Loomis Fargo Bank Robbery
Encyclopedia
The Loomis Fargo Bank Robbery was the $17.3 million cash
robbery
of the Charlotte, North Carolina
, regional office vault of Loomis Fargo & Company
on the evening of October 4, 1997, by armored car driver
and vault supervisor David Scott Ghantt. An FBI criminal investigation (which became international in scope) ultimately resulted in the arrest and conviction of eight people directly involved in the heist, as well as 16 others who had indirectly helped them, and the recovery of approximately 95% of the stolen money.
& Company dated back to 1852, Loomis Fargo & Company
was a recent creation. It was formed in 1997 by the consolidation of Wells Fargo Armored Service and Loomis Armored Inc.; the resulting corporation employed 8,500 people and provided armored transportation, cash handling services, and automatic teller machine maintenance. Its Charlotte office would be the victim of Ghantt and his confederates later that year.
The plan was for Ghantt to commit the actual robbery and then quickly leave the country for Mexico
- but to leave the bulk of the cash with Chambers. 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.
Chambers had no intention of wiring any money to Ghantt and intended to have him killed to keep him from implicating the others. Chambers had told Campbell to do whatever she needed to do to get Ghantt to commit the robbery. Campbell led Ghantt to think she loved him and they would flee to Mexico together, but she actually wanted to make a better life for herself in the U.S.
) into the back of a company van. Outside of 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. From there, the money was moved from the armored car to private vehicles. Then, keeping with the plan, Ghantt took $50,000 (the maximum that could be taken across the border by law without further authorization) with him and left for Mexico, winding up at the popular Yucatan Peninsula
resort of Cozumel
.
— a federal offense.
Investigators considered Ghantt to be the prime suspect almost from the beginning. 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. 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. Investigators also found Ghantt's pickup truck, abandoned at the warehouse. Inside the truck, they found Ghantt's ring and surmised this as a sign of Ghantt's intention to end his relationship with his wife.
Although the FBI investigation was able to quickly connect Ghantt to Campbell, connecting Ghantt to Chambers was a more difficult task. Tips had led the FBI to begin monitoring Chambers' (and his wife's) activities, but it was not until the FBI recorded a phone call
from Ghantt in Mexico that the final connection was made. By then, the FBI had become greatly concerned for Ghantt's personal safety; they had learned of Chambers' murder for hire scheme.
The FBI was inadvertently aided by the gang members' extravagant spending. 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. However, Chambers had no intention of following those rules, believing the FBI would never connect him to Ghantt. He and his wife, Michele, moved from their mobile home
in Lincoln County
to a luxury house in the wealthy Cramer Mountain section of Cramerton. They kept several furnishings from the previous owners, including a velvet Elvis
. They also bought a BMW Z3
with cash and made several large purchases, including a $600 statue of a Native American
. Campbell used part of her share of the money to buy a Toyota Sienna
minivan
in two cash installments.
An additional tip reached the FBI when Michelle Chambers made a large deposit at a bank. She had previously been making frequent small deposits to avert suspicion. But after one visit, she asked a teller "How much can I deposit before you have to report it to the feds?" followed by "Don't worry, it is not drug money
," the bank filled out a suspicious activity report
, which ultimately reached the FBI.
Ghantt's spending in Mexico was extravagant at first. He had stayed in a luxury hotel and paid for expensive food and activities such as scuba diving
and parasailing
. After reporting to Chambers that his supply of money was running low, Chambers sent Ghantt just $8,000. Ghantt, in order to conserve this money, curtailed his spending. He also took various measures to change his appearance, such as shaving
, after a patron at a restaurant pointed out to him that he "looked like the man who robbed a bank of $20 million."
, a resort near Cozumel. The next day, Steve and Michele Chambers, Campbell, and four other gang members were arrested. On March 12, a Charlotte grand jury indicted the eight people for bank larceny and money laundering
; the latter offense was included because of how they spent the stolen money. In addition, nine relatives and friends of the gang were charged with money laundering. They had co-signed for safe deposit box
es used to store some of the money. Prosecutors opted to charge them with money laundering since they felt the relatives and friends knew or should have known the money was obtained illegally. Using this logic, four other people were charged with money laundering.
