokes. 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. Eventually, Ghantt would return to the United States and the full sum would be split up between the conspirators. But in addition to a wife,. Fed up, exhausted, and seeing a way out, Ghantt agreed. Defense lawyer Andy Culler sought a seven-year, three-month sentence. While she made small deposits at first, she became more reckless, eventually making a deposit of thousands of dollars in cash, telling the teller not to worry: Its not drug money.. CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS FROM MASTERMIND MOVIE. In the end, eight co-conspirators were indicted for the Loomis Fargo heist. 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. After his release, Ghantt took a job as a construction worker and was eventually brought on as a consultant for the 2016 movie Masterminds, based on the Loomis Fargo Heist. We were in Old Fortwhen they were shooting the movie and went out to eat. Please subscribe to keep reading. What happens at the end of mastermind? He was released in 2006. Michele Chambers declined to make a statement at the hearing. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Will Mcintyre/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images. However, the fact that a man who formerly lived in a mobile home was lavishly spending money on a luxury home ($635,000 in cash), expensive cars, and a ring ($42,000 in cash) eventually made it easy to connect the dots. They got to work planning the straightforward heist that would rely on Ghantts existing access to the vault, fewer staff at the warehouse on the weekends, and the ability to use one of the companys armored trucks to make the successful getaway. Then you end up in a eight by ten cube and youre going to share that cube with two other people. Then, keeping with the plan, Ghantt took $50,000 (the maximum that could by law be taken across the border without further authorization) with him and left for Mexico, winding up at the popular Yucatan Peninsula resort-island of Cozumel. 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. A movie based on the heist starring Zach Galifianakis, Kristen Wiig, Owen Wilson, Jason Sudeikis, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones and directed by Jared Hess (the guy who made Napoleon Dynamite) is out now on Blu-ray and DVD. Working by himself, Ghantt would commit the robbery and then flee for Mexico, leaving the bulk of the cash with Chambers. Some people screw up big like you, some people screw up small.". This article will teach you more about the SAT subject tests. He left his wedding ring behind and spent his days spending money on luxury hotels and scuba diving. David Ghantt worked as a vault supervisor for the armoured cash vehicles at the Charlotte, North Carolina branch of Loomis, Fargo & Co. Ironically even though he worked for a company that moved millions of dollars every day, he was relatively underpaid. 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. I wanted to make a drastic change and I went for it, Ghantt remembered later to the Gaston Gazette. She had previously been making frequent small deposits to avert suspicion. Harper Beckham and her dad David Beckham dressed in matching black outfits as they headed to a Paris Fashion Week event being thrown by Harper's mom and David's wife Victoria . Campbell was another employee at Loomis Fargo and she and Ghantt quickly struck up a relationship, one that Campbell denies was ever romantic though FBI evidence says otherwise, and one that continued after she left the company. The odds of you actually getting away with something these days is pretty damn slim. The morning after the height, employees of Loomis Fargo realized they couldnt open the vault. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! Ask below and we'll reply! (renews at {{format_dollars}}{{start_price}}{{format_cents}}/month + tax). He was angry a lot. I realized a lot of things that were wrong with me as a person. 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. Q: Your troubles were self-inflicted, but you seem happy. Playing upon David's obvious feelings for her, Kelly is the . Chambers and his wife Michele moved out of a trailer and into a luxury mansion in a nice neighborhood. Back then all I really wanted to do was just, I wanted to change my life. ABC7 Eyewitness News Watch Now David Scott Ghantt: Vault Supervisor David Scott Ghantt was the vault supervisor at the regional branch of Loomis, Fargo & Co. in Charlotte, North Carolina. They had initially agreed to control their spending for a year or two, in the belief that the government would vigorously track the spending habits of any and all suspects for at least a year before relenting. As Predators' David Poile braces for retirement, his wife reveals their love story. Michelle Chambers received a harsher sentence than Ghantt seven years and eight months because she had violated several bond conditions. I got no real complaints, not at this point., The heist became the premise for the movie,Masterminds, released in September 2016. 