David Gant
Appearances
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I had a pile of money that was about three and a half, four foot tall, nine feet long, and weighed over a ton. The F-250 van that I was loading, the armored van, when I started the back bumper was pretty high up on me. When I was done, it was pretty low. If I do this, I'm going to take enough money so that I won't have to ever come back because I won't be able to.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Oh, Chambers, Chambers. Yeah. John Chambers? Or what was his first name? Oh, hell. Chambers. Something Chambers. Something Chambers. Yeah, I actually just watched earlier. I can picture him. He was like a, thought he was like a mob guy or something, but he was actually just a small-time kind of petty crook. He'd been in prison before, too, right? Didn't he get in trouble? I don't know.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah, well, I know what they said was he had actually had problems with the law before, and I believe they said he had had a federal case before. I don't know if he did prison time, but he definitely had, like, a federal case. I don't know.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I've never really cared enough to dig...
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
You know what's funny is that just talking to you, like I would meet guys in prison and they would – some guys would come to me and say, hey, this guy's got an amazing story. You have to hear his story. And then we'd go and we'd sit down and talk and I'd take notes and just to see if it was worth writing a story. And they didn't know a ton of stuff about their case. Like they never looked into it.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Like they got sentenced. They knew they got five years. I got to do five years. And then they just kick back and they walk the track. They joined a softball game. Maybe they learned to play an instrument. They read books. They're like, I'm just going to whittle away this time. And they never looked into it. Some guys didn't look into it because they were just like, I can't believe I'm here.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I don't want to think about it. And other guys, I just don't think that they realize they could look into it. And so I would interview these guys. And if I decided to write their story, I would order the Freedom of Information Act on them. I'd get their case file. I'd get all the notes and the interviews. And I would be able to come to them and say, here's what happened.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Remember you said this and you didn't know why that was? Here's what happened. And then I'd tell them what the FBI file said. This person got arrested. He cooperated. He told this guy they contacted the FBI and that that's why they were waiting for you. But, you know, so you not knowing isn't I'm not laughing at you. I'm just it's like I'm amazed because I'm so super inquisitive about everything.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Like we were saying, I was saying earlier, I actually, I know I'm recapping all this, but I actually, prior to getting in trouble myself, watched a program on you. And then I watched another one where I think I was incarcerated and And it always reminded me of a story that I wrote in prison. And I kept going back to your story because the story I wrote was very similar to yours.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I would have just like, I would have been that a whole five years or however much time, you know, you did, I would have been looking into it the whole time.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah. I think my attitude was, it doesn't really concern me. I really don't care.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
And I spent most of my time playing softball, reading books. Um, I studied a lot of psychology books. Um, and read, I must have read 15, 20 self-help books because I came to a realization that there was something slightly wrong with me and we needed to address that.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah, that this was an option.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
This was, you know.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Because for most people, it's, which always kills me, is like as desperate as they get. And I get the desperation because I've been, I mean, I'm kind of like in this, I mention this to my wife all the time. I'm like, listen, like, We're a bad car accident or a medical issue where if anything goes wrong, we go down like the Titanic.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Maybe we can go for a month or two, but that's it, and that worries me. And so I get exactly what you're saying, but what most people don't think is – hey, I can do this. Most people don't think I can commit a crime and correct this issue. And, you know, I think obviously that's what separates people, you know, obviously, you know, criminals from or people that have criminal intent.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I think anybody will commit a crime in the right situation. But to me, one of my first thought is, fraud. Here's how I'll fix it. Fraud. You know, and then I have to, now I realize it's probably what you probably do is work a little harder, you know, cut back a little bit more, but you, but Kelly came to you. Yeah.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
And she proposed the thought, you know, how do you feel about Robin Fargo? And she knew I wasn't real keen on the company. Because we had a superintendent or a manager threaten my job and thought, I'm thinking about going away anyway. And I said, you know, it really wouldn't be that hard.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
It's just a matter of what day and understanding that the weekend schedule would be the easiest and you'd have the most time to get away. I said it'd have to be on the weekend, probably a Saturday would be easiest. That's when there'd be, you know, back then the Charlotte vault had a very strict schedule.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
It was like every other Saturday, there was a fairly large amount of money in the vault, cash. As opposed to certain weekends, it'd be 98% checks. Back when we used paper checks, back in the dinosaur days.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Nobody else does.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I haven't written a paper check in, that would have been back in like 2015.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I just got out. I'm a big guy on convenience and utility.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