All but one of the defendants pleaded guilty. The defendants received sentences ranging from probation for several relatives to 11 years and three months in federal prison for Steve Chambers. The only defendant to not plead guilty, Chambers' attorney Jeff Guller, was found guilty of money laundering and sentenced to eight years in prison. By comparison, Ghantt was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison. Michelle Chambers received a harsher sentence than Ghantt — seven years and eight months — because she had violated several bond conditions.
The defendants became the targets of many barbed jokes in Charlotte and across the country, in part because of their extravagant spending. 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. It was later confirmed by the FBI that more than 95 percent of the stolen cash had been located or otherwise accounted for.
In a related case, Jennifer and Jody Calloway, two relatives of a gang member's fiancée, stole some of the money and used it to start a fairly luxurious life in the Denver, North Carolina
area. Along with Jody's mother, they were charged with money laundering and possession of stolen property. At their 2001 trial, it emerged that Jody Calloway threatened to kill a business partner if he said anything about where his new wealth came from, and they had asked Jennifer's sister to lie on the witness stand. They were found guilty.
reported that Chambers has chosen to describe himself as "a retired criminal," and has begun employment at an undisclosed location. Chambers had pleaded guilty to 16 charges related to the theft.
or the storage facility of an armored car firm. This October 1997 Loomis Fargo Bank robbery of $17.3 million (95% recovered) is similar in size to the unrelated March 1997 Loomis Fargo armored car robbery by Philip N. Johnson
($18.8 million, 95% recovered) and the September 1997 Dunbar Armored robbery
($18.9 million, roughly 47% recovered - currently considered the "largest cash robbery" in U.S. history). These three robberies were the first to surpass the previous holder of the title "largest cash robbery" in U.S. history, the $7.1 million of the White Eagle robbery in September 1983.
Cash
In common language cash refers to money in the physical form of currency, such as banknotes and coins.In bookkeeping and finance, cash refers to current assets comprising currency or currency equivalents that can be accessed immediately or near-immediately...
robbery
Robbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear....
of the Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009...
, regional office vault of Loomis Fargo & Company
Loomis Fargo & Company
Loomis is an armored car company. The modern company was formed in 1997 by the consolidation of two armored security concerns, Wells Fargo Armored Service and Loomis Armored Inc...
on the evening of October 4, 1997, by armored car driver
Armored car (valuables)
A common meaning of armored car is as an armored van or truck, used in transporting valuables, such as large quantities of money . The armored car is a multifunctional vehicle designed to protect and ensure the well being of the transported individuals and/or contents...
and vault supervisor David Scott Ghantt. An FBI criminal investigation (which became international in scope) ultimately resulted in the arrest and conviction of eight people directly involved in the heist, as well as 16 others who had indirectly helped them, and the recovery of approximately 95% of the stolen money.
Company
Although the history of the predecessor Wells FargoWells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational diversified financial services company with operations around the world. Wells Fargo is the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by assets and the largest bank by market capitalization. Wells Fargo is the second largest bank in deposits, home...
& Company dated back to 1852, Loomis Fargo & Company
Loomis Fargo & Company
Loomis is an armored car company. The modern company was formed in 1997 by the consolidation of two armored security concerns, Wells Fargo Armored Service and Loomis Armored Inc...
was a recent creation. It was formed in 1997 by the consolidation of Wells Fargo Armored Service and Loomis Armored Inc.; the resulting corporation employed 8,500 people and provided armored transportation, cash handling services, and automatic teller machine maintenance. Its Charlotte office would be the victim of Ghantt and his confederates later that year.
Planning
Ghantt had struck up a relationship with a fellow Loomis Fargo employee, Kelly Campbell; they continued to maintain contact even after Campbell left the company. In August 1997, Campbell informed Ghantt about an old high school friend of hers named Steve Chambers, who could assist Ghantt to execute a massive cash robbery of the Loomis Fargo vault in one night. Chambers had broached the possibility of a robbery to Campbell earlier in the summer.The plan was for Ghantt to commit the actual robbery and then quickly leave the country for Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
- but to leave the bulk of the cash with Chambers. 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.