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. Parishioners filled the pews for a memorial mass held for Bishop David O'Connell Wednesday night at the St. John Vianney Catholic Church in Hacienda Heights. David Ghantt, a Gulf War veteran, had never been in trouble with the law. Get the latest articles and test prep tips! Ghantt reported to Chambers that his supply of money was running low, but Chambers sent Ghantt just $8,000. Where ever it was, it is long gone now. Question: Which do you regret more, stealing the money or getting caught? Chambers, his wife, and several of their accomplices were arrested the next day. Authorities say Steve and Michele Chambers moved from a mobile home into a $635,000 house three weeks after the theft. [15], "David Ghantt" redirects here. . [3][4] Its Charlotte office would be the victim of David Scott Ghantt and his confederates later that year. Retro CharlotteFBI security footage of David Ghantt in the midst of the Loomis Fargo heist. The two struck up a friendship during work that would continue after Campbell left the company. I think Zachs a hell of an actor. Hes way smarter than youd think he would be because he tends to play Bozos. 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. 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. 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. Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! Biography Comedy Crime A guard at an armored car company in the Southern U.S. organizes one of the biggest bank heists in American history. Masterminds - Zach Galifianakis 'David Ghantt' [On-Set Interview]SUBSCRIBE HERE: http://goo.gl/SrrTlTSUBSCRIBE MOVIE TRAILERS: http://goo.gl/8WxGeDA night gu. It was an open-and-shut case and all authorities had to do now was to find the culprit and identify Ghantts accomplices. ``I'm glad she didn't get nine years,' said Sandra Floyd, her mother. Elizabeth Poile was in 10th . $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. A lot of people ask me, Oh, do you have any regrets? No, not really. 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. Outside the building, Ghantt met up with Campbell, Chambers, and others who were involved in the plot, and drove off to a printing business called Reynolds & Reynolds in northwest Charlotte. A: I hate to think about what I'd be doing if I hadn't gotten caught. Learning about US history? As a vault supervisor for Loomis Fargo, David had access to the vaults and all the cash within. 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. 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. David Ghantt attends the after party for the Premiere Of Relativity Media's "Masterminds" on September 26, 2016 in Hollywood, California. 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.". Project #ShowUs. 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. The chief running joke in Masterminds is the Prince Valiant 'do gamely sported by Galifianakis as David Ghantt, . Jandice : In any case, we got to talkin' afterwards, and I thought, well, that one's dead, this one's alive. What ACT target score should you be aiming for? By now, you probably know the names -- David Ghantt, Steve Chambers and his wife Michelle, and Kelly Campbell. More than 2 million dollars is still missing to this day. From Oct. 6 through Feb. 20, the couple made 47 deposits totaling $271,500 at a Belmont bank, and at. The next day, Steve and Michelle Chambers, Kelly Campbell, and four others were arrested.[6]. My name is David Scott Ghantt. His wife, they said, got breast implants and used cash to purchase a 1998 BMW Z3 sports car. Chambers wife, Michelle, bought a minivan in cash and began taking frequent trips to the bank to make deposits. She wondered how much she could deposit without attracting the attention of the FBI, so she decided to just ask the teller: How much can I deposit before you have to report it to the feds? she asked. Q: How do you tell prospective employers you once stole $17 million? #CLXGaming#CLXRa#evokethegods 1 2 Thats the big thing. 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. All of the cash from the Loomis Fargo heist was recovered or accounted for, except for $2 million. hbspt.cta.load(360031, '4efd5fbd-40d7-4b12-8674-6c4f312edd05', {}); Have any questions about this article or other topics? 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. Ghantt, Chambers, and Campbell came up with the following plan: Ghantt would remain in the vault after his shift on the night of the heist, Oct. 4, 1997, and let his co-conspirators into the vault. Authorities had the receipt and had known it was missing. He and his wife,. Ghantts accomplices soon showed up but now they had another problem. 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. But as Ghantt admitted, the film took some liberties with specific details and characters to make the film funnier. Based on the October 1997 Loomis Fargo robbery. David Ghantt (@DavidGhantt) is a man that still holds the record for the second largest bank heist on American Soil. Kate. Zach Galifianakis played David Scott Ghantt, with other roles played byOwen Wilson, Jason Sudeikis, Leslie Jones, Kristen Wiig and Kate McKinnon. Will California Save the Iconic Joshua Tree? Chambers had known enough to insist that no one blows through a ton of cash immediately after the robbery, but once he actually had his hands on the money, he couldnt follow his own advice. Ghantt was joking in the breakroom with fellow Loomis Fargo employee Kelly Campbell. David Ghantt is more than just a man who was a part of one of the worlds largest heists, he's more than a funny name associated with a comedy movie, he's actually just an every day person who once made a really bad decision. Too bad it was so poorly planned. Did you know that the SAT offers subject exams, too? It was over. I wasnt attracted to him or anything, but he was a nice guy, Campbell said. When Seymour Hersh Strained to Keep Up With CounterPunch, Nichole Stephens, Administrative Assistant. So he hatched a plan to rob his employers. Campbell was receptive and brought the idea up to Ghantt. The Loomis Fargo heist became something of a media lightning rod. Vous pouvez modifier vos choix tout moment en cliquant sur le lien Tableau de bord sur la vie prive prsent sur nos sites et dans nos applications. But there was just one thing the group hadnt been counting on: the massive weight of that amount of cash. Ghantt's spending in Mexico was extravagant at first. While Ghantt waited for the heat from the robbery to die down, Chambers would send Ghantt small amounts of money. It was nearly the perfect crime, but while Ghantt fled to Mexico to lay low, his partners lavish spendingand their own alleged plans for murderwould ultimately be the groups demise. 