
Loading summary
A
I love how easy summer feels, especially when the days get relaxed and I can just reach for the same comfortable go anywhere clothing over and over. That's why I'm always turning to quints. They focus on well made essentials that naturally become those everyday staples you actually live in all season long. For me, the piece that changed how I get dressed this summer is their 100% European linen shirt. It's so breathable and effortless, making it a total wardrobe upgrade starting at just $34. Their T shirts are soft enough to live in all day and have been wearing their lightweight cotton sweaters when the summer nights cool down. Because they partner directly with ethical factories and cut out the middlemen, Quint's prices everything 50 to 80% less than similar brands. They also do amazing home and travel gear make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to quint.com GoneSouth for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's quince.com GoneSouth for free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com GoneSouth this message is sponsored by Greenlight Every true crime story has money somewhere in the mix. Growing up, I blew years worth of paychecks on stuff I didn't need because nobody taught me how to manage it. Without financial literacy, kids and teens can easily become targets for scammers. But Greenlight helps keep your family's safety from becoming another cautionary tale. Greenlight is an award winning money app and debit card for kids and teens that helps parents raise financially smart kids. Instead of handing over cash and losing visibility, Greenlight lets you set flexible spending controls and send money quickly to your child's wallet. Parents and kids invest together and you get real time notifications to guide their choices. Plus, Greenlight includes SOS alerts, crash detection and identity monitoring to protect your family from real world risks. Join the millions of parents and kids using Greenlight to build real money confidence. Every day they're handling money without guidance is a missed opportunity. Start your risk free Greenlight trial today@greenlight.com GoneSouth don't wait to teach your kids real world money skills. That's greenlight.com gonesouth to get started greenlight.com gonesouth jeff dimon started his career as a county government reporter from for the Palm Beach Post. But in the itinerant world of newspaper journalism, he quickly found another job as a crime reporter for the Charlotte Observer. Jeff was stationed at the Papers bureau in Gaston County, a working class area just across the Catawba river from Charlotte, but a world away in terms of income and ambition. He'd been with the paper for just over a year when he got word that the vault at loomis Fargo Company, an armored car facility on the western edge of Charlotte, had been robbed.
B
We learned that it was $17 million that had been stolen and that a van had been found a few miles away with about 3.3 million in it. Which meant that about 14 million was still lost and nobody knew where it was.
A
But Loomis Fargo and the police had a good idea of who'd stolen it. There had been only one employee on duty the night the money vanished. More importantly, that employee, who happened to be the vault supervisor, was captured stealing the money on one of the company's security cameras. The employee's name was David Gant.
B
Lewis Fargo had three security cameras. David Gant stole two of them, not knowing that there was also a third. And of course, the third one is what the FBI was able to look at the day after the crime occurred.
A
David Gant was a 27 year old Gulf War veteran from, from a place called King's Mountain, which straddled the Gaston and Cleveland county lines and thus fell squarely into Jeff's beat. Gant had fled the scene and authorities suspected he may have fled the country. So Jeff dropped by the mobile home David shared with his wife to see if he could get a quote.
B
Me and another reporter went to David Gant's home, knocked on the door and were very politely told to get lost. For obvious reasons, they were very upset. The news had just come out about him. No one knew what had happened to him and none of his relatives wanted to talk to us. So we kind of returned back to the newsroom with very little except for a general depiction of where he lived.
A
The theft of $17 million from an armored car warehouse was a massive story. It was the second biggest heist in US history behind the $18.8 million theft of an armored car by another Loomis Fargo employee just six months earlier. Because most of the money in the vault belonged to banks, it was technically a bank robbery, which made it a federal crime. The FBI quickly took over from the Charlotte police. But for the next five months, there wasn't much for Jeff and the media to report. Locals could only speculate where David Gant and the money had gone and who, if anyone, had helped them. But then in early March of 1998, the FBI arrested the seven main co conspirators, including Gant. Over the next few days, more than 20 others were taken into custody. The indictments described a brazen heist that was undone not by detectives so much as the people who'd pulled it off.