You know? Um, so, okay, so here's the, the, the, my, my next question is, but you didn't think to yourself. Yeah, we could set up a robbery or a bag could go missing. We could get a couple hundred thousand. You thought, I can empty out the entire vault of $17 million and walk away clean. That's a huge leap. Well, here's my thought.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
If you're going to break the law. Go all in. All in or don't go. Right. Because what was that movie? I think it was Heat where the bad guy told the cop, you think I got born to lose tattooed on my chest I'm robbing 7-Elevens? No, no, no. Right. And I'd seen that movie prior to doing it. You know, he's got a point.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
That is one of my favorite movies.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
From my point of view as prior military and seeing the gun fight, the gun battle, that's probably one of the coolest running gun battles you will ever see in a movie. And most realistic.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Extremely realistic. Yeah, because they're actually reloading. They're moving from point to point. and it it goes back to military if you're not shooting you need to be moving you're not moving you need to be reloading yeah De Niro and and Pacino that's a great mask great I don't wanna watch that movie again so
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Okay, so how long does it take before you decide, you know what, this is... I mean, clearly your wife's not going to be okay with it.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Oh, no. I knew that she would lose her shit if I'd have mentioned it. And I'm like, oh. And I come to the realization that I'm going to have to walk away from everything. And I'm weighing it in my head. This goes on forever.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
But it's one of those stories that always stuck in my mind. So when like my booking agent and my girlfriend got in touch with you, I'm sorry, my wife got in touch with you and my booking agent, like I immediately, usually people have to tell me like, I'm like, who is this guy? Can you send me a link? I don't know who that is. He did what? But as soon as they mentioned, no, no, he did this.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
uh four or five days i'll go all right i'm gonna go for it i've never done anything outrageous in my life this is it i'm gonna change my life i'm gonna probably end up down in costa rica sitting on a beach fishing and That's where I want to go. That's what I'm going to do.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Are, were you thinking about changing your identity or how, how are you going to get out of the country? Is any of that a concern?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
And well, I thought about it backwards. I thought, where do I want to go? How am I going to get there? And I looked into the Cayman Island banks. I looked into Costa Rica. I looked at the FBI and how some crime statistics. And I figured, okay, Most criminals stay in like a 500, three or 500 mile circle of their home. The cops catch a lot of people at their mama's house. Right. Okay.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Because when they, people know they've done something wrong, they won't, they won't feel safe and they don't want to leave that little bubble. I'm like, okay, if I get outside that bubble, my, my chances increase. So I've got to get out of the country as quickly as possible.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Well, I mean, for one thing, just leaving your home is gutsy. I mean, people don't realize that. You have to walk away from everything, every comfort, everything that makes you feel comfortable, you have to leave. And most people don't leave. 95% of the country never leaves the United States. Half those ever leave even the state that they live in.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
So you're picking up leaving, not calling, not coming back, not... Just walk away from everything like that alone, even if you weren't already wanted.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
And, you know, that's already gutsy. So so my other question is, did you think that there was going to be heat on you? Did you think that the media would get were you thinking this will be in the news this or do you think, oh, there'll be an article and that'll be it?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I knew it would be a big story, especially for that area. Because even before I really came up with a solid plan, what I thought was a solid plan, I knew about how much money it would be. I knew it would be more than $10 and less than $20.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
20 million and I knew that would be a huge story there had been a Loomis Fargo had been robbed like a year or two earlier of like 18 million did you know about that yeah it was big news matter of fact it was the
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I can't remember if he robbed the Tallahassee branch or the Jacksonville branch. Jacksonville, I think. Yeah, it was the Jacksonville branch, which is where I live now. And I've met that guy. Really? He, well, at the time, he was a little messed up.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
You met him after?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Oh, no, I met him, like, in passing in prison.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Oh, okay.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I was like, oh, I know exactly who you're talking about. I remember watching a documentary. I was immediately excited. That's why my wife kept texting. I was like, you've got to get this guy to come on here. He's got a great story. So anyway, that's, that's kind of how I knew the whole thing. So basically what I typically do is just start at the beginning.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
And I was like, okay. Yeah. But he was a completely different type thing. He kidnapped the dude. Oh, I didn't know that.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
It was a mess. But I think he beat me by a few million.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Right. Yeah, his was like 18. I want to say, because I remember thinking it was roughly about a million more. And I was thinking yours was 17. It was 17.5. But I was thinking 17. I think they said 18. So I remember thinking it was roughly a million. So... Okay, so what about Kelly? Everything I saw, they said you and Kelly were close, that you guys hung out together.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
