I was working sometimes 75-80 hrs a week for $8.15 an hour, I didnt even have a real home life because I was never there I was working all the time and unhappy which is understandable considering how old I was at the time. A: I'm in dire need for some RO's barbecue and some Tony's Ice Cream. I realized a lot of things that were wrong with me as a person. 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 was portrayed by Zackary Hatfield. Culler acknowledged that she had overheard her husband and co-defendant Kelly Campbell talk about the plan, ``but she thought it was fantasy world.'. (renews at {{format_dollars}}{{start_price}}{{format_cents}}/month + tax). 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. ABC7 Eyewitness News Watch Now Guess what? Two days after the heist, the FBI found the missing van with $3.3 million of cash left in it. Answer: The painful one is getting caught. 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 . We caught up with David Ghantt about life after his $17m heist, hanging out with Zach Galifianakis and the accuracy of Masterminds, a new movie based on. Over the years many of his social . Chambers had broached the possibility of a robbery to Campbell earlier in the summer. Wij, Yahoo, maken deel uit van de Yahoo-merkenfamilie. He then began loading $17 million in unmarked bills inside a company van before driving away. I wanted to make a drastic change and I went for it, Ghantt remembered later to the Gaston Gazette. On March 1, 1988, Mexican police arrested Ghantt at Playa del Carmen. But even though he worked for a company that regularly moved millions of dollars, David Ghantt himself was underpaid. 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. Question: Which do you regret more, stealing the money or getting caught? 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. 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.. By comparison, Ghantt served seven years in prison and was fined $26,000. Chambers would hold on to most of the remaining cash and wire it to Ghantt as needed. You can't get barbecue slaw in this hedonistic state (Florida), and there's nowhere to get real ice cream here like Tony's. Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! 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. Degrowth or Debunk: Do Degrowth proponents have a strategy? 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. I stole $17 million, and Zach Galifianakis played me in a movie. followed by "Don't worry, it is not drug money," the bank filled out a suspicious activity report, which ultimately reached the FBI. It's the little things like that that gnaw on you. 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 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. 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. Then you end up in a eight by ten cube and youre going to share that cube with two other people. Chambers and his wife also made some cash payments on a few cars. Kate. But Ghantt has been open about what he did and how he believes it changed him for the better. Eventually, Ghantt would return to the United States and the full sum would be split up between the conspirators. For the New York State assemblyman, see. This article will teach you more about the SAT subject tests. David Ghantt attends the after party for the Premiere Of Relativity Media's "Masterminds" on September 26, 2016 in Hollywood, California. David Ghantt spent 11 years in the military and now works as a film consultant on the side. 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.". 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. 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. Once the hitman Chambers had hired arrived in Mexico, he found that he couldnt bring himself to kill Ghantt. ``This defendant was second to Steve Chambers in (benefiting) from the crime,' he said. Just the ability to come and go as I please and walk barefooted in the backyard means so much. No rift here! 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. Lees ons privacybeleid en cookiebeleid voor meer informatie over hoe we uw persoonsgegevens gebruiken. 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. Si vous souhaitez personnaliser vos choix, cliquez sur Grer les paramtres de confidentialit. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! Campbell used part of her share of the money to buy a Toyota Sienna minivan in two cash installments. Now, here we are, two years later. 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. 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. Day in and day out, he drives an armored vehicle,. [15], "David Ghantt" redirects here. The pair were both from the United States but had lived in the Peloponnese region of Greece for the past few years. Thats the big thing. Hayley Milliman is a former teacher turned writer who blogs about education, history, and technology. David Ghantt, who pulled off the Loomis, Fargo & Co. vault robbery in 1997 and was sentenced to seven years in prison for the crime, served as a consultant for the film (in theaters Friday).. Everybody thinks being famous and being an actor is stupendous, and the money is fantastic, but they kind of live in afish bowl. The Election, U.S. Foreign Policy, And Harold Pinter's 2005 Nobel Lecture, Nate Parker on Rape Allegations: 'I Don't Feel Guilty'. 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. VIDEO. So he hatched a plan to rob his employers. 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. After this look at David Ghantt and the Loomis Fargo heist, read about a more successful robbery, the Antwerp diamond heist. Too bad it was so poorly planned. U kunt uw keuzes te allen tijde wijzigen door te klikken op de links 'Privacydashboard' op onze sites en in onze apps. Ill never pay it off on my paycheck, Ghantt said. 