B
It immediately became clear what a crazy story this was. The moment I recall most vividly is standing on the courthouse steps reading through a rather large affidavit that detailed the fact that after the crime, one of David's conspirators had driven him to the airport in Columbia, South Carolina, but they hadn't bought a ticket for him. This absolutely blew me away. Furthermore, the airport they drove to was closed for the evening, so they hadn't even planned his getaway in a thoughtful way.
A
But as Jeff would discover, the botched getaway was just the beginning. The entire scheme was a tale of greed, poorly executed plans, and bizarre decisions. It would come to be known as the Hillbilly Heist. I'm Jed Lipinski. This is Gone South. Jeff diamond had read hundreds of police reports and court documents and his time as a crime reporter for the Charlotte Observer. But nothing came close to what the FBI and federal prosecutors had compiled about the lumas Fargo Heist. 24 people had been charged in connection with the robbery. Affidavits, search warrant filings, and transcripts of FBI wiretaps outlined every twist and turn of the case. Jeff would ultimately interview most of the co conspirators himself, some in prison, others at home as they awaited sentencing. He came away with an almost visceral understanding of how the heist was planned and how it all fell apart.
B
There were three main people in this case. David Gant, Kelly Campbell and Steve Chambers. Steve and Kelly lived in a town called Mount Holly, which was just outside of Charlotte, and they'd been friends for a long time. David and Kelly, on the other hand, had met while they were both working at Loomis Fargo, basically helping to transport the money from place to place.
A
Of these main three characters, Steve Chambers was the only one with a criminal record. He was a bookmaker and small time loan shark who'd been charged a few years before with writing $30,000 worth of bad checks. Jeff never got a chance to talk to him, but people who knew Steve said he fancied himself as a character out of a Martin Scorsese movie.
B
He talked the FBI a good deal, but the people who knew him, who I did talk to, said that he was somebody who loved Mafia movies and would take on the cadences of the main characters as his own. So he would say things like, don't tell nobody nothing or never use the phone, which are some of the lessons of Goodfellas, if you're into this type of thing.
A
As Jeff learned, the heist first lurched into motion in late 1996 during a barbecue at the mobile home Steve shared with his wife. Kelly Campbell, who had recently left her job driving an armored car for Loomis Fargo, was drinking a beer when Steve approached her and asked if it was possible to steal from the place.
B
For people who work at an armored car company, this type of conversation is not uncommon. The money is just right in there in front of you. There are a ton of security measures to prevent it from happening, such as there being two people with the money at all times. And of course, now the technology for surveillance is much more effective, I'm sure, than it was 25 years ago when this happened. But back then, it was probably easier to imagine being able to get away with this.
A
Kelly dismissed the idea. At first, she thought Steve was just goofing around. But in the months after the barbecue, Steve persisted. At one point, he proposed placing a fake hand grenade on a Loomis truck to scare the drivers away. Kelly said it was too dangerous and that the heist wouldn't work. But she slowly came around. Her marriage was on the rocks, she hated her new job, and she believed that with the help of her friend and former co worker David Gant, they might actually be able to pull it off.
B
And so what happened was Kelly approached David and said, what would it take you to, you know, steal from Loomis Fargo? And David was, you know, again, as Kelly had been to Steve, David was initially dismissive of this whole thing. But one of the undercurrents of his life had been disappointment. His parents had shopped at JC Penney. He himself, he shopped at Walmart. He said there was nothing wrong with shopping at Walmart, but he wanted to be able to do a little bit more than that. Charlotte back then was experiencing a lot of economic growth, and a lot of people that he knew were doing very well financially. And these were people who he thought he was every bit as smart as. And so he'd wonder to himself, why hasn't this worked out for me? Where did I go wrong?