When I first started at Fargo, I was friends with her driver. All the drivers kind of hang out together. And so I ended up talking to Kelly, and I ended up driving for her for quite a while. And we just hit it off.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Okay, so when she came to you, you just trusted her, you were friends, but she wasn't there anymore though, right?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah, she had quit, got fired, I'm not really sure. Once again, it's one of those things where it didn't concern me, I didn't look into it.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
So you decided you were going to do it, you talked to her.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Talked to her, and... What was the plan? The basic plan was for them to get me a fake ID, which we did, which back then was way easier. And what I would do was we'd pick a Saturday, and I would basically empty the vault. At first, they only wanted me to take, I think he said $250,000, and then he came back, I'll get one or two million. I'm like, no, we're not doing that.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
If I do this, I'm going to take enough money so that I won't have to ever come back because I won't be able to. Okay. And as it worked out, the original plan was I wanted to get at least 15, which worked out pretty good. And it was like, here's your $5,000. Here's your five. Just make sure you deliver my five. Anything that's left after that, you can have. You can keep it. I only want my five.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
And they're, oh, yeah, that would be great. And I didn't know that they were already planning to vote me off the island.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Right. This is like almost 30 years ago?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Close to it, yeah.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
$5 million 30 years ago.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah. That's a ton of money. Imagine if we'd have got that money to the Cayman Islands back then. Because back then the Cayman Islands were wide open and paying really good interest.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
They would have issued you a citizenship and a passport probably. They've got St. Kitts right now. I think if you just buy a piece of property for like $350,000, they'll give you a passport. They'll make you an economic citizen. Economic citizen, yeah. So what happened? So that day you just decide, hey, you guys are going to be waiting. I'll let you know when you grab the money and what happened.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
So I picked October the 4th. I knew about what was going to be in the vault and went into work just normally. Right. I think we met one or two more times, and we made a run to get my big quote-unquote fake ID, which was just a state ID.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Like, I'm like, I'm not, we're not in a hurry or anything. So, you know, like where, where were you born?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah, I was going to say the FBI, when they interviewed your friends, your wife, friends from the military, like every single one of them, your wife too, she was like, no, like nothing happened.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
nothing has changed like he is he is you know on a schedule he's always the same behaved like you didn't very like even made like a doctor's appointment or a dentist appointment or something you would even made like an appointment for like the week or two prior to that like like you were gonna be there like everything like there's nothing that says this guy should not have come home that day and
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Everything, you know, went to the grocery store, did this, did that, you know, whatever, walk the dog, took the garbage, like didn't argue. There was no fight. There was nothing like everything. And all of the everything was the same. And all of your your buddies were like, this is absolutely 100 percent.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
uncharacteristic of this guy this is a guy that follows the rules this is a hard worker this guy's conscientious this is you know this is you know they said if there was anything i remember one of the guys had said that if there was anything abnormal about you at all they said he's kind of a loner that was it like that's like the worst that's like the worst thing they could say about you but you know he's kind of a loner like so which i guess is to say he is the kind of guy that he's not afraid to be alone or walk away a lot of guys have to be social
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Okay.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I was born in Gastonia, North Carolina on October 20th, 1969. Really average, upper middle class, lower middle class family. Good education. Just a normal southern upbringing. Hunting, fishing, motorcycles. Nothing out of the ordinary.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
That was it. I've never been a social butterfly.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
So this was just totally out of character for you.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
And now that I'm much older, I had to be a cold-hearted SOB. I had to be. That was the only way. You had to put on that mask and wear it all the way to the door. Because if I'd acted any different, the whole world would have known. Because I did have a schedule. I went to bed at the same time. I got up. I carried two sandwiches, an apple or some fruit.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I mean, it was almost like I had some weird OCD. Because I carried the same thing for lunch almost all the time. And I'm still that way. I love to have a schedule. Like being late today aggravated me. You have no idea. And it was everything that was completely out of my control. Right. Because I like to be on time.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I don't know if it's from the way I was raised, but there's something about if I say I'm going to be here at noon,
