With a cast like this, and Emily Spivey (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Up All Night) as part of the writing team, Masterminds shouldnt be nearly as obnoxious and dull as it is, but nothing ever clicks. Its a farce that never farces; a comedy without jokes. Defense lawyer Andy Culler sought a seven-year, three-month sentence. 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. Its heavy. From Oct. 6 through Feb. 20, the couple made 47 deposits totaling $271,500 at a Belmont bank, and at. 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. We would like to show you a description here but the site won't allow us. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LCR9zyGkbo. Now looking back, with the life I have now, Ive got a great family, got a great kid. VIDEO. Before he decided to steal $17 million from the bank, Ghantt had worked for years as a relatively taciturn and compliant employee. He completed his prison sentence in November 2006. David Ghantt discovers the true meaning of adventure far beyond his wildest dreams. They would then load as much cash as they could carry into a van. Ghantt sent home a new employee and quickly loaded the money into the back of a bank van. As Predators' David Poile braces for retirement, his wife reveals their love story. Ghantt and his compatriots, it turns out, had underestimated how bulky money is. Most high schools offer a variety of history classes, so make sure youre taking the right ones for you. I knew it was over then, Ghantt said. Q: You came to the North Carolina mountains during Hurricane Irma, but what do you miss about Gastonia? Q: North Carolina native Zach Galifianakis portrayed you in "Masterminds." 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. I knew that if we could stay off the radar for about a year, we could basically live a vacation life, Ghantt said. Meanwhile, Ghantt would take $50,000, as much as could legally be carried across the border without questions, and flee to Mexico. And with that, David Ghantt took off for Mexico. Ghantt was already married when he took part in the heist, to a woman named Tammy - who author Diamant described as "very nice." It is true, however, that she had no idea about the plot and that. I started just chucking it as fast as I could, he said, adding the sweat was pouring off of me.. After this look at David Ghantt and the Loomis Fargo heist, read about a more successful robbery, the Antwerp diamond heist. [15], "David Ghantt" redirects here. Masterminds is an atrociously bad comedy, and absolutely everyone is to blame. 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. His wife, they said, got breast implants and used cash to purchase a 1998 BMW Z3 sports car. Its easy to get somebody to do something if you know that they are that infatuated with you.. A former co-worker told me, "Everybody has screwed up. Because the money in the vault was largely from banks, the crime was technically a bank robbery and thus a federal offense. 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. Three of the 21 defendants in the case haven't been sentenced. The problem with the movie, however, is that the talented cast had no idea what the hell they were trying to do. Based on a true story, the premise itself is fascinating, which makes Masterminds all the more a waste. Ghantt reported to Chambers that his supply of money was running low, but Chambers sent Ghantt just $8,000. A lot of people ask me, Oh, do you have any regrets? No, not really. Do you still have contact with him? afficher des publicits et des contenus personnaliss en fonction de vos profils de centres dintrt; mesurer lefficacit des publicits et contenus personnaliss; et. 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. And so this third camera caught everything that happened next. Both were involved in the second-largest cash heist in U.S. history, in which a group of people stole $17 million from the. You may email him here, follow him on Twitter, or listen to his weekly TV podcast, Podjiba. 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. I felt cornered and one day the joking in the break room about robbing the place suddenly didnt seem so far-fetched.. CREATIVE. C hristopher David Ghantt Phone Numbers (704) 678-8911. ``I'm glad she didn't get nine years,' said Sandra Floyd, her mother. 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. Check out our top-rated graduate blogs here: PrepScholar 2013-2018. From there, the money was moved from the company vehicle to private vehicles. This Wednesday marks the 20th anniversary of the notorious Loomis Fargo heist. 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. Meanwhile, David Ghantt was relaxing on a beach in Cozumel, Mexico. But neither of those things would matter after he met Kelly Campbell. Chambers had broached the possibility of a robbery to Campbell earlier in the summer. Our new student and parent forum, at ExpertHub.PrepScholar.com, allow you to interact with your peers and the PrepScholar staff. And Ghantt hadnt really thought about the physical challenge of moving such a large sum of money. Chambers served 11 years before being released. Going to prison helped me grow up as a human being. Thirteen friends and family members were also charged with money laundering, as they had helped Ghantt, Chambers, Campbell, and the others deposit money illegally. Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. Playing upon David's obvious feelings for her, Kelly is the . 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. his wife-to-be. [citation needed], The defendants were the targets of many barbed jokes in Charlotte and across the country, in part because of their extravagant spending. 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. When Ghantt called Chambers to have the latter wire him more money, Chambers sent just a few thousand dollars. For Christmas, Steve Chambers gave his wife a $43,000 diamond ring. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Whisler said he didn't think those factors should result in a reduced sentence. Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! 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. I got no real complaints, not at this point., The heist became the premise for the movie,Masterminds, released in September 2016. Sign up forOxygen Insiderfor all the best true crime content. The next day, Steve and Michelle Chambers, Kelly Campbell, and four others were arrested.[6]. 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. David Ghantt was portrayed by Zackary Hatfield. The Proposed TikTok Ban Goes Too Far. Working by himself, Ghantt would commit the robbery and then flee for Mexico, leaving the bulk of the cash with Chambers. Q: How do you tell prospective employers you once stole $17 million? However, the fact that a man who formerly lived in a mobile home was lavishly spending money on a luxury home ($635,000 in cash), expensive cars, and a ring ($42,000 in cash) eventually made it easy to connect the dots. 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 plan went off with few problems, but after Ghantt was safely in Mexico, his partners were left storing large amounts of cash. But before thehit could be carried out, the FBI swooped in and arrested Ghantt and the others. 33. Will Mcintyre/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty ImagesMichele Chambers 1998 BMW for sale following the prosecutions of the Loomis Fargo heist conspirators. Chambers and his wife Michele moved out of a trailer and into a luxury mansion in a nice neighborhood. Said Ghantt, one day life kinda slapped me in the face. That 3-carat ring came back to haunt Michele Chambers at Tuesday's hearing. 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. So he hatched a plan to rob his employers. 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 . 5 min read. Kelly Campbell is scheduled to be sentenced in October. 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. The pair were both from the United States but had lived in the Peloponnese region of Greece for the past few years. . Even though they drove away with less than they had initially intended, they still had more than $17 million in hand. The couple was married for 22 years before her untimely death in 2012. Afterward, outside the courthouse, her parents said the length was about what she had expected. And it didn't take long to figure out that this was not the place for me. 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. The thieves had simply abandoned whatever they couldnt carry away. David Bragg . Chambers promised to wire him money in Mexico until the investigation blew over and Ghantt could return to . Just days after agreeing to the plan, the group set a day to carry out the robbery. Separating the Red and Blue. Two days after the heist, the FBI found the missing van with $3.3 million of cash left in it. They also bought a BMW Z3 with cash and made several large purchases, including a $600 cigar store Indian. Michelle Chambers received a harsher sentence than Ghantt seven years and eight months because she had violated several bond conditions. David Ghantt spent 11 years in the military and now works as a film consultant on the side. 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.". 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. ``I wish she'd gotten less. More than 2 million dollars is still missing to this day. Did you know that the SAT offers subject exams, too? 20 years ago, on the night of October 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. Chambers would hold on to most of the remaining cash and wire it to Ghantt as needed. Michele Chambers 1998 BMW for sale following the prosecutions of the Loomis Fargo heist conspirators. A: I hate to think about what I'd be doing if I hadn't gotten caught. 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. I got to eat my meal perfectly, but every 5 minutes, someone wanted to shoot a selfie with Zach or an autograph from Zach. All rights reserved. Thats the big thing. David Scott Ghantt Ghantt, his former co-worker Kelly Campbell and her friends Steve and Michelle Chambers carried out the Loomis Fargo heist on Oct. 4, 1997. Lindy Hop: The Dance That Defined The Golden Age of Jazz, Inside The Unsolved Disappearance Of Jennifer Kesse, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch, David Ghantt attends the 2016 after party for the Hollywood premiere of. 43-year-old Margret and her mother both died in 2012 . 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. While Ghantt spent more than 6 1/2 years in federal prison, he said he usedthat time to"re-invent" himself.