A
The turning point, Jeff says, came when David took a look at his credit card bill, did the math on the minimum payments, and realized it would take him another 30 years to pay it all off.
B
And at that moment, he became a lot closer to actually doing it. And then when Kelly called him up the next time, he basically said he was willing to do it.
A
Steve Chambers led the planning. One of his conditions was that he and David never meet in person, so that if they were caught, they. They wouldn't be able to identify each other. In fact, David didn't even know Steve's name. David communicated with him solely through Kelly. David had never committed a crime before, but he was confident they could get away with it if they were patient enough. He'd recently read a book about the FBI, and as he later told Jeff, for the first year, they're all over you. But after a year, they'll cut it down to two agents. And after two years, you're just a file. Security protocol at Loomis Fargo required that two people were around the money at all times. David, as the vault supervisor, was aware of this, so he scheduled the heist for a night when he was paired with a trainee who didn't know how things worked. When the date arrived, David had the trainee leave at 6pm an hour later, when he was alone, he opened the vault and began wheeling pallets full of cash into a Ford Econo Line van that belonged to Loomis.
B
And there was more than a ton of cash. David was about 6 foot 1, 160 pounds, very, very thin, not particularly muscular in the way that would make a job like that easy. And so I think it took about 45 minutes or an hour or so for him to load this money. And one of the interesting things he said to me about the job was once he started, he had to finish it. He said, you're not going to get less prison time if you only steal $500,000 and you leave 16.5 million behind. Once you start, you have violated the trust between you and the company. And obviously you've committed a crime. And the amount of prison time would not vary considerably. So once he started, he was going to finish.
A
Earlier that day, David's friend Kelly had called to ask how much he thought was in the vault. David figured it was around 15 million. He was around 2 million short. David was done loading the money by 8pm he took the tapes from the two VCRs that connected to Loomis security cameras and drove out of the warehouse. Only later did he realize he'd left a third tape behind. I often talk to fellow creators and small business owners about how they get their name out there. And the secret is often the professional branding. Our partner, vistaprint, helps you achieve that polished look seamlessly by keeping all your custom print needs in one convenient place. We wanted to launch a listener appreciation campaign for this podcast, so we used vistaprint to create a beautiful bundle of gear, we ordered custom canvas tote bags, glossy stickers, and insulated travel mugs that look and feel high end. It's amazing to see how affordable it is to get premium custom products that actually reflect the hard work you put into your business every day. From picking the right item to nailing your final design, Vistaprint has you covered. Vistaprint print your possible right now, new customers get 20% off with code new20@vistaprint.com remember, that's 20% off@vistaprint.com using code new20
C
sometimes it feels like the news is full of things that have never happened before, and that is not exactly true. In fact, it may have happened this very week, hundreds or thousands of years ago. I'm Sally Helm, host of the podcast History this Week from the History Channel Trade embargoes. Thomas Jefferson tried them rent too high. We've been arguing about that for a while. Each episode is proof the past isn't that far away. Listen to History this Week, available now on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
A
What do you get when you combine bingo style bonuses and slots? Kashingo DraftKings Casino is the exclusive place to play Kachingo slots. New casino players play $5 and get 1000 Flex spins. Claim 50 spins a day for 20 days on your choice of over 100 slots, including the exclusive Kashingo Collection. Download the DraftKings Casino app and sign up with code Gonesouth to claim your Flex spins and experience Kashingo, the feature you can't play anywhere else. The crown is yours, in fact. Partnership with DraftKings Casino Gambling Problem Call 1-800-GAMBLER in Connecticut. Help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org Please play responsibly. 21 and over physically present in Connecticut, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia Only Boyd and Ontario Eligibility restrictions apply. Non withdrawable spins issued as 50 spins per day for 20 days. Valid for select games only and expire each day after 24 hours. See terms@casino.draftkings.com promos instructions July 22nd at 11:59pm Eastern Time. By taking the two security tapes, David figured he'd left no trace of his role in the theft. What he didn't know was that a third tape had captured his every move as he drove out of the warehouse doors. The tape kept rolling after that. One thing after another went wrong.
