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? Finally, in March 1998, the FBI traced a call from Ghantts phone and he was arrested in Mexico. They kept several furnishings from the previous owners, including a painting of Elvis Presley on black velvet. On Oct. 4, Ghantt sent home the employee he was training and disabled two security cameras near the vault in preparation for the heist. Q: How do you tell prospective employers you once stole $17 million? 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).. Wanneer u onze sites en apps gebruikt, gebruiken we, gebruikers authenticeren, veiligheidsmaatregelen toepassen en spam en misbruik voorkomen, en, gepersonaliseerde advertenties en content weergeven op basis van interesseprofielen, de effectiviteit meten van gepersonaliseerde advertenties en content, en, onze producten en services ontwikkelen en verbeteren. Will Mcintyre/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty ImagesMichele Chambers 1998 BMW for sale following the prosecutions of the Loomis Fargo heist conspirators. David Ghantt normally came home between 6 and 8 p.m., and often he was late, his wife said. While Ghantt waited for the heat from the robbery to die down, Chambers would send Ghantt small amounts of money. I wasnt attracted to him or anything, but he was a nice guy, Campbell said. We were two paychecks away from being homeless at any given time.. Ten days later, the group was indicted for bank larceny and money laundering. 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. To find out more about how the thieves got caught and how long they landed behind bars, tune in the Super Heists on CNBC on Monday at 10 p.m. ET/PT. Going to prison helped me grow up as a human being. 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. followed by "Don't worry, it is not drug money," the bank filled out a suspicious activity report, which ultimately reached the FBI. Project #ShowUs. And so this third camera caught everything that happened next. All rights reserved. Retro CharlotteFBI security footage of David Ghantt in the midst of the Loomis Fargo heist. Two days after the heist, the FBI found the missing van with $3.3 million of cash left in it. Chambers would then occasionally wire Ghantt money and see to his basic financial needs; when "the heat was off," Ghantt was to re-enter the U.S. and the money would be split up among all of the co-conspirators. ``I'm glad she didn't get nine years,' said Sandra Floyd, her mother. If so,check out some of these books on our AP History Exam reading list. Robbing the 7-Eleven and getting $40 bucks and a pack of Marlboros was not for me. I stole $17 million, and Zach Galifianakis played me in a movie. On March 1, 1988, Mexican police arrested Ghantt at Playa del Carmen. David Ghantt discovers the true meaning of adventure far beyond his wildest dreams. The chief running joke in Masterminds is the Prince Valiant 'do gamely sported by Galifianakis as David Ghantt, . 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.". When she was a teacher, Hayley's students regularly scored in the 99th percentile thanks to her passion for making topics digestible and accessible. Q: North Carolina native Zach Galifianakis portrayed you in "Masterminds." The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 4+ ACT Points, How to Get a Perfect 36 ACT, by a Perfect Scorer. 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. The pair began to daydream about whether they could really pull off the heist. I'd probably be that infamous gringo living in Belize, kicked back on the beach, fishing and bored out of my mind. The pair were both from the United States but had lived in the Peloponnese region of Greece for the past few years. Degrowth or Debunk: Do Degrowth proponents have a strategy? This Wednesday marks the 20th anniversary of the notorious Loomis Fargo heist. Working by himself, Ghantt would commit the robbery and then flee for Mexico, leaving the bulk of the cash with Chambers. Link your TV provider to stream full episodes and live TV. Nous, Yahoo, faisons partie de la famille de marques Yahoo. He was also married. In spite of Chambers assurance that the money was, you know, totally not illegally acquired, the teller remained suspicious, especially because the stacks of cash still had Loomis Fargo wrappers on them. But even though he worked for a company that regularly moved millions of dollars, David Ghantt himself was underpaid. Ghantt and his compatriots, it turns out, had underestimated how bulky money is. David Bragg . One day, Campbell was speaking to an old friend named Steve Chambers. One of the best ways to learn more about U.S. history is to make sure youre taking history classes. 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. A: When you're locked up, you live in an 8-by-10 box and you share that with two other people. 5 min read. I didnt even have a real home life because I was never there. 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. 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. Culler acknowledged that she had overheard her husband and co-defendant Kelly Campbell talk about the plan, ``but she thought it was fantasy world.'. In total, 24 people were convicted. 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. On Oct. 4, 1997, former Kings Mountain resident David Scott Ghantt finished his shift as a vault supervisor for Loomis Fargo in Charlotte. His partners, who planned to stay behind, agreed to send him his full cut of the money after the heat from investigators had died down. Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! ``There are many people with those factors who don't resort to crime,' he said. My name is David Scott Ghantt. Ghantts accomplices soon showed up but now they had another problem. Collections. From there, the money was moved from the company vehicle to private vehicles. Elizabeth Poile was in 10th . Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Over the next months, Ghantt, Campbell, and Chambers developed a plan. Thats the big thing. 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 CNBCs Super Heists, airing Monday at 10 p.m. Ghantt, a U.S. Army veteran, was living a relatively boring life working as the vault superintendent at a Loomis Fargo armored car warehouse just outside Charlotte, North Carolina making a relatively meager paycheck, when he crossed paths with Kelly Campbell. Steve Chambers and his wife (Mary Elizabeth Ellis) were a little more difficult to connect to the heist. Get all your true crime news from Oxygen. The odds of you actually getting away with something these days is pretty damn slim. Bubbling under the surface, however, was a deep frustration at the way he was treated. David Ghantt : I had a hard time liftin' it up. Did you know that the SAT offers subject exams, too? 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. 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. I got no real complaints, not at this point., The heist became the premise for the movie,Masterminds, released in September 2016. They called the police, who brought in the FBI, classifying the heist as a bank robbery. I knew it was over then, Ghantt said. David GhanttRetweeted Iraqveteran8888 @Iraqveteran8888 Dec 9, 2022 Elect me President and I'll fire everyone, free Julian Assange, and pardon Edward Snowden. Its gone! Until it's gone, you don't appreciate it. I mean, thats pretty much why I did it. See how other students and parents are navigating high school, college, and the college admissions process. All but one of the indicted pleaded guilty. The thieves had simply abandoned whatever they couldnt carry away. Across the border in Mexico, Ghantt was also living it up. Masterminds - Zach Galifianakis 'David Ghantt' [On-Set Interview]SUBSCRIBE HERE: http://goo.gl/SrrTlTSUBSCRIBE MOVIE TRAILERS: http://goo.gl/8WxGeDA night gu. David Ghantt, a Gulf War veteran, had never been in trouble with the law. Hes a great person. Within two days, the investigators found the van with $3 million in cash and the security camera tapes inside. Unfortunately, he failed to disable the third camera. 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. That usually takes the shine right off of it, when you start explaining that. He continued, Youd be wearing a lot of khaki brown and eating crappy food., Since the films release and its recent Netflix debut, Scott Ghent cited that the most common question he receives is about the missing $2 million never recovered by the FBI; Ive had people actually ask me that question. Where ever it was, it is long gone now. Authorities say Steve. Afterward, outside the courthouse, her parents said the length was about what she had expected. Als u niet wilt dat wij en onze partners cookies en persoonsgegevens voor deze aanvullende doeleinden gebruiken, klik dan op 'Alles weigeren'. 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. Campbellwho was married herselfrepresented something new and exciting. The plan went off with few problems, but after Ghantt was safely in Mexico, his partners were left storing large amounts of cash. 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. Separating the Red and Blue. Just days after agreeing to the plan, the group set a day to carry out the robbery. I work construction. David Scott Ghantt was the vault supervisor at the regional branch of Loomis, Fargo & Co. in Charlotte, North Carolina. Then Michele made a trip to the bank. ``This defendant was second to Steve Chambers in (benefiting) from the crime,' he said. Meanwhile, Ghantt would take $50,000, as much as could legally be carried across the border without questions, and flee to Mexico. You can cancel at any time. 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. 121 90 1,443 Show this thread David GhanttRetweeted C.A. Learning about US history? Michele Chambers declined to make a statement at the hearing. Ghantts wife was reportedly nothing like the bizarre, robotic fiance character in the film, for instance. 43-year-old Margret and her mother both died in 2012 . AMA In October of 1997, I was a vault supervisor for armored truck company Loomis Fargo, when I made off with $17.3 million. And Ghantt hadnt really thought about the physical challenge of moving such a large sum of money. No rift here! While listening in, they uncovered another more sinister alleged plan to kill Ghantt. Lees ons privacybeleid en cookiebeleid voor meer informatie over hoe we uw persoonsgegevens gebruiken. Two of them, Mike and Kim Goodman, are scheduled to be sentenced today. What happens at the end of mastermind? Federal Judge Graham Mullen sentenced her to between those lengths. David Ghantt : [voice-over] Steve was a petty thief, mostly known for stealing tiny wheelchairs from pediatric hospitals. Ghantt was the vault manager. 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. In 2020, the television show Super Heists portrayed the heist in Episode 3, "Van Full of Dollars". 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. Create your free profile and get access to exclusive content. Chambers and his wife also made some cash payments on a few cars. The judge said he would recommend that Michele Chambers be given mental health treatment in prison. Based on the October 1997 Loomis Fargo robbery. ABC7 Eyewitness News Watch Now Q: You came to the North Carolina mountains during Hurricane Irma, but what do you miss about Gastonia? 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]. The Loomis Fargo heist became something of a media lightning rod. 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. As Predators' David Poile braces for retirement, his wife reveals their love story. 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.