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. Because Ghantt was the only employee who wasnt there that morning, he became the obvious suspect. How? This page was last edited on 21 February 2023, at 16:45. Instead, the bandits just started throwing as much money as they could into the van until they couldnt fit anymore. For instance, after stealing $17.3 million $11 million of which was in $20 bills the conspirators had to leave behind $3 million in cash because they couldnt fit all of it in their cars. The plan to rob Loomis Fargo was spawned by Campbell and her friend Steve Chambers, during a casual bonfire at Chambers home. 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. 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. 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. Investigators also found Ghantt's pickup truck, abandoned at the warehouse. A comedy film called Masterminds, based on the Loomis Fargo heist and starring Zach Galifianakis, Kristen Wiig, Owen Wilson, and Jason Sudeikis, was released in 2016. Its easy to get somebody to do something if you know that they are that infatuated with you.. And so this third camera caught everything that happened next. 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.. When Ghantt called Chambers to have the latter wire him more money, Chambers sent just a few thousand dollars. ", The much-faster-than-expected economic recovery thats followed the easing of the coronavirus pandemic has produced several encouraging develo. They called the police, who brought in the FBI, classifying the heist as a bank robbery. Robbing the 7-Eleven and getting $40 bucks and a pack of Marlboros was not for me. Si vous souhaitez personnaliser vos choix, cliquez sur Grer les paramtres de confidentialit. Follow him on twitter: @MSainat1, 20 Years Later: Masterminds of One of the Largest Bank Heists in U.S. History, The CIAs Changing Take on the Climate Emergency, Emancipation, Hollywoods Best Civil War Film Ever. dvelopper et amliorer nos produits et services. 33. Even though they drove away with less than they had initially intended, they still had more than $17 million in hand. 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. The police then called the FBI because most of the money handled at the facility belonged to banks, which technically made it a bank robbery a federal offense.[5]. See how other students and parents are navigating high school, college, and the college admissions process. 29 David Ghantt Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images. When she was a teacher, Hayley's students regularly scored in the 99th percentile thanks to her passion for making topics digestible and accessible. They also bought a BMW Z3 with cash and made several large purchases, including a $600 cigar store Indian. With the plan in place, Ghantt sent a newly employed co-worker home early (reportedly at 6 p.m) who had been assigned to train with him. He made it across the border just as his deception was discovered. 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. You may email him here, follow him on Twitter, or listen to his weekly TV podcast, Podjiba. 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. followed by "Don't worry, it is not drug money," the bank filled out a suspicious activity report, which ultimately reached the FBI. 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 Oct. 5, 1997, Ghantt carried out the heist during his regular shift after sending another employee home, stealing more than $17 million from the bank vault. ', He explained the glorification and glamour often associated with bank heists and bank robberies in Hollywood films is far from reality. Ghantt, now 29, was a tall, decorated Persian Gulf War veteran whom early newspaper reports likened to Huckleberry Finn. A: People are very forgiving if you're open and honest right from the start. The additions come as KFC recently removed some menu items, including wings, popcorn chicken and cookies, to make room for new additions. Kelly Campbell is scheduled to be sentenced in October. When the cheerleading coach broke the news to Katrina Kohel that she was the only one left on the cheer squad, Kohel was determined to compete anyway. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Whisler said he didn't think those factors should result in a reduced sentence. Michele Chambers 1998 BMW for sale following the prosecutions of the Loomis Fargo heist conspirators. I didnt even have a real home life because I was never there. He was also married. Chambers, who made an ill-fated decision to buy a home in the gated Cramer Mountain community with his newfound wealth, now runsa gym on Lowell-Bethesda Road. mesurer votre utilisation de nos sites et applications. If I hadnt of done that, Id probably still be in North Carolina and I would not have got to meet a lot of the interesting people that Ive got to meet. Day in and day out, he drives an armored vehicle,. AI Chatbots are Even Scarier Than You Think, DeSantiss Educational Policies Come Right Out of the Fascist Playbook, Erase the Memory to Erase a People?