B
First, he figures he's going to exit the facility by going through the back gate. He presses A button for the back gate to open up doesn't open. He presses it again. Still doesn't open. He doesn't know why. He doesn't have time to figure out why. All he knows is he has all this money loaded in the truck and he'll go to jail.
A
So David drove to the front gate. Thankfully, this one opened, but the exit was surrounded by a padlocked chain link fence, and that wasn't opening.
B
And again, he doesn't have time to figure out why. Thankfully, one of his conspirators is in the car outside, comes out and helps him open the fence.
A
David drove the van to a predetermined spot, a secluded parking lot behind a printing company. A few miles away, a budget van rented by a co conspirator was waiting. At that point, David threw $50,000 into a bag, handed over the keys, and jumped into a truck with Kelly, who rushed him to the airport in Columbia, South Carolina. The plan was that David would fly to Mexico. Steve would hold the cash, wire it to David as needed, and when it was safe to come back, the three of them, Steve, Kelly, and David, would split everything evenly. They would pay $100,000 each to the guys who helped them transport it. But as I mentioned earlier, they'd neglected to buy David a plane ticket. When they got to Columbia, the flight was booked. So Kelly and David drove to Atlanta International instead.
B
So basically, when David goes to the airport, he has $50,000 in cash with him, and he has to figure out, how am I going to get this with me? Through the airport, through airport security. Kelly comes up with an idea. Along the way, they stop and they get pantyhose. At a convenience store. David stuffs 20, $20,000 into it and makes it a money belt, puts another $5,000 into his boots. He winds up making it through security, and he gets his flight to New Orleans. And in New Orleans, he's waiting for his connection. And at this point, I guess news has broken about this. And he's in the airport and someone comes up to him. He says, hey, I know you. I recognize you. And all of a sudden, he starts to panic. He goes, are you Boris Becker?
A
David had red hair and a closely cropped beard. Apparently he bore a passing resemblance to the German tennis legend. David breathed a sigh of relief and said, no, he was just a guy named Mike. Soon he was over the Gulf of Mexico on his way to Cancun. Meanwhile, back in North Carolina, the crew had a problem. After locking the van and handing off the cash, David had given a Crew member, a master keychain with 125 keys on it. And then driven off without saying which one, opened the van. For more than a half hour, the crew tried key after key in the dark, panicking while $17 million sat locked inside. Finally, they found the right key. Then, as they frantically transferred the cash between vans, they realized not all of it fit. They wound up leaving $3 million in the first van. Before driving to Steve and his wife Michelle's mobile home in Lincoln County.
B
And so they're counting the money, and they're just absolutely amazed at how much they have. And it winds up being $14 million. Now, this leaves them with a couple of problems. They have to find places to put it. So they start to pay people they know and friends and relatives to hide the money in storage facilities. They'll give them 10 or $20,000 to hide half a million dollars. And they wind up hiding most of the money.
A
Before the heist, Steve Chambers, just like David, had stressed that the key to a successful heist was to lay low in the aftermath. It was a lesson he'd learned from Goodfellas. Specifically the scene where Jimmy Conway, played by Robert De Niro, scolds crew members for buying their wives fur coats after the Lufthansa heist. And yet, according to Jeff Diamond, Steve didn't follow his own advice.
