(I) bought jewelry, bought a van, Campbell recalled of her own spending. Former Cramerton Police Chief David Young soon got wind of the Chambers excessive spending spree and reached out to the FBI. The painful part is that when you get caught, that the part of your brain that was trying to talk to you when you first started the robbery was right, and that's like a dump truck running over you. CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS FROM MASTERMIND MOVIE. [citation needed], It was later confirmed by the FBI that more than 88% of the stolen cash had been located or otherwise accounted for. Jandice : In any case, we got to talkin' afterwards, and I thought, well, that one's dead, this one's alive. At the time it was the second largest cash robbery ever to happen on US soil. Ask questions; get answers. There was also no dramatic showdown between Chambers and Ghantt as the movie suggests. LRM Exclusive Interview: David Ghantt, Real Life Thief Who Inspired I knew that if we could stay off the radar for about a year, we could basically live a vacation life, Ghantt said. Ghantt believed the new employee would make a good replacement for his wife, but the feelings were not necessarily reciprocated. Looking back at the Loomis heist - Gaston Gazette Q: You came to the North Carolina mountains during Hurricane Irma, but what do you miss about Gastonia? 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The Loomis Fargo robbery was one of the largest heists in history, with $2 million in stolen funds still unaccounted for. But Ghantt has been open about what he did and how he believes it changed him for the better. A lot of people ask me, Oh, do you have any regrets? No, not really. He told me they were in the dirt business, so he didn't have to worry too much about me. Going to prison helped me grow up as a human being. [3][4] Its Charlotte office would be the victim of David Scott Ghantt and his confederates later that year. $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. Chambers would hold on to most of the remaining cash and wire it to Ghantt as needed. The Thieves Who Couldn'T Cope With $17 Million Ghantts wife was reportedly nothing like the bizarre, robotic fiance character in the film, for instance. The next day, Steve and Michelle Chambers, Kelly Campbell, and four others were arrested.[6]. We were two paychecks away from being homeless at any given time.. START or Stop: Do Nuclear Weapons Treaties Matter? So he hatched a plan to rob his employers. Playing upon David's obvious feelings for her, Kelly is the . What happens at the end of mastermind? 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. 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. David Ghantt | World Record Holder and Mastermind Ghantt was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison, though he was released on parole after five. The Current TikTok Ban Doesnt Go Far Enough. As Predators' David Poile braces for retirement, wife reveals love story Ghantt's spending in Mexico was extravagant at first. 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. David Ghantt normally came home between 6 and 8 p.m., and often he was late, his wife said. 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. We caught up with David Ghantt about - The Gaston Gazette | Facebook Hes a great person. Also charged were several innocent relatives that the robbers had enlisted to help get safety deposit boxes in various banks. SAT is a registered trademark of the College Entrance Examination BoardTM. 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).. Get the latest articles and test prep tips! Ill never pay it off on my paycheck, Ghantt said. We were in Old Fortwhen they were shooting the movie and went out to eat. Elizabeth Poile was in 10th . The College Entrance Examination BoardTM does not endorse, nor is it affiliated in any way with the owner or any content of this site. I realized a lot of things that were wrong with me as a person. Meanwhile, David Ghantt was relaxing on a beach in Cozumel, Mexico. Chambers, his wife, and several of their accomplices were arrested the next day. CREATIVE. And with that, David Ghantt took off for Mexico. I learned that I was an a--hole. 121 90 1,443 Show this thread David GhanttRetweeted C.A. Its a farce that never farces; a comedy without jokes. Here, he amps up the most obnoxious excesses of his entire cast and lets their grating bad-improv skills run amok. As a vault supervisor for Loomis Fargo, David had access to the vaults and all the cash within. Because Ghantt was the only employee who wasnt there that morning, he became the obvious suspect. Finally, in March 1998, the FBI traced a call from Ghantts phone and he was arrested in Mexico. 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. Ghantt sent home a new employee and quickly loaded the money into the back of a bank van. David Bowie 's widow recently took to Instagram to post selfies, while promoting both her makeup brand and fashion line. Its gone! 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. I wasnt attracted to him or anything, but he was a nice guy, Campbell said. I didnt even know about it and overlooked it, he said. Investigators also found Ghantt's pickup truck, abandoned at the warehouse. . #CLXGaming#CLXRa#evokethegods 1 2 The pair began to daydream about whether they could really pull off the heist. American Couple Who Disappeared in Greece Found Dead David Ghantt : [voice-over] Steve was a petty thief, mostly known for stealing tiny wheelchairs from pediatric hospitals. I stole $17 million, and Zach Galifianakis played me in a movie. Just days after agreeing to the plan, the group set a day to carry out the robbery. 