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I'm going to be there 1145 usually. It's funny. My dad and I actually say the same thing is that, you know, being on time is being 15 minutes early. Yeah. But you were only like 10 minutes late. So. So you went into work and you the trucks come in, you count the money, you check it in. What were you doing that day? Just checking in.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I was in charge of the vault and in the morning I made sure everybody got all their load out in the morning. Made sure they had all their paperwork. Sent them out and then the rest of the day you're pretty much sitting there listening to the radio. Listening to the company radio for the trucks. If they have a problem they call in. You're basically just sitting there
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
scratching your butt until they start coming back. Kelly and them, they must have called me out many times. Are you sure you're going to go through with this? I'm like, yeah. Don't worry about me. When I tell you I'm coming out the door, I'm coming out the door. Finally, the truck started coming back. We had a guy that he was a messenger. They said, hey, we want you to stay with Dave and learn it.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
he'll be in charge and he'll show you what to do and worked with him. Great guy though. I hate, I hate, I kind of hate I did that to him, but finally got to the last bit. I said, Hey man, if you want to take off, it's going to take me a while. If you want to take on off, I got you covered. So he leaves and I'm mock lock up everything. Um, I don't set the timer on the vault. Nothing.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I don't spin the big wheel on it. I mock lock up. Go out. I see his taillights going around the corner. I turn back around. Go right back in the building. Disarm the security system. Move my van. And this is kind of where the plan goes to shit. Cause I had planned on, there was two doors. They were all set one front, one at the back. And I was planning on going out the back entrance.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
And for some reason, Oh, I'll get to that. But for some reason it wasn't working that night. It didn't work that night. So I had to go. But anyway, I pushed the first bin out there and it was mostly small bills. And by the time I was done, I had a pile of money that was about three and a half, four foot tall, nine feet long, and weighed over a ton.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
The F-250 van that I was loading, the armored van, when I started, the back bumper was pretty high up on me. When I was done, it was pretty low. So you...
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Right. And you ended up going into the military?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
So then this is after every truck's already come in, dropped off the money and gone.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah. All the trucks are done.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Nobody's coming back.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Nobody's supposed to be coming back in anything.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
And you're just there alone.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I'm there alone.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
So you loaded up the truck, you get in the truck, and you just... Yeah.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah, my hometown, Gastonia, at the time was, what's a good word? They were economically not very diverse, and so I didn't have a lot of options, I felt. And so I went into the military and became an Apache crew chief.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
And I had scouted out and found the security VHS tapes, and I'd secured two or three of them, and I missed one somehow. They had another recorder up in the ceiling. Yeah, right. And I didn't get that one.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
That's, I was going to say they, they show the footage of that one, um, where they're like, uh, I guess when the, when eventually you leave and, uh, they call in saying something's wrong, uh, you know, when they show back up the next day or later that, you know, I think it was the next day they show up the next day and they start call, people start calling in, you know, your wife's calling in and people are calling in.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
They say, you know, he didn't show up. Um, And everything's open. So they're like, it's completely wide open. When the FBI or the detectives come, the FBI, they find that tape. And I guess they had to wait for a manager or somebody to come and open the back to find the tape.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
But when they find it, the manager, or I don't know what he was, I'll say the manager of the place, when he saw that it was you, because they assumed you'd been kidnapped, Somebody had taken the money, kidnapped you. They were concerned that you were hurt because he certainly had nothing to do with it. And so when they saw you, they said, like, the manager, you've got to watch it.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
The manager is like, oh, my God. He's like, that's David Gantz. That's David. They were like, the FBI officer is like, he kept saying it over and over. Like, oh, my God. Like, he was absolutely in shock that he was watching you load the vehicle.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
And to buy myself time, I stole almost all their keys.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Right. Yeah, that slowed them down a lot. Slowed them down also when they eventually found the truck. Yeah.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
So what happened when you left there? Where did you go when you left with the truck? Let's see. What was in that place?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
It was some sort of aluminum recycling place where we met, and they had rigged the gate that when I pulled up, it would open. And I got out, and this guy comes walking up on me. And he says, don't worry, I'm with you. Just give me the keys. I hand him the keys, and this becomes important later. I say, this is the keys to the van. They open all the doors. Don't put it in the big box of keys.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Because I had a box in between the front seats filled with every key in Wells Fargo. Okay. We'll come back around to this. This becomes important later. And I've already got my little bit of money I'm going to take with me because I didn't know how much money I could get through a metal detector with at the airport. I was unsure, you know. So I didn't take that much money.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
All right. Were you in, I mean, did you see any action? What year was this, by the way? Sorry. Let's see, that was...
