And so this third camera caught everything that happened next. Also charged were several innocent relatives that the robbers had enlisted to help get safety deposit boxes in various banks. Ask below and we'll reply! . 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. He told me they were in the dirt business, so he didn't have to worry too much about me. 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. Meanwhile, Ghantt would take $50,000, as much as could legally be carried across the border without questions, and flee to Mexico. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. 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. 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. 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. 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).. When Ghantt called Chambers to have the latter wire him more money, Chambers sent just a few thousand dollars. Youre better at planning bank heists than David Ghantt. Get all your true crime news from Oxygen. But even though he worked for a company that regularly moved millions of dollars, David Ghantt himself was underpaid. My name is David Scott Ghantt. A: When I first got in, I thought, "What in my life has led me to this?" Ghantt was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison, though he was released on parole after five. But as Ghantt admitted, the film took some liberties with specific details and characters to make the film funnier. Most high schools offer a variety of history classes, so make sure youre taking the right ones for you. By now, you probably know the names -- David Ghantt, Steve Chambers and his wife Michelle, and Kelly Campbell. They also bought a BMW Z3 with cash and made several large purchases, including a $600 cigar store Indian. Based on a true story, the premise itself is fascinating, which makes Masterminds all the more a waste. Within two days, the investigators found the van with $3 million in cash and the security camera tapes inside. Working by himself, Ghantt would commit the robbery and then flee for Mexico, leaving the bulk of the cash with Chambers. Michele Chambers declined to make a statement at the hearing. Ghantt sent home a new employee and quickly loaded the money into the back of a bank van. The scary one is stealing the money. If so,check out some of these books on our AP History Exam reading list. 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. Creative Insights. The Loomis Fargo robbery was one of the largest heists in history, with $2 million in stolen funds still unaccounted for. U kunt uw keuzes te allen tijde wijzigen door te klikken op de links 'Privacydashboard' op onze sites en in onze apps. Its gone! I was working sometimes 75-80 hours a week at $8.15 an hour. Even the outtakes during the credits are bad. It wasa painful process, but I learned to be happy with me and with what I've got. 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. Now looking back, with the life I have now, Ive got a great family, got a great kid. You take a movie like Oceans Eleven, the whole concept of that movie is so farfetched, its not even funny. After meeting up with Chambers, Campbell, and some other co-conspirators, Ghantt hightailed it to Mexico with $50,000 in cash in his car. Three of the 21 defendants in the case haven't been sentenced. 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. 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. Both were involved in the second-largest cash heist in U.S. history, in which a group of people stole $17 million from the. It was over. At the time it was thesecond largest bank heistin U.S. history. And with that, David Ghantt took off for Mexico. Pocketing $50,000 for himself, that man, named David Ghantt, hopped into a car of his own and headed towards Mexico. A Comprehensive Guide. He was released in 2006. On March 12, a Charlotte grand jury indicted the eight co-conspirators for bank larceny and money laundering; the latter offense was included because of how they spent the stolen money. 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. [citation needed], The defendants were the targets of many barbed jokes in Charlotte and across the country, in part because of their extravagant spending. On the night of October 4, the plan went into action. Instead, the bandits just started throwing as much money as they could into the van until they couldnt fit anymore. The former star . What happens at the end of mastermind? Answer: The painful one is getting caught. One of the best ways to learn more about U.S. history is to make sure youre taking history classes. The missing couple were identified as David Harrison Robinson and his wife Lucretia Robinson. 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. But last Oct. 4, when he still hadn't gotten home by 2:30 a.m., she called his parents in. David Ghantt was a nuisance to Steve Chambers and Kelly Campbell, John Wydra, a retired FBI agent who handled the case, told Super Heists.. The FBI continues to search for a missing $2 million from the theft. 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. Retro CharlotteFBI security footage of David Ghantt in the midst of the Loomis Fargo heist. Ghantt, in order to conserve this money, curtailed his spending. Some of the friends and family members received parole, while Ghantt was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison. ``I wish she'd gotten less. 