I was working sometimes 75-80 hours a week at $8.15 an hour. David Ghantt was portrayed by Zackary Hatfield. 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. ``This defendant was second to Steve Chambers in (benefiting) from the crime,' he said. Theyre meant to be trailer-park trash, but they come off as character experiments on a bad night at the Groundlings. Defense lawyer Andy Culler sought a seven-year, three-month sentence. Until it's gone, you don't appreciate it. You can reach Kevin Ellis at 704-869-1823 or www.Twitter.com/TheGazetteKevin. Once the hitman Chambers had hired arrived in Mexico, he found that he couldnt bring himself to kill Ghantt. Dont worry, its not drug money.. mesurer votre utilisation de nos sites et applications. David Ghantt (@DavidGhantt) is a man that still holds the record for the second largest bank heist on American Soil. The FBI continues to search for a missing $2 million from the theft. 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. Unfortunately, he failed to disable the third camera. Campbell used to work for Loomis and continued the friendship with Ghantt, eventually . 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. Elizabeth Poile was in 10th . From the beginning, the FBIs prime suspect was David Ghantt. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. 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.. 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. 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. The odds of you actually getting away with something these days is pretty damn slim. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! (I) bought jewelry, bought a van, Campbell recalled of her own spending. There is nothing of value in this movie. 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David Ghantt discovers the true meaning of adventure far beyond his wildest dreams. 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. All of the cash from the Loomis Fargo heist was recovered or accounted for, except for $2 million. 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. 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.. Then Michele made a trip to the bank. 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. He was angry a lot. 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. Some people screw up big like you, some people screw up small.". Former Cramerton Police Chief David Young soon got wind of the Chambers excessive spending spree and reached out to the FBI. Fed up, exhausted, and seeing a way out, Ghantt agreed. followed by "Don't worry, it is not drug money," the bank filled out a suspicious activity report, which ultimately reached the FBI. We were two paychecks away from being homeless at any given time.. 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. Youre better at planning bank heists than David Ghantt. You've decided to give up on a part of your life. After finding himself in prison he made a concious choice to do things differently. hbspt.cta.load(360031, '4efd5fbd-40d7-4b12-8674-6c4f312edd05', {}); Have any questions about this article or other topics? Ghantt added, I really enjoyed the movie. 2023 www.gastongazette.com. 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. David Scott Ghantt was the vault supervisor at the regional branch of Loomis, Fargo & Co. in Charlotte, North Carolina. Ghantt, who had been with the bank since 1994, was promoted from driver to vault supervisor in 1997, where he earned $360 a week and befriended Kelly Campbell (Wiig), who got Ghantt mixed up in the plans for the heist after she left Loomis. 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. Philosophically, now looking back I wouldnt be who I am now if I hadnt gone through all that, said David Scott Ghantt in an interview with the Observer. [citation needed], It was later confirmed by the FBI that more than 88% of the stolen cash had been located or otherwise accounted for. The plan to rob Loomis Fargo was spawned by Campbell and her friend Steve Chambers, during a casual bonfire at Chambers home. If so,check out some of these books on our AP History Exam reading list. Chambers was a small-time crook who suggested to Campbell that they rob Loomis Fargo. I didnt even have a real home life because I was never there. The missing couple were identified as David Harrison Robinson and his wife Lucretia Robinson. Q: You came to the North Carolina mountains during Hurricane Irma, but what do you miss about Gastonia? In fact, David Ghantt was about to commit the heist of a lifetime. Afterward, outside the courthouse, her parents said the length was about what she had expected. David Ghantt on stealing 17 million dollars from Loomis Fargo (Crime & Entertainment Full Interview) Crime & Entertainment 3.77K subscribers Subscribe 4.8K views 1 year ago David Ghantt. Besides wearing the ring, driving the BMW, and living in the new house, prosecutors say Michele Chambers helped others deposit millions of dollars in safe-deposit boxes in the area, and that she took $200,000 in cash into a Salisbury bank in November 1997 and came out with a $200,000 check. Guided by federal sentencing rules, prosecutors had requested a sentence of nine years for Michele Chambers. ', He explained the glorification and glamour often associated with bank heists and bank robberies in Hollywood films is far from reality. Jimmy Carter is a Liberal Saint Now, Was a War Criminal Then. On Oct. 4, 1997, former Kings Mountain resident David Scott Ghantt finished his shift as a vault supervisor for Loomis Fargo in Charlotte. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LCR9zyGkbo. 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 . 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. 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. 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. Q: You say your time in federal prison changed you. 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. Based on the October 1997 Loomis Fargo robbery. You take a movie like Oceans Eleven, the whole concept of that movie is so farfetched, its not even funny. So he hatched a plan to rob his employers. Too bad it was so poorly planned. They asked me how I felt about it and I said, Its my story, but its your movie so have at me. Authorities say Steve and Michele Chambers moved from a mobile home into a $635,000 house three weeks after the theft. Retro CharlotteFBI security footage of David Ghantt in the midst of the Loomis Fargo heist. Bubbling under the surface, however, was a deep frustration at the way he was treated. Before he decided to steal $17 million from the bank, Ghantt had worked for years as a relatively taciturn and compliant employee. 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. Everybody thinks being famous and being an actor is stupendous, and the money is fantastic, but they kind of live in afish bowl. Ill never pay it off on my paycheck, Ghantt said. While making only eight dollars an hour in his role as supervisor, Ghantt decided it was time to do something: I was unhappy with my life. 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. One day, Campbell was speaking to an old friend named Steve Chambers. 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. Project #ShowUs. Will Mcintyre/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images. Zach Galifianakis played David Scott Ghantt, with other roles played byOwen Wilson, Jason Sudeikis, Leslie Jones, Kristen Wiig and Kate McKinnon. Ghantts accomplices soon showed up but now they had another problem. Guess what? 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? 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. All rights reserved. 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.

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