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
So Kelly and I get in her truck and we go to Columbia, South Carolina, where they've got an airport. I didn't know at the time that their airport closed at like 9. So I ended up scrapping plan A, going on plan B, hop on a bus in Columbia, South Carolina, go from Columbia, South Carolina to Atlanta, Georgia, hop on a plane in Atlanta from Atlanta to New Orleans, New Orleans to Cancun, Mexico.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
And back then you didn't need a passport, right?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Didn't need a passport.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
So you're out of the country before they even know the place has been robbed.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah. I'm eating lunch in Mexico about the time the news breaks.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
So what was the, they were supposed to get you five million? Five million, yes. Okay. And how much did you leave with?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Probably about $45,000 or $50,000, thereabouts.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
89 or so. And it was, I went to Desert Shield, Desert Storm, came back and things at home really hadn't changed. And, uh, got married. I spent some time down in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, working at a fixed base operation, which is an airplane refueling operation.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Okay. So when did you first see that it was on the news?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I had to, since I was in Mexico, I had to actually kind of dig. And I found, what was it? I found a newsstand they had, might have been the New York, yeah, the New York, Times. And they had, it didn't make the front page, not for them. And I found a little blurb about it. I thought, okay, we're good. I didn't think it was that big of a story. I thought, all right, good.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I mean, I knew the FBI would be after me, but I didn't think that, I was pretty sure they wouldn't go digging into Mexico hard.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Right. But it became bigger later, right? Like it didn't when they started looking.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah. Okay. And that takes us back to, you know, the van that they left with.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
3 million in it I think it was yeah they had an issue moving all there was such a bulk because most of the money was in 20s right yeah so it was such it was so there was so much mass to it that they couldn't move it all yeah and they left like three and a half million in the in the what kills me is that they didn't come back for it yeah like they just left it yeah why would you leave money on the table right exactly why wouldn't you let me go remove the money dump the money that you've got come back no one even knows it's gone yet yeah
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah, well, they weren't the brightest.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
No, they weren't. And to be honest, neither was I, but.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Well, you know, I mean, so do you know what the issues were once you were in Mexico? Do you know what the issue, why, you know, why they got onto them so quickly? You were saying you've never really watched any of this stuff.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Well, my guess is this. We live in a small town. If you go from a double wide to a multi-million dollar mansion. And paying cash. Paying cash. And you go from driving a hoopty to driving a beamer. You go from a cubic zirconium to an actual diamond. People notice. And this guy tried to pass himself off as a former professional football player. Right.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I don't know what you know about a lot of football fans and People are rabid fans about their football. They knew he wasn't a cowboy from any season.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah. His wife was telling her. So they actually moved from the small town where they were in. They moved to not far from where the Loomis building, where you'd rob the Loomis building. And it was already a little town, but it happened to have a...
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
this really nice gated community and they bought that house there with cash and when i say with cash i don't mean like you know we typically people will say oh i paid it cash paid for it cash doesn't mean you paid for it in one lump sum with a check it's literally this guy paid in cash so that raised huge red flags oh yeah it would his wife um what was his name again Oh, Chambers. Chambers.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Chambers' wife... Shoot, I thought you were going to know all these or I would have written a list down. So his wife starts trying to launder the money and literally walks into a bank, opens up... a bag of cash and says, how much of this can I deposit before I have to fill out that the paperwork for the government? And the woman says like, you know, well up to 10,000, she goes, okay.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
She goes, listen, it's not drug money. Okay. Like everything that you could have said that is going to get a suspicious activity report filed on you. You've just said drug money. How much, what's the, what's the maximum limit that nobody won't be reported. I mean, everything that right then it's like, this is so overly suspicious.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Was that for the military?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Nope. This was a private one. This was after you got out? After I got out. Eventually, my wife at the time got, I usually say she got homesick, but we went back to Gastonia, and there was hardly anything for me. And one day I saw an ad in the newspaper, armored car guard, top, top dollar paid, which was a huge fib. And, uh, I put an application and next thing I knew they,
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
And of course they immediately fill out a, a report and not just that, but people start calling friends of their start calling saying, or, you know, friends starts calling saying, well, Listen, Loomis was robbed and these two knuckleheads were living in a double wide. They just bought a multimillion dollar mansion in this small town with cash.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
They're driving expensive vehicles and the guy's a knucklehead, you know, and somehow or another he's come up with all this cash.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
So immediately the FBI get onto them.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Oh, yeah.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Very quickly.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
And it's no surprise to me.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Right. And then they they watched them for a while and it became so overwhelming that something was wrong. They convinced a federal judge to give them allow them to start listening to their to their phone calls. And then when they and then they they had watched long. The FBI officer said, look, we listened long enough that the search warrant is only good for so long that it was about to expire.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