B
One of the things that made this story so riveting to people in the Carolinas in the late 1990s was the fact that after these people for whom money had been really hard to come by for their entire lives had come into this jackpot, some of them started spending it really, really wildly. Steve and Michelle totally transformed their lives. Within a matter of weeks after this
A
happened, Less than a week after the heist, Steve's wife Michelle walked into a local bank with $5,000 in cash. She asked if there was a limit for cash deposits before paperwork was required. And then assured the teller it wasn't drug money. The teller responded by filing a suspicious activity report. And that was just the beginning. Three weeks later, Steve and Michelle moved from their mobile home to a 6,000 square foot mansion in a gated community outside Charlotte. They bought a brand new BMW Z3 convertible, a $10,000 pool table, and $20,000 worth of Cuban cigars. Michelle installed a bust of Caesar in the dining room. And a leopard print runner on the mansion's winding staircase. Steve would later buy Michelle a three and a half carat diamond ring worth $43,000. They paid for everything in cash. When relatives asked where the money had come from. They told them it was gambling win down in Mexico. David was indulging himself in similar ways.
B
So David is in Cancun and he is living it up. He's staying at nice hotels. He's eating lobster every night. He's buying fancy sunglasses. He's doing what you would do if you thought you had a 1/3 share of $17 million coming to you in the near future.
A
David was a thousand miles from North Carolina. Steve Chambers, a criminal he'd never met before, was in control of the money. And yet, according to Jeff, David was confident the money would come through.
B
When I asked him, when he was in jail before his prison sentence, why he trusted everybody. He said he believed in the notion of teamwork. He really believed that they were going to come through with him. He believed that. You know, he said he learned in the army, if you give me a group of guys, I could go anywhere. I can go do anything. You know, if everyone's all in this together. And he thought they were in it together, probably because he knew in the back of his mind or in the front of his mind that if they didn't give him the money, he could go to the FBI. They had incentive to keep him happy.
A
And for the first few months, the money did come. Some of it anyway. After burning through what he brought with him, David began asking Kelly to wire him another $50,000. Steve sent him 8,000 in instead. But over time, as the millions he was promised never came, David got agitated. He began complaining and pressing harder for more cash. Steve, in turn, began to see David as a liability. An idea slowly began to take shape. David needed to go. When your day moves fast, between getting everyone out the door, meal prepping, and trying to find a small moment for yourself, the products you use should make things easier, not harder. That's where Ello comes in. Ello makes thoughtfully designed water bottles, tumblers, and glass food storage containers that fit right into your routine. Their water bottles are easy to refill, easy to carry, and leak proof, so you can toss them in your bag without second guessing it. They're designed to keep up with your busy day and make staying hydrated feel a little more doable. And when it comes to leftovers or meal prepping, their glass food storage containers make it simple to save dinner for tomorrow or take meals on the go with secure lids that help keep everything where it should be and not in the bottom of your bed bag. Visit elloproducts.com and use code TRYLO20 for 20% off your first purchase that's E L L O P R O D u c t s.com code trylo20
C
we
A
all have that one business idea we've been sitting on waiting for the perfect moment. Well, Shopify is here to take away every excuse you have for not starting. Launching a business is a big deal, but Shopify makes it simpler by giving you all the tools you need right from day one. Want your brand to look sleek, modern and high end? Shopify's templates and AI tools let you build a stunning site fast without touching a single line of code. Even better, you don't have to worry about the tech side of selling Shopify. Checkout is completely optimized the moment you launch, letting returning customers buy with a single click. If you ever feel stuck or have a question you're too afraid to ask, Shopify's built in AI Assistant Sidekick is ready to help you troubleshoot so you can focus on growing. You'll be using the exact same powerful platform that trusted global brands like Gymshark rely on. All you need is the idea Shopify handles the rest. Start your free trial@shopify.com GoneSouth. As reporter Jeff Diamant would later learn, Steve Chambers had considered killing David Gant from the very beginning, the night of the heist itself at the Van Handoff. That way they wouldn't have to share the money with him. And since David would be the obvious suspect, he'd be far less likely to rat on everyone if he were dead. The only thing that saved him was his old friend and co worker Kelly Campbell.
B
Kelly talked him out of it, at least kind of early on. Or at least she said, absolutely not. You know, this can't go there.
A
But as David continued to complain about his depleting funds in Mexico, Steve revisited the subject with Kelly during a Halloween party at his new mansion. Kelly was stoned at the time, and according to Jeff, she finally gave in
B
and she said just okay, do whatever you want, Steve. Do what you think is best.
