The true story behind masterminds is too stupid to be true.
When they acquired Wells Fargo Armored, they changed their name to Loomis, Fargo & Co.
After Kelly Campbell left the bank, Ghantt was promoted to vault supervisor, where he earned $360 a week and befriended her.Although she denies an affair, FBI phone taps have proved otherwise, according to an article written for AMW Magazine.
There are two ways in which the plan was created.In 1997 the largest cash robbery in history took place within the same company.In Florida, a Loomis Fargo employee pulled a gun on his coworkers and got away with $18 million, and FBI agents theorize that Ghantt, Campbell and other employees all sat around talking about what they would do with that amount of money.
When Campbell mentioned that she had a high school friend with connections that could actually get it done, the conversations became more than just daydreams.
According to the other, Campbell created the plan with Steve Chambers, a drug dealer who was facing charges for writing $30,000 worth of bad checks, and later got Ghantt involved.
Steve Chambers and a group of friends would set the plan in motion.According to Diamant, who would go on to write a book about it, Ghantt didn't actually meet Chambers until the night of the robbery.
He was unable to support his family because he couldn't make his credit card payments.Campbell had a desire to experience what it was like to be rich according to an Observer article.
The plan was for Ghantt to go to work, leave at the same time as the last employee and return to the vault, where he would load carts with bags of money before putting them into a van.He would meet Campbell, Chambers and Grant in a parking lot, where they would head to an industrial warehouse and load all but $50,000 into a rental van.Campbell would stay in Mexico with Ghantt until it was safe to come back.
It happened on a Saturday.He went to his car with three other employees and then back to the depository, where he propped the door open.He put the $17 million in bags that weighed more than 2,700 pounds into carts and into a van.He went into his manager's office to get rid of the tapes from the security cameras.
After the money was handed off, Ghantt and Campbell made their way to the Columbia airport with $50,000 and an intent to make it to Mexico by the next day, but Chambers took care of things in Charlotte until it was safe to come back.
If they had called ahead, they would have known that there were no international flights from Columbia to Mexico.
The money had been moved into barrels and into another van after Chambers told Ghantt to head to Atlanta and catch a flight.Chambers, along with two other people, made their way to Vale in order to put the barrels in his home, but left behind a staggering $3.3 million that didn't fit and two security tapes.
The CMPD found his truck in the parking lot after his wife reported him missing.His keys, wedding ring, and other personal items were inside.On October 6, they found the van with everything Chambers had left behind, including Ghantt's gun and a clear picture of his face on video, which was identified by supervisors.
Chambers and his wife deposited money into their bank accounts.Thank you for the federal suspicious activity report.The family moved from a double-wide to a 7,000- square-foot home in a gated country club community.This was seven times larger than their trailer, according to an Observer report.Other notable purchases included a diamond ring for themselves, tanning beds, and big-screen TVs for their home, as well as breast implants for Chambers' wife.Their combined salaries were less than $42,000.
Eric Payne took a three week vacation, had his wife quit her job as a receptionist, and bought a new trailer and big screen TV.
Chambers' wife once walked into a Wachovia with $200,000 and officials suspected that the extravagant purchases were the result of the fact that all involved got far more money than they anticipated.