You know, whatever, whether it was that they got a 30 day or 60, I don't know. But it was just about to expire when Kelly received a page or a phone call from you. And you had scheduled a time. And one, you needed more money. So they were trying to arrange to send you more money. And two, they had arranged a time for you to call a payphone. But she wasn't there.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
She missed the appointment or something because, you know, I guess she had better things to do than try and maintain the robbery, which is a big problem for criminals. Once they get the money, they forget about maintenance. So, but the, I guess they said the FBI was waiting. They had a tap on the phone. You called, she wasn't there.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
The office, one of the FBI officers walks over cause they needed to hear you.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Walked over, grabbed the phone. And listen and said, hey, hello. And then you said something on the phone where they heard your voice. And then they were like, you know, I forget. I think he said, like, you said something. You had a little brief exchange and they hung up the phone. But they were like, that's him. Like, we've got him. But you hung up so fast they couldn't get a trace.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah. One of the things that's never come out in any of the interviews is I'm on the other end and I'm timing our phone.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Phone calls. I bought a really expensive watch just for this. It was one of the extravagances I did. I bought a nice Omega, what was it? Divemaster? My memory stretched then, but it was a nice Omega watch. And I'm watching the time, every time we talk. And I'm keeping it around two to three minutes.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah, I was going to say, like now they'd know where you were immediately. But back then, yeah, you didn't have time to trace it, especially out of the country.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Oh, yeah. Back then, this goes back to me doing my research. I found out that they could trace a phone, but it took them two and a half to three minutes. and like I said outside the country even longer because they've got to contact the country and deal with dealing with the Mexican government back then would have been a nightmare I'm sure
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
So what were you thinking when you're in Cancun? You're in Cancun. You're hanging out. How long has it been? And what are you waiting for? Are you waiting for them to figure out how to bring you your money? Yeah. What's going through your head?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Well, I'm in Cancun and I'm moving from place to place. And I'm starting to get concerned that this should have been easy. You can smuggle anything you want into Mexico.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Easy. Going south, easy. Easy as pie. And I'm like, all you have to do is box it up.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Send it UPS. Easy peasy. Stick it in a car. They're not stopping cars going into Mexico. You just drive down here.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Could have bought a hoopty, an old station wagon, van, whatever. Filled it up. Drove it down. Done deal. Forget about me.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
But that's not happening. What is happening?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
The gist of it is they've had a meeting, and they've decided they're going to kill me. He's got a buddy, McKinney, and they're going to hire him. He's going to go down to Mexico and kill me.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Right, and the FBI hears this.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
The FBI hears this, and that's when they really start looking to figure out exactly where I'm at in Mexico.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Right, because they have a bigger issue now. Yeah. Now it's not, okay, there's some missing money. We can print the money again. There's insurance. There's this and that. Now somebody's going to get killed, and they realize also that there's bigger players involved and more serious players where you were doing something that was nonviolent. You were taking advantage of an opportunity.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
So you're out of the country before they even know the place has been robbed.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
They hired me and put me to work.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
These guys are ready to start killing people. They think they're gangsters.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I went out of my way to avoid violence. Right. I didn't because, and I know this sounds hypocritical of me, none of that money was worth a drop of human blood.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I mean, those guys never like for, for the amount, for the responsibility, like they never, they get paid horrible.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Right.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I would have set the money on fire before I would have hurt somebody.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
So so what so at what point or do you know that they're obviously there? They've got their their phones tapped and they're listening. Do you know what happened? And how did they the FBI figure out where you were? Um.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I'm not sure exactly, but I'd move down to Cozumel and Playa del Carmen. We're getting towards the end of it. See, that would have been January or so that year. And I'm talking to Kelly Campbell, and I hear a second click after she hangs up. And we'd had a conversation later. Listen, I told her, I told them, your phone's tapped. I heard a second click.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Because that was one of the telltale signs back in the olden days that your phone was tapped. You could hang on just a second, and you'd hear them hang up. It'd go click, and then you'd hear a second click, and the tap would be broken.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Oh yeah.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah, because the line was still live. It was really like a second person holding the phone in the same room. So they had to wait, and you'd hang up, and then they'd hang up.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
You know, like it may be top dollar for that field, but that field is notorious for having horrible, a horrible pay scale. Do you like the guy I the guy that I had written a story about? His name was Jamal. And he basically he got a concealed weapons permit. And he said a concealed weapons permit and a few months as a security guard.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah, back then it was very analog. Right. And so now I'm thinking something's not right. And. McKinney had come down to Mexico and had brought me some money, brought me like seven, excuse me, seven, eight thousand bucks, which made me suspicious. The way he acted made me suspicious.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