A
And so the plan to murder David Gant was set in motion. By this point, the FBI had been investigating the heist for close to a month. They'd begun to suspect that people in David Gant's orbit had played a peripheral role. But they hadn't found anything that put the money in anyone else's hands. One person they interviewed early on was Kelly Campbell.
B
One of the interesting things about this is that the FBI, right after the crime occurred, established rather quickly that Kelly was probably involved in this somehow. They interviewed a lot of people at the company who had known David Gant. And they learned that he and Kelly had had a close friendship that involved perhaps some flirtation or whatnot. So they wound up talking to Kelly. They sent FBI agents to her home, and all she really allowed was that they smoked pot together. So they didn't know what to make of her. Less than forthrightness in the moment.
A
Still, the FBI kept their eyes on her. Phone records showed that she'd been in close touch with Steve Chambers in the days before and after the heist. And the FBI suspected Steve was neck deep in the plot. They just didn't have proof yet.
B
There were all sorts of tips coming into them over time about people's in laws who were spending more money than they should have been spending. You know, everybody was making claims that they couldn't validate. And it was hard to know for the FBI which ones were actually worthy of investigation.
A
Of course, their first big breaks happened in December in quick succession. First, Kelly Campbell bought a $30,000 Toyota minivan in cash and registered it to one of Steve Chambers aliases. That gave agents a direct link between the two of them. Next, an FBI agent watched as Steve's wife Michelle deposited $8,000 in cash at a Gaston county bank. The cash was still wrapped in a Loomis Fargo money band and initialed by an employee who'd quit before the heist took place. It was the first physical proof tying the Chamberses to the heist. In February, the FBI got permission to tap their phones. Within the first week, they heard Steve calling a jewelry store to price Rolexes. They heard Michelle bragging about her $43,000 ring. They heard Steve talking about depositing $2.5 million in offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands. They also got word of the murder plot against David Gant, which, as the FBI learned, seemed to have been underway for months.
B
Here's where it gets interesting. The person that Steve enlisted to kill David Gantt was a guy named Michael McKinney, who happened to be the same person whose ID David was using in Cancun.
A
Steve's idea was to send Mike McKinney down to Cancun to establish trust with David. He would do this by bringing David around $10,000 on each trip. Once David let his guard down, Mike McKinney would carry out the hit. It seemed like a good plan. The problem was, Mike McKinney, upon arriving in Cancun, began spending some of the money himself.
B
And so he would give David drops of maybe seven or $8,000, which would get David very angry and suspicious. After A while. And then at a certain point, Mike decides that he was going to subcontract the murder to somebody else. A guy he meets named Robert. So David and Robert meet up, and this is one of the funny parts of the story. Dave happens to be wearing a Pittsburgh Steelers jersey. It so happens that Robert was a big Pittsburgh Steelers fan. And as David told me, when Robert saw that David was wearing this jersey, he was like, whoa, that's awesome. And realized he wasn't going to kill David. And he actually told David what was going on, that Mike McKinney was trying to kill him.
A
At that point, David had stopped taking Mike McKinney's calls. He retreated further into his room and began drinking heavily. He was terrified that a hired assassin would burst into his apartment in the middle of the night. The FBI had planned to make arrests only once they knew where the money was. But when they learned that a murder plot was in progress and that Mike McKinney was headed back to Mexico, possibly to carry it out, the feds had to intervene.
B
The FBI, working with Interpol, is tracking David in Playa del Carmen, which is about 30 or 40 minutes from Cancun. David is staying in the Hotel tortuga for about 90 bucks a night. Kind of like steeled up in his room because he's scared for his life at this point. You know, he knows people are trying to kill him. So he's in his hotel listening to the Eagles, eating M and Ms. All day, watching movies on hbo.