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 $17 million in untraceable bills in 1997. Here, he amps up the most obnoxious excesses of his entire cast and lets their grating bad-improv skills run amok. 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. Robbing the 7-Eleven and getting $40 bucks and a pack of Marlboros was not for me. 2023 www.gastongazette.com. Because Ghantt was the only employee who wasnt there that morning, he became the obvious suspect. ``None of these defendants , in this court's opinion, are capable of making substantial restitution, no matter what they do, or no matter what they try,' Mullen said. From Oct. 6 through Feb. 20, the couple made 47 deposits totaling $271,500 at a Belmont bank, and at. They called the police, who brought in the FBI, classifying the heist as a bank robbery. Ghantt and his compatriots, it turns out, had underestimated how bulky money is. Ghantt was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison, though he was released on parole after five. Dustin is the founder and co-owner of Pajiba. On Oct. 4, Ghantt sent home the employee he was training and disabled two security cameras near the vault in preparation for the heist. ', He explained the glorification and glamour often associated with bank heists and bank robberies in Hollywood films is far from reality. Although the FBI investigation was able to quickly connect Ghantt to Campbell, connecting Ghantt to Chambers was a more difficult task. Guided by federal sentencing rules, prosecutors had requested a sentence of nine years for Michele Chambers. The two struck up a friendship during work that would continue after Campbell left the company. I got no real complaints, not at this point., The heist became the premise for the movie,Masterminds, released in September 2016. I work construction. 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. Dont worry, its not drug money.. They left behind the cash they couldnt fit in their cars. Wyatt Redd is a freelance writer from Nashville, Tennessee. Jimmy Carter is a Liberal Saint Now, Was a War Criminal Then. [citation needed], It was later confirmed by the FBI that more than 88% of the stolen cash had been located or otherwise accounted for. Ten days later, the group was indicted for bank larceny and money laundering. Going to prison helped me grow up as a human being. Ghantt was. Kelly Campbell is scheduled to be sentenced in October. He was like OK, yeah, we can do that, she recalled. Michele Chambers declined to make a statement at the hearing. his wife-to-be. Separating the Red and Blue. Two of them, Mike and Kim Goodman, are scheduled to be sentenced today. A: When I first got in, I thought, "What in my life has led me to this?" And with that, David Ghantt took off for Mexico. Galifianakis seems to be playing a character out of Dumb and Dumber 3: The Dumbening; Kristen Wiig plays what could only be described as her worst SNL character; Owen Wilson plays an Owen Wilson character; and Sudeikis plays a bumbling hitman who cant pull the trigger after he finds out his target shares the same name and birthdate, which is the dumbest twist since the Martha revelation in Batman vs. Superman. Together with his wife, Chambers bought a new luxury home (upgrading from his mobile home), a BMW Z3, and some extravagant furnishings. The couple was married for 22 years before her untimely death in 2012. Custom Content. But neither of those things would matter after he met Kelly Campbell. David Ghantt, a Gulf War veteran, had never been in trouble with the law. When I interviewed for this job about three years ago, I told (my boss) that I had some dirt in my background, and if he went digging for it, he would find it. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. 20 years ago,on the night ofOctober 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. Im like, You need to understand that, that money has been missing for 20 years. 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. From the beginning, the FBIs prime suspect was David Ghantt. Over the next months, Ghantt, Campbell, and Chambers developed a plan. The plan went off with few problems, but after Ghantt was safely in Mexico, his partners were left storing large amounts of cash. It wasa painful process, but I learned to be happy with me and with what I've got. Thats going to be your life for quite some time, typically. 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. David Ghantt normally came home between 6 and 8 p.m., and often he was late, his wife said. You can cancel at any time. You take a movie like Oceans Eleven, the whole concept of that movie is so farfetched, its not even funny. But in addition to a wife,. As a vault supervisor for Loomis Fargo, David had access to the vaults and all the cash within. One of the best ways to learn more about U.S. history is to make sure youre taking history classes. Ghantt, in order to conserve this money, curtailed his spending. 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. EDITORIAL. At the time it was thesecond largest bank heistin U.S. history. Chambers had no intention of following those rules, believing the FBI would never connect him to Ghantt. Ghantts accomplices soon showed up but now they had another problem. 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. 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. ", After successfully tracing Ghantt's phone call, FBI agents coordinated with Mexican police to arrest Ghantt on March 1, 1998, at Playa del Carmen, a city near Cancun. 