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. The FBI knew they needed to make their move. Day in and day out, he drives an armored vehicle,. 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. Instead, the two started hanging out on the beach together and became friends. By then, the FBI had become greatly concerned for Ghantt's personal safety; they had learned that Chambers had plotted to have Ghantt killed in a murder for hire scheme using a "hit man" named Michael McKinney. The plan to rob Loomis Fargo was spawned by Campbell and her friend Steve Chambers, during a casual bonfire at Chambers home. Ghantt @ChristyGhantt Dec 7, 2022 I just entered the @clxgaming Ra PC Giveaway! According to Campbell, Chambers could help Ghantt execute a massive cash robbery of the vault at Loomis Fargo in one night. Q: North Carolina native Zach Galifianakis portrayed you in "Masterminds." A former co-worker told me, "Everybody has screwed up. An additional tip reached the FBI when Michelle Chambers made a large deposit at a bank. mesurer votre utilisation de nos sites et applications. 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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? I really don't miss that guy. 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. A: I'm in dire need for some RO's barbecue and some Tony's Ice Cream. So Chambers decided to solve the problem by putting a hit on Ghantt. Prosecutors also resisted Culler's efforts to downplay Michele Chambers' role in the theft. Her sentence would've been ``substantially' less if she hadn't kept it, officials said. All rights reserved. I did get to meet him. He stayed at a luxury hotel and took scuba diving lesson. Campbell and Chambers made themselves easy to catch, what with their lavish spending. Wij, Yahoo, maken deel uit van de Yahoo-merkenfamilie. Unfortunately, he failed to disable the third camera. Robbing the 7-Eleven and getting $40 bucks and a pack of Marlboros was not for me. To make a successful getaway, Ghantt had to lift nearly 2,800 pounds of currency. Collections. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! Afterward, outside the courthouse, her parents said the length was about what she had expected. Ghantt was joking in the breakroom with fellow Loomis Fargo employee Kelly Campbell. Q: Do you appreciate your normal life now more than you would if you hadn't spent years in prison? Defense lawyer Andy Culler sought a seven-year, three-month sentence. Im like, You need to understand that, that money has been missing for 20 years. 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. He had stayed in a luxury hotel and paid for expensive food and activities such as scuba diving and parasailing. afficher des publicits et des contenus personnaliss en fonction de vos profils de centres dintrt; mesurer lefficacit des publicits et contenus personnaliss; et. I knew it was over then, Ghantt said. At the time it was the second largest cash robbery ever to happen on US soil. Defense attorney Jim Griffin laid out his team's side of the case to the jury for more than two hours, arguing . 5 min read. He then proceeded to load about $17.3 million in cash (approximately $11 million of which was in $20 bills) into the back of a company van. Its 90-minutes of mugging for the camera, but the only people who feel mugged are those that pay to see Masterminds. They took a lot of liberty with the story here and there. More than 2 million dollars is still missing to this day. Back then all I really wanted to do was just, I wanted to change my life. Naturally, Ghantt started to run out of cash and turned to Chambers, who was annoyed by his requests for more money. Some people screw up big like you, some people screw up small.". A: When you're locked up, you live in an 8-by-10 box and you share that with two other people. Inside the truck, they found Ghantt's ring and surmised this was a sign of Ghantt's intention to end his relationship with his wife. Oxygen Insider is your all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more. Once the hitman Chambers had hired arrived in Mexico, he found that he couldnt bring himself to kill Ghantt. This article will teach you more about the SAT subject tests. 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. 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. Jimmy Carter is a Liberal Saint Now, Was a War Criminal Then. In the meantime, however, Chambers not only refused to wire money to Ghantt in Mexico, but ultimately hired a hitman (Jason Sudeikis) to take him out. 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. Thats going to be your life for quite some time, typically. SAT is a registered trademark of the College Entrance Examination BoardTM. Playing upon David's obvious feelings for her, Kelly is the . I got to eat my meal perfectly, but every 5 minutes, someone wanted to shoot a selfie with Zach or an autograph from Zach. This Wednesday marks the 20th anniversary of the notorious Loomis Fargo heist. Though she agreed to cooperate with the government when she pleaded guilty to bank larceny and money laundering in August 1998, Michele Chambers didn't tell the FBI she still had the ring until December, when she turned it in.