And the cherry on top of the cake was after he left, one of the guys, one of the Mexicans he was working with came by my apartment. His nickname was Gordo. He's a big guy. And he says, you know that this guy is planning on killing you. And I'm like, I was shocked. And I tipped the guy handsomely.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
You were shocked? Shocked. Okay. Okay.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I mean, because to me, it made... I was very naive. It made no sense. There was plenty of money for everybody.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Right. Why don't you just pay you and just... Pay me and forget about me. I mean, from their perspective, and I'm only saying this because I've watched the documentaries and the FBI agent was saying, he's like, the problem is that from their perspective, they're thinking... Everybody knows you took the money. Nobody knows. And from their mind, obviously, the FBI does know.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
But they're thinking everybody knows that Gant took the money. but they don't know who we are. So if he dies, then it dies with him. He took the money. They find some money. They assume he's hidden the money. They'll never get to us. Of course, they already had gotten to them, but they didn't know that.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
So they're thinking, you know, cut off the head of the snake and then, you know, the whole thing will die down. You know, not that I think you, not that I think that's a justified reason, but it was their reason, you know.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Well, But I don't know. I think I took it personal for a long time, and I'm working with that. I'm processing through that feeling of disgust. But that's a whole different story.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
So what happens if the guy tells you that? What do you think? Are you thinking, I'm fucking out of here?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Weirdly, after this, every time I meet, he was calling himself Bruno. Every time I meet Bruno, it's in a very public place, and I've bought myself a knife and sharpened it up. Every time we meet, it's in public, it's face-to-face, and I don't let him close to me. And we end up staying in Playa del Carmen. He brought me some money. And this is right there at the end of it.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
And I'm at the Turtle La Tortuga Hotel when the FBI picked me up.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
How did that happen?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Um, it was weird because it was a very touristy town. During the week, there's no gringos, right? You know, I was an oddball. And then when there were Three more gringos in town. It was a little strange. And I noticed them. I even talked to one of them at one point. And eventually I'd gone out to do laundry. And they thought I was making a break for it. They thought I was running.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
And they caught me coming back to the hotel. And the FBI agent comes up and says, Hey, Mr. Gant, I know who you are. You're under arrest. And... That was the beginning of the end, so to speak.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Had Kelly and everybody already been arrested at that point?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah, they had already arrested them, rounded them up. I think they had even got Bruno at the same time.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I want to say, and I don't know this, I do remember, and it's funny because I only watched a few bits and pieces. I'm really remembering this from seeing it 20 years ago. I want to say that... Chambers, they grabbed him and he told them where you were. I could be wrong. I do know that when they grabbed him, he immediately rolled over on everybody.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
He said having like 90 days or I think it was like six months as a security guard and having his concealed weapons permit. He's like, that was all the qualifications I needed. That not being a felon. I mean, did you need a security?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I'm eating lunch in Mexico about the time the news breaks.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
He rolled over like a hard-boiled egg.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Right. So he may have been... He may have told them exactly where you were, for all I know. Or maybe they had been tracing the phones and they had figured out by that point. I don't know. But they grabbed you. Did they bring you to a local police station? Or did they bring you straight to the airport?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
No, they brought me... I spent the night with the Mexican federales. And they... we're going to big air quotes here, deport me from Mexico. Okay. And they put me on a airplane flight that just happened to have two FBI agents.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
All right. So, okay. So they don't need to extradite you. Um, so you show up back in, did you, where'd you fly into? Um, flew, I think we went straight to Charlotte. Okay. You're processed by the marshals?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Marshals right there in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, and they put me on the sixth floor, which is like their version of Max. Okay. Because the story had exploded.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Right. Did they explain to you, hey, these guys, they're going to kill you?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Oh, yeah. Me and the FBI agent had a long, long conversation. We actually became friends, oddly.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah, he seemed, like, look, I've watched a lot of these. Like, he genuinely seemed to like you. Like, I've never seen one of these where they just didn't have, they had a lot of bad things to say about Chambers.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
They had they really portray them as just being bumbling idiots. But he none of the FBI interviews portray you as anything other than just being a nice guy who was frustrated with his situation and saw the opportunity and took it.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
They rent a credit check on you. They do a felony background check. They make you take a firearms course. And it's it's always amazed me what those guys and ladies get paid to be responsible for a huge armored truck. And then all the paperwork involved, you're dealing with professional customers every day. You might go to a hundred stops, you know, a day and they pay them peanuts.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah, that's how they and that's not far from wrong. right um i see myself as an opportunist and i think most humans are opportunist if they in the right circumstances in the right circumstances anybody would have done what i did um so so when you come back you have a long conversation with them like what's the conversation what