Chambers had no intention of wiring any money to Ghantt and intended to have him killed to keep him from implicating the others. Chambers had told Campbell to do whatever she needed to do to get Ghantt to commit the robbery. Campbell led Ghantt to think she loved him and they would flee to Mexico together, but she actually wanted to make a better life for herself in the U.S.
Heist
With the plan in place, Ghantt sent a newly hired employee he had been assigned to train home early (reportedly, at 6 p.m.) and then proceeded to load a little more than $17.3 million in cash (approximately $11 million of which was in $20 billsUnited States twenty-dollar bill
The United States twenty-dollar bill is a denomination of United States currency. U.S. President Andrew Jackson is currently featured on the front side of the bill, which is why the twenty-dollar bill is often called a "Jackson," while the White House is featured on the reverse side.The...
) into the back of a company van. Outside of 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. From there, the money was moved from the armored car to private vehicles. Then, keeping with the plan, Ghantt took $50,000 (the maximum that could be taken across the border by law without further authorization) with him and left for Mexico, winding up at the popular Yucatan Peninsula
Yucatán Peninsula
The Yucatán Peninsula, in southeastern Mexico, separates the Caribbean Sea from the Gulf of Mexico, with the northern coastline on the Yucatán Channel...
resort of Cozumel
Cozumel
Cozumel is an island in the Caribbean Sea off the eastern coast of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, opposite Playa del Carmen, and close to the Yucatan Channel. Cozumel is one of the ten municipalities of the state of Quintana Roo...
.
Ghantt as prime suspect
Loomis Fargo employees could not open the vault the next morning, and called the police. The police almost immediately called the FBI, since 95% of the money handled at the facility was owned by banks. This technically made it a bank robberyBank robbery
Bank robbery is the crime of stealing from a bank during opening hours. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reporting Program, robbery is "the taking or attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody, or control of a person or persons by force or threat of...
— a federal offense.
Investigators considered Ghantt to be the prime suspect almost from the beginning. 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. 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. Investigators also found Ghantt's pickup truck, abandoned at the warehouse. Inside the truck, they found Ghantt's ring and surmised this as a sign of Ghantt's intention to end his relationship with his wife.
Although the FBI investigation was able to quickly connect Ghantt to Campbell, connecting Ghantt to Chambers was a more difficult task. Tips had led the FBI to begin monitoring Chambers' (and his wife's) activities, but it was not until the FBI recorded a phone call
Lawful interception
Lawful interception is obtaining communications network data pursuant to lawful authority for the purpose of analysis or evidence. Such data generally consist of signalling or network management information or, in fewer instances, the content of the communications...
from Ghantt in Mexico that the final connection was made. By then, the FBI had become greatly concerned for Ghantt's personal safety; they had learned of Chambers' murder for hire scheme.
The FBI was inadvertently aided by the gang members' extravagant spending. 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. However, Chambers had no intention of following those rules, believing the FBI would never connect him to Ghantt. He and his wife, Michele, moved from their mobile home
Mobile home
Mobile homes or static caravans are prefabricated homes built in factories, rather than on site, and then taken to the place where they will be occupied...
in Lincoln County
Lincoln County, North Carolina
-Demographics:As of the census of 2010, there were 71,498 people, 24,041 households, and 18,174 families residing in the county. The population density was 214 people per square mile . There were 25,717 housing units at an average density of 86 per square mile...
to a luxury house in the wealthy Cramer Mountain section of Cramerton. They kept several furnishings from the previous owners, including a velvet Elvis
Velvet Elvis
A Velvet Elvis is a painting of Elvis Presley on velvet. It typically represents a costumed torso of Elvis holding a microphone, painted on black velvet...