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. But even though he worked for a company that regularly moved millions of dollars, David Ghantt himself was underpaid. (I) bought jewelry, bought a van, Campbell recalled of her own spending. At the time it was the second largest cash robbery ever to happen on US soil. Naturally, Ghantt started to run out of cash and turned to Chambers, who was annoyed by his requests for more money. Masterminds is an atrociously bad comedy, and absolutely everyone is to blame. After meeting up with Chambers, Campbell, and some other co-conspirators, Ghantt hightailed it to Mexico with $50,000 in cash in his car. They kept several furnishings from the previous owners, including a painting of Elvis Presley on black velvet. [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]. Before he decided to steal $17 million from the bank, Ghantt had worked for years as a relatively taciturn and compliant employee. Ghantts wife was reportedly nothing like the bizarre, robotic fiance character in the film, for instance. Q: Do you appreciate your normal life now more than you would if you hadn't spent years in prison? What SAT Target Score Should You Be Aiming For? 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. 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. You can reach Kevin Ellis at 704-869-1823 or www.Twitter.com/TheGazetteKevin. Its easy to get somebody to do something if you know that they are that infatuated with you.. More than 2 million dollars is still missing to this day. As Campbell would later explain, If David got killed, there couldnt be any finger pointing. 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. See how other students and parents are navigating high school, college, and the college admissions process. Afterward, outside the courthouse, her parents said the length was about what she had expected. We would like to show you a description here but the site won't allow us. 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. 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. Ghantt reported to Chambers that his supply of money was running low, but Chambers sent Ghantt just $8,000. It was over. The additions come as KFC recently removed some menu items, including wings, popcorn chicken and cookies, to make room for new additions. Instead, the two started hanging out on the beach together and became friends. mesurer votre utilisation de nos sites et applications. A lot of people ask me, Oh, do you have any regrets? No, not really. The FBI continues to search for a missing $2 million from the theft. Defense attorney Jim Griffin laid out his team's side of the case to the jury for more than two hours, arguing . What ACT target score should you be aiming for? Three of the 21 defendants in the case haven't been sentenced. By Dustin Rowles | Film | September 30, 2016 |. But because he still owes millions to the IRS, he couldnt be paid. Campbell knew theyd need the help of the warehouses vault supervisor, who just happened to have a crush on her, and she called Ghantt to ask for his help. Then check out another bank robber who inspired a movie, John Wojtowicz. Ghantt sent home a new employee and quickly loaded the money into the back of a bank van. Based on the October 1997 Loomis Fargo robbery. As Predators' David Poile braces for retirement, his wife reveals their love story. Working by himself, Ghantt would commit the robbery and then flee for Mexico, leaving the bulk of the cash with Chambers. 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. Defense lawyer Andy Culler sought a seven-year, three-month sentence. 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. Of course, the FBI was already aware of Chambers and his free-spending ways, and the murder plot helped federal agents find Ghantt south of the border. David Bowie 's widow recently took to Instagram to post selfies, while promoting both her makeup brand and fashion line. Robbing the 7-Eleven and getting $40 bucks and a pack of Marlboros was not for me. There is nothing of value in this movie. Chambers was a small-time crook who suggested to Campbell that they rob Loomis Fargo. All but one of the defendants pleaded guilty. Anonymous tips had the FBI monitoring Chambers calls. Q: Do you ever think about what your life would be like if you had gotten away with the money? To its credit, Masterminds does nail down the broad strokes of the real story, although there were a couple of noteworthy details the film left out. David Bragg . Michelle Chambers received a harsher sentence than Ghantt seven years and eight months because she had violated several bond conditions. "Wells Fargo and Loomis forming armored car company", Last edited on 21 February 2023, at 16:45, Learn how and when to remove this template message, painting of Elvis Presley on black velvet, "FindACase | United States of America v. Steven Eugene Chambers", "The Unperfect Crime | New Dominion Pictures", "Sunday Evening/Late Night September 9, 2001", "Loomis Fargo heist: Q&A with guy who stole $17 million", "MASTERMINDS - Movie Production NotesCinemaReview.com", Ghantt and other gang members arrested in March 1998, Steven Chambers released from prison; announces he is a "retired criminal", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=October_1997_Loomis_Fargo_robbery&oldid=1140756292, Overcoming the mindset that led to the part David Ghantt played in the Loomis robbery and how he started on a new path was the subject of the book, Within days of the robbery, the case was depicted on the television criminal reporting show, An expanded two-hour special episode of the crime documentary series.