A
The only time David ventured out of his room was to go to the grocery store or to do his laundry. It was on one such outing that an agent walked up behind him and asked to see his passport.
B
He shows him an ID with the name Michael McKinney. The officer says, you're not Mr. McKinney, are you, Mr. Gant? And he says, no, I'm not. And the first thing he says after that is, please tell me you're an FBI agent. The agent says, yes, I am. And David says, I am glad to see you. The agent goes, I'm glad to see you, David. And David goes, you know, they wanted to kill me. And the agent goes, I know. Don't talk about that now. We'll have a chance to talk.
A
David was arrested on March 1st of 1998 in Playa del Carmen. The next day, the feds moved on the Charlotte end of the operation. Steve and Michelle Chambers, Kelly Campbell, and four other co conspirators were taken in. A week later, a Charlotte grand jury indicted them all on bank larceny. And money laundering charges. Relatives and friends who had helped hide the cash were swept up, too. When it was over, 24 people faced federal charges, all for a heist that had taken one guy alone in a vault just over an hour to pull
B
off after they were arrested. This is a really, really big story in Charlotte. The media had been covering this story for five months. Nobody had any idea where David Gant was. And then when it all hit the fan, the obvious question was, why did they spend all this money so wildly and so close to home? You know, I guess everyone liked to think they could have done a better job had they done this, and maybe they could have gotten away with it. But people like to think that although it really would have been very difficult,
A
papers almost immediately began calling it the hillbilly heist. Over over 1000 stolen items were later auctioned off, with proceeds going to Lloyd's of London. Almost everyone involved pleaded guilty. Steve Chambers, the mastermind of the operation, got 11 years, as did the intended hitman, Mike McKinney. David Gant got seven, and Kelly Campbell got five.
B
Most of the main people who were involved obviously expressed remorse after this happened to their relatives and their loved ones and even to the government. There was very little remorse expressed toward Loomis Fargo. However, David Gant, he really did not like working there. He felt he was mistreated.
A
Jeff spent many hours interviewing David in prison, and he was surprised by how eager David was to participate in the process.
B
One of my favorite parts of interviewing David Gant was that he clearly appreciated that his experiences would read well. He told me that the morning this happened, he turns on the radio to the John Boy and Billy show, which was his favorite radio show. And he's like, as I'm driving to work, they're playing Take the money and Run. And he pauses and he goes, I shit you not.
A
The FBI recovered roughly 90% of the 17 million. For a while, about 2 million was unaccounted for. Steve told agents it had been stolen from their shed in Lincoln County. But the feds wound up tracing it to a co conspirator who had fled North Carolina for Colorado with his wife. In the end, the FBI recovered it all. Years later, after his release, Steve Chambers would tell the Associated Press that he was a changed man. Family is more important and valuable than money, he said. I think I always knew that, but I lost my way for a while. Kelly Campbell found Jesus and told Jeff in an interview. I'd been told all my life, money will not make you happy. But I had to know. David Gant, meanwhile, found work in construction. He owed millions to the IRS and told Jeff he'd never be able to pay it off on his paycheck. Still, David was featured prominently in Jeff's book about the crime, titled the Oddball crew behind the $17 million Loomis Fargo theft. The book was later Adapted into a 2016 comedy called Mastermind, and David was brought in as a consultant. Zach Galifianakis played David, Kristen Wiig played Kelly, and Owen Wilson played Steve. David's Facebook page features a photo of him standing beside Galifianakis. According to Jeff, he looks back on the Loomis theft with a kind of nostalgia.
B
I don't really think he regretted actually doing it. He regretted what he did to his loved ones. You know, he felt bad about what he did to his wife and to his parents. I think he looks back at it today as perhaps the most exciting period of his life.