. They also bought a BMW Z3
BMW Z3
The BMW Z3 was the first modern mass-market roadster produced by BMW, as well as the first new BMW model assembled in the United States. The Z3 was introduced as a 1996 model year vehicle, shortly after being featured in the James Bond movie,...
with cash and made several large purchases, including a $600 statue of a Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
. Campbell used part of her share of the money to buy a Toyota Sienna
Toyota Sienna
The Toyota Sienna is a family minivan currently manufactured by Toyota at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana in Princeton, Indiana, United States for the North American market. It replaced the first-generation Previa van in 1997 with a more conventional front wheel drive layout and shares a heavily...
minivan
Minivan
Minivan is a type of van designed for personal use. Minivans are typically either two-box or one box designs for maximum interior volume – and are taller than a sedan, hatchback, or a station wagon....
in two cash installments.
An additional tip reached the FBI when Michelle Chambers made a large deposit at a bank. She had previously been making frequent small deposits to avert suspicion. But after one visit, she asked a teller "How much can I deposit before you have to report it to the feds?" followed by "Don't worry, it is not drug money
Money laundering
Money laundering is the process of disguising illegal sources of money so that it looks like it came from legal sources. The methods by which money may be laundered are varied and can range in sophistication. Many regulatory and governmental authorities quote estimates each year for the amount...
," the bank filled out a suspicious activity report
Suspicious activity report
In United States financial regulation, a suspicious activity report is a report made by a financial institution to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network , an agency of the United States Department of the Treasury, regarding suspicious or potentially suspicious activity.The purpose of a...
, which ultimately reached the FBI.
Ghantt's spending in Mexico was extravagant at first. He had stayed in a luxury hotel and paid for expensive food and activities such as scuba diving
Scuba diving
Scuba diving is a form of underwater diving in which a diver uses a scuba set to breathe underwater....
and parasailing
Parasailing
Parasailing, also known as parascending, or "parakiting" is a recreational kiting activity where a person is towed behind a vehicle while attached to a specially designed canopy wing that reminds one of a parachute, known as a parasail wing...
. After reporting to Chambers that his supply of money was running low, Chambers sent Ghantt just $8,000. Ghantt, in order to conserve this money, curtailed his spending. He also took various measures to change his appearance, such as shaving
Shaving
Shaving is the removal of hair, by using a razor or any other kind of bladed implement, to slice it down to the level of the skin. Shaving is most commonly practiced by men to remove their facial hair and by women to remove their leg and underarm hair...
, after a patron at a restaurant pointed out to him that he "looked like the man who robbed a bank of $20 million."
Arrests, trials, and convictions
After successfully tracing Ghantt's phone call, FBI agents and Mexican police arrested Ghantt on March 1, 1998 at Playa del CarmenPlaya del Carmen
Playa del Carmen is a balneario resort city just south of Cancún on the coast of the Caribbean Sea, in the northeast of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. The city is the seat of the Solidaridad municipality. In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 149,923 people and it is rapidly growing...
, a resort near Cozumel. The next day, Steve and Michele Chambers, Campbell, and four other gang members were arrested. On March 12, a Charlotte grand jury indicted the eight people for bank larceny and money laundering
Money laundering
Money laundering is the process of disguising illegal sources of money so that it looks like it came from legal sources. The methods by which money may be laundered are varied and can range in sophistication. Many regulatory and governmental authorities quote estimates each year for the amount...
; the latter offense was included because of how they spent the stolen money. In addition, nine relatives and friends of the gang were charged with money laundering. They had co-signed for safe deposit box
Safe deposit box
A safe deposit box or wrongly referred to as a safety deposit box is an individually-secured container, usually held within a larger safe or bank vault. Safe deposit boxes are generally located in banks, post offices or other institutions...
es used to store some of the money. Prosecutors opted to charge them with money laundering since they felt the relatives and friends knew or should have known the money was obtained illegally. Using this logic, four other people were charged with money laundering.
All but one of the defendants pleaded guilty. The defendants received sentences ranging from probation for several relatives to 11 years and three months in federal prison for Steve Chambers. The only defendant to not plead guilty, Chambers' attorney Jeff Guller, was found guilty of money laundering and sentenced to eight years in prison. By comparison, Ghantt was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison. Michelle Chambers received a harsher sentence than Ghantt — seven years and eight months — because she had violated several bond conditions.
