| Loomis Fargo Bank Robbery |
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THE HEIST With the plan in place, Ghantt proceeded on the evening of October 4 to rob the vault; he 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 Bills ) 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 rural location where most of the money was moved from the armored car to private vehicles. Then, keeping with the plan, Ghantt took $25,000 with him and left for Mexico, winding up at a resort in the Yucatan Peninsula . THE FBI INVESTIGATION Ghantt as prime suspect The FBI considered Ghantt to be the prime suspect almost from the beginning; video tapes 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 in the back of van the cash that they could not take with them. Although the FBI investigation was able to quickly connect Ghantt to Campbell, connecting Ghantt to Chambers was a more difficult task. {Link without Title} Tips had lead the FBI to begin monitoring Chamber's (and his wife's) activities, but it was not until the FBI Recorded A Phone Call from Mexico (from Ghantt) that the final connection was made. By then, the FBI had become greatly concerned for Ghantt's personal safety; their investigation had lead them to believe that Campbell was planning (via a Murder-for-hire scheme) to have Ghantt killed in Mexico. The arrests, trials, and convictions After successfully tracing Ghantt's phone call, on March 1, 1998, Ghantt was arrested at a resort near Cozumel , Quintana Roo , Mexico by agents of the FBI; the next day, Steven Chambers (and ultimately 24 total gang members) were arrested after a lengthy investigation which had extensively utilized Wiretaps and had become international in scope. [http://www.gastongazette.com/showStory.aspx?id=1308 All 24 gang members were convicted, and it was later confirmed by the FBI that more than 95 percent of the stolen cash had been located or otherwise accounted for. {Link without Title} Chambers released from prison In February 2007, the Associated Press reported that former ring-leader Steven Chambers (upon being recently released from federal prison) 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. .. {Link without Title} COMPARISON TO OTHER ROBBERIES In 1997, it was considered the "second largest cash robbery" in United States History ; it followed the $18.9 million cash Dunbar Robbery (which had occurred in September 1997, one month earlier). As Of 2007 , the Dunbar robbery is considered the "largest cash robbery" in U.S. history. MEDIA PORTRAYALS
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