A
If you have information, story tips or feedback you'd like to share with the Gone south team, please email us@gonesouthpodcastmail.com that's gonesouthpodcastmail.com for bonus content. You can follow us on Facebook, TikTok and Instagram at Gone south podcast. You can also sign up for our newsletter on substack at Gone south with Jed Lipinski Gone south is an Odyssey original podcast. It's created, written and narrated by me, Jed Lipinski. Our executive producers are Leah Reese, Dennis, Maddy Sprung Keyser and Lloyd Lockridge. Our story editor is Katie Mingle. Gone south is edited, Men Mixed and mastered by Chris Basel. Production support from Ian Mont and Sean Cherry. Special thanks to Maura Curran, Josephina Francis, Kurt Courtney and Hilary Schuff. Thank you for listening to Gone south
C
at vistaprint. We know you've got that idea for your business, like the one that nails the trade show, levels up your brand or makes your team say, we're really doing this. But an idea is just an idea until it's printed on signage, giveaways, custom apparel. Once it's in my hands, on my team, out in the world, then it's happening. It's so happening. Vistaprint has thousands of products, easy design tools and real support to turn that idea into something possible. Print your possible with code NEW20 for 20% off your first order@vistaprint.com.
Podcast by Audacy / Hosted by Jed Lipinski
Release Date: July 22, 2026
This episode dives into the infamous 1997 Loomis Fargo robbery in Charlotte, North Carolina—known as the “Hillbilly Heist.” Host Jed Lipinski, guided by crime reporter Jeff Diamant, chronicles how a trio of working-class Southerners—David Ghantt, Kelly Campbell, and Steve Chambers—pulled off the second-largest cash heist in US history, only to unravel spectacularly due to greed, poor planning, and betrayal. Through court filings, FBI wiretaps, and firsthand interviews, listeners are taken through a real-life caper of mythic proportions.
[07:28] Main conspirators:
Origins of the Heist:
On the initial suspicion:
“There had been only one employee on duty the night the money vanished... the employee’s name was David Ghantt.” — Narration [03:33]
On crew mindset:
“Once you start, you have violated the trust... and the amount of prison time would not vary considerably. So once he started, he was going to finish.” — Jeff Diamant [11:54]
On Steve’s leadership style:
“He fancied himself as a character out of a Martin Scorsese movie... he would take on the cadences of the main characters as his own.” — Jeff Diamant [07:50/08:13]
On the plot’s unraveling:
“They hadn’t bought a ticket for him... the airport they drove to was closed for the evening, so they hadn’t even planned his getaway in a thoughtful way.” — Diamant [05:49]
On fast-living after the heist:
“Steve and Michelle totally transformed their lives. Within a matter of weeks... moved from their mobile home to a 6,000 square foot mansion in a gated community... bought a BMW Z3 convertible, a $10,000 pool table, and $20,000 worth of Cuban cigars.” — Narration [20:33]
On Ghantt’s naivete:
“He believed in the notion of teamwork... he thought they were in it together, probably because... if they didn’t give him the money, he could go to the FBI.” — Jeff Diamant [22:08]
On the failed murder plot:
“Dave happens to be wearing a Pittsburgh Steelers jersey. It so happens that Robert was a big Pittsburgh Steelers fan... he realized he wasn’t going to kill David. And he actually told David what was going on.” — Diamant [29:44]
On capture:
“Please tell me you’re an FBI agent.” “Yes, I am.” “I am glad to see you.” “I’m glad to see you, David.” — Dialogue re-enacted [31:27]
On cultural impact:
“Papers almost immediately began calling it the hillbilly heist. Over 1000 stolen items were later auctioned off...” — Narration [32:56]
The story is told with a brisk, darkly comic touch, drawing out both the criminal incompetence of the crew and their all-too-human motivations. Diamant and Lipinski evoke both empathy and disbelief, with moments of laugh-out-loud absurdity (fake mobsters, wild spending, a hitman foiled by football fandom) balanced by real insight into class, desperation, and American crime mythology.
Fans of true crime with a Southern twist; those interested in criminal psychology, blue-collar heists, or real-life stories later adapted for the big screen.