The defendants became the targets of many barbed jokes in Charlotte and across the country, in part because of their extravagant spending. For a time, it was nicknamed "the hillbilly
Hillbilly
Hillbilly is a term referring to certain people who dwell in rural, mountainous areas of the United States, primarily Appalachia but also the Ozarks. Owing to its strongly stereotypical connotations, the term is frequently considered derogatory, and so is usually offensive to those Americans of...
heist" because nearly all of the major players in the case came from small towns around Charlotte. It was later confirmed by the FBI that more than 95 percent of the stolen cash had been located or otherwise accounted for.
In a related case, Jennifer and Jody Calloway, two relatives of a gang member's fiancée, stole some of the money and used it to start a fairly luxurious life in the Denver, North Carolina
Denver, North Carolina
Denver, formerly known as "Dry Pond," is an unincorporated community located in Lincoln County in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is situated on North Carolina State Highway 16 on the west side of Lake Norman on the Catawba River...
area. Along with Jody's mother, they were charged with money laundering and possession of stolen property. At their 2001 trial, it emerged that Jody Calloway threatened to kill a business partner if he said anything about where his new wealth came from, and they had asked Jennifer's sister to lie on the witness stand. They were found guilty.
Chambers released from prison
Chambers finished serving his sentence in November 2006. In February 2007, the Associated PressAssociated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
reported that Chambers has chosen to describe himself as "a retired criminal," and has begun employment at an undisclosed location. Chambers had pleaded guilty to 16 charges related to the theft.
Comparison to other robberies
As of 2010, the three largest cash robberies ever committed on American soil were all carried out in 1997. In all three robberies, the target was an armored carArmored car (valuables)
A common meaning of armored car is as an armored van or truck, used in transporting valuables, such as large quantities of money . The armored car is a multifunctional vehicle designed to protect and ensure the well being of the transported individuals and/or contents...
or the storage facility of an armored car firm. This October 1997 Loomis Fargo Bank robbery of $17.3 million (95% recovered) is similar in size to the unrelated March 1997 Loomis Fargo armored car robbery by Philip N. Johnson
Philip N. Johnson
Philip Noel Johnson was an armored car driver employed by Loomis Fargo & Company in Jacksonville, Florida. On March 29, 1997, Johnson pulled off what was then the largest cash heist in U.S. history, taking $18.8 million from the armored vehicle he was driving....
($18.8 million, 95% recovered) and the September 1997 Dunbar Armored robbery
Dunbar Armored robbery
The Dunbar Armored robbery is the largest cash robbery to have occurred in the United States. It occurred in 1997 at the Dunbar Armored facility in Los Angeles, California. The thieves made off with some US$18.9 million....
($18.9 million, roughly 47% recovered - currently considered the "largest cash robbery" in U.S. history). These three robberies were the first to surpass the previous holder of the title "largest cash robbery" in U.S. history, the $7.1 million of the White Eagle robbery in September 1983.
Media portrayals
- The Loomis Fargo Bank Robbery was re-enacted on the docudrama series The FBI FilesThe FBI FilesThe FBI Files is an American television docudrama series that originally ran from 1998 to 2006. It was carried by the Discovery Channel cable network and produced by New Dominion Pictures of Suffolk, Virginia...
in a two-part episode entitled "The Un-perfect Crime." This case was also depicted in an episode of MastermindsMasterminds (Canadian TV series)Masterminds was a true crime documentary television series produced in Canada with truTV .As of February 2011, the program is broadcast on History Television and Global TV in Canada and truTV in the United States....
.
- It was also the subject of the book Heist!: The $17 Million Loomis Fargo Theft (ISBN 0895872528) by Jeff Diamant (published September 2002). Diamant was a Charlotte Observer newspaper reporter working in their Gaston County bureau when the theft took place.
See also
- List of famous bank robbers and robberies
- Criminal conspiracyConspiracy (crime)In the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement...
- Crime in the United StatesCrime in the United StatesCrime statistics for the United States are published annually by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the Uniform Crime Reports which represents crimes reported to the police...