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. Instead, the bandits just started throwing as much money as they could into the van until they couldnt fit anymore. Si vous souhaitez personnaliser vos choix, cliquez sur Grer les paramtres de confidentialit. You can reach Kevin Ellis at 704-869-1823 or www.Twitter.com/TheGazetteKevin. 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. Authorities had the receipt and had known it was missing. Everybody thinks being famous and being an actor is stupendous, and the money is fantastic, but they kind of live in afish bowl. 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. When Ghantt called Chambers to have the latter wire him more money, Chambers sent just a few thousand dollars. Chambers and his wife also made some cash payments on a few cars. 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. I think Zachs a hell of an actor. Did you know that the SAT offers subject exams, too? Our new student and parent forum, at ExpertHub.PrepScholar.com, allow you to interact with your peers and the PrepScholar staff. 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. 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. followed by "Don't worry, it is not drug money," the bank filled out a suspicious activity report, which ultimately reached the FBI. Answer: The painful one is getting caught. Authorities began to hone in on the group and put a wire tap on Campbell's phones. Nine other relatives and friends were also charged with money laundering, as they had co-signed for safe deposit boxes used to store some of the money; prosecutors opted to charge them on the grounds that they should have known the money was obtained illegally. The chief running joke in Masterminds is the Prince Valiant 'do gamely sported by Galifianakis as David Ghantt, . Meanwhile, Ghantt would take $50,000, as much as could legally be carried across the border without questions, and flee to Mexico. 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. David Ghantt on stealing 17 million dollars from Loomis Fargo (Crime 5 min read. 33. Before he decided to steal $17 million from the bank, Ghantt had worked for years as a relatively taciturn and compliant employee. Question: Which do you regret more, stealing the money or getting caught? I'd probably be that infamous gringo living in Belize, kicked back on the beach, fishing and bored out of my mind. Ghantt, now 29, was a tall, decorated Persian Gulf War veteran whom early newspaper reports likened to Huckleberry Finn. 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. The True Story of David Ghantt and the Loomis Fargo Heist, Get Free Guides to Boost Your SAT/ACT Score, check out some of these books on our AP History Exam reading list. 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. The next day, the Chambers, Campbell, and some other notable parties were arrested in Charlotte. ACT Writing: 15 Tips to Raise Your Essay Score, How to Get Into Harvard and the Ivy League, Is the ACT easier than the SAT? I mean, thats pretty much why I did it. They would then load as much cash as they could carry into a van. The odds of you actually getting away with something these days is pretty damn slim. Once the hitman Chambers had hired arrived in Mexico, he found that he couldnt bring himself to kill Ghantt. When asked what the dumbest thing was that Ghantt spent money on, he admitted: The 4 pairs of boots I bought in one day [shrug] what can I say they were nice and I was impulse shopping.. C hristopher David Ghantt Phone Numbers (704) 678-8911. Investigators considered Ghantt to be the prime suspect almost from the beginning. 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. Defense attorney Jim Griffin laid out his team's side of the case to the jury for more than two hours, arguing . Loomis Fargo employee David Ghantt and his partners nearly pulled off the perfect crime, but it would be their lavish spending, and an alleged murder plot, that would be their undoing. 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. You take a movie like Oceans Eleven, the whole concept of that movie is so farfetched, its not even funny. In addition to her work for PrepScholar, Hayley is the author of Museum Hack's Guide to History's Fiercest Females. Chambers was a small-time crook who suggested to Campbell that they rob Loomis Fargo. By comparison, Ghantt served seven years in prison and was fined $26,000. 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. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. Pour en savoir plus sur la faon dont nous utilisons vos donnes personnelles, veuillez consulter notre politique relative la vie prive et notre politique en matire de cookies. David Ghantt (@DavidGhantt) / Twitter I didnt even have a real home life because I was never there. While listening in, they uncovered another more sinister alleged plan to kill Ghantt. On March 1, 1988, Mexican police arrested Ghantt at Playa del Carmen. Authorities say Steve. 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. He is an uncomplicated man stuck in a monotonous life. Als u uw keuzes wilt aanpassen, klik dan op 'Privacyinstellingen beheren'. The pair were both from the United States but had lived in the Peloponnese region of Greece for the past few years. Chambers also promised to join Ghantt in Mexico as soon as she could, but she admitted to Super Heists she never had any intention of actually making the trip. I got to eat my meal perfectly, but every 5 minutes, someone wanted to shoot a selfie with Zach or an autograph from Zach. Two days later, when the FBI found the Loomis Fargo armored van, they discovered almost $3.3 million in cash left in the back of the van; it was later discovered that the thieves had miscalculated the sheer bulk of the small denomination currency, and that they simply left the cash that they could not take with them in the back of the van.