it was more cash than any of them could have imagined. they didn t fully understand how much cash was in the loomis facility when they took it. transferring the money from the back of the van, they were putting it in three blue barrels. steve got an idea if they got stopped for speeding or a vehicle stop of any kind, he would look like he was hauling off three barrels of dog food, which in retrospect doesn t make sense, who has three barrels of dog food on midnight on saturday night? based on a lot of time trying to work their way down the currency, when the barrels were full, they left about $3.3 million behind. when police and fbi responded to the robbery the next day, the only employee not to show up for work is vault supervisor david ghantt. authorities have been looking for 27-year-old david scott ghantt, guard and driver here, who the fbi now consider a suspect. david, you know that i love
currency. that conclusively tied that deposit and that currency to the loomis fargo theft. we just needed to find a connection between david scott ghantt and steve and michelle chambers. it was obvious from evidence collected at the scene david scott ghantt was the person who removed the money, but we didn t know if it was by course or his own free will, and once we took a closer look at kelly campbell, stories weren t matching up. police identified kelly campbell early on as a suspect. she used to work at loomis fargo, and she is a known acquaintance of david ghantt. fbi agents questioned campbell at her home, but she admits nothing. kelly said she hadn t stayed in touch with him, kelly said she wasn t very close to him. we had a conflicting report that said otherwise. we knew something was amiss, something was awry with kelly campbell. coming up, the fbi taps the phone of campbell and chambers and realizes that david ghantt s life is in immediate danger.
it s 8:00 p.m., saturday, october 4th, 1997, charlotte, north carolina. loomis fargo vault supervisor david ghantt has just stolen more than $17 million. at the time, it s the second largest cash heist in u.s. history, but david ghantt has a big problem. despite having successfully loaded more than a ton of money into an unmarked van, ghantt cannot get the back gates of the loomis fargo facility open, a flaw in the security system keeps the gates locked. despite his best efforts to force them open, nothing happens. instead, he will have to move the unmarked van to the front gates of the building and will have to move two vehicles blocking that gate in order to get out. lying low just outside are
you, that your family loves you, my family loves you. we believe that you are the victim here, david, and we stand by you 100%. while ghantt s friends and family members plead for his safe return, the stolen money is taken to steve chambers mobile him in a trailer park in nearby gastonia. imagine sitting on $14 million, and you struggle just buying your groceries, so you think having $14 million is going to be great. you still have a logistical problem of sitting on all this cash. what happens when someone breaks in? what happens if the trailer catches on fire? what happens if there s a problem at home and an ambulance comes or the police knock on the door? you can t hide this. chambers recruits several friends and family members to open safety deposit boxes at area banks. the new accomplices then stuff the containers full of bills and
hear david ghantt pleading with kelly campbell to send more money. she says she will, but first she has to know where he is. and he says to her, cozumel, and we hear kelly ask him, cozu-who? cozumel. and the plan unhatches very quickly. we re picking up these phone calls on how they are going to send someone to kill him. realizing who david ghantt put $17 million in trust in are going to kill him at any moment, the fbi tracks down and arrests david ghantt. he called out to me and said, please, tell me you re an fbi agent. david thought he was somebody that he wasn t, and david wanted to be somebody that he wasn t, but david was still david, big dreamer, thought he could pull off one of the greatest heists in the history of the country, but couldn t. the following morning, the fbi moves in and arrests the