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
um it i told him my version of the story and he asked more and more questions and i i think one of the things that kind of impressed him about me this i'm gonna make a huge assumption here is i explained my logic behind everything and how i looked at the crime itself and told him about my research.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
And he's like, you, you thought you put a lot of thought into, I'm like, yeah, you guys are easy to beat on any given day. You approach every crime the exact same way. It's a chess game. If I know that you're going to lead with your pawn out in front and then a knight's coming behind it, I can figure out how to beat your ass.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah, but you can't account for... You can't account for the nine million other things that can go wrong.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah. I always say, whenever people say, oh, do you ever think about crime? I'm like, or do you think you could get away with what you did today? I always think... yeah, I can. My, my problem is you cannot account for the fly in the ointment.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Like you just, there's just, there's just no accounting for someone screwing up or a mistake or, you know, in this case, like had, had chambers, had they gone with the plan and,
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
let's let's let them sit down there wait a month or two give them some money wait a month or two bring down a couple million wait a couple made another month bring down a couple more million because you never know if you're going to to me i'd be afraid what if i get pulled over by the police they search the car if they get the money um i would have been more like hey let me bring you a couple million wait a couple million bring you the last million and you're good you know had they done that
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
then maybe you do get caught later. Maybe you go to Costa Rica. Maybe something happens, you get caught later. But at least they followed that portion of the plan. But you can't account for what happened with them was from the very get-go, they decided to double-cross you. How are you going to figure that out? How do you know that?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah, how do you foresee that? And I look back on it in hindsight. If we'd have got that money into a Cayman Bank account, all of it, And he lived off the interest easy. I think the interest would have been $75,000, $80,000 a year.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
There was no interest. If you put $5 million into, you know, if you put $5 million and lived off of $50,000, you could live for $50,000 in the Cayman Islands.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
You might as well be making $300,000. But so... Okay, so what happened with you end up taking a plea? I mean, you can't go to trial.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah, that's stupid. Almost no one that goes to federal court, almost everybody takes a plea of some sort.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah, yeah. They've got like a 97% conviction rate. Unless you've got big bucks, you can't fight the government. No. Listen, I always say, look, even if you're guilty, you've got a 50% chance of being found. I mean, even if you're not guilty, you have a 50% chance of being found guilty. Oh, yeah. So what did you end up taking? Let's see.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Was it 96 months? It was like just a little over six years.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Okay. Did you take RDAP? Was there an RDAP program, a drug program to knock a year off?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I'm not. No. Obviously, you didn't take it. They didn't have it because they told me, oh, there's no drugs in your case. You don't get this. And so I got your standard issue, good time, 85% or whatever.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah. And... Did you do all of it?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I did all of it. And I ended up going back because when I got... I realized that the halfway house was just an extortion. Just a way for someone attached to the government to rob you. I basically said... And I went to my hometown, and when we got down to Jacksonville, they arrested me, took me right back to Butner, and I did the last six months in special housing.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Did you get home confinement? I mean, not home, sorry. You got probation, right?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Supervised release.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
How much supervised release? Two years.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
And basically... As soon as I got out, I got a job. And after a while, the probation officer didn't even care to see me. They had so many other basket cases bouncing around that part of Florida that the dude that's showing up and working every day, they weren't even worried about me.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah, that's usually how it goes. You don't give them any problems.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah, they'll leave you alone.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
they got enough guys giving them problems. Um, I was going to say, um, so you got, what, what are you doing now?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Uh, I'm a heavy equipment operator for a construction company in Jacksonville. Um, Petticoat Schmidt. I've been there eight years and I've been, uh, in construction for about 15 or 17. Okay. Um,
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah. So, I mean, okay. So have you ever talked to the, I know you did an interview when you got out of prison. Yeah. But, you know, did you, have you ever seen the FBI agent or spoke with the FBI agent?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Loomis was robbed, and these two knuckleheads were living in a double-wide. They just bought a multi-million dollar mansion in this small town with cash. They're driving expensive vehicles, and the guy's a knucklehead, and somehow or another he's come up with all this cash.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I met Mark, the FBI agent, at the premiere of Masterminds, the movie that they did. And we just picked up our friendship like before. Met his wife. She was really nice. Took a selfie with me. And I've never wished him any ill will. Right. Yeah. I mean, he's just, you know, he's just doing his job. He's doing his job.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
And he's one of the few government, mostly when we think about government employees, we don't think real highly of them, but he was actually out there doing his, doing the job that we pay him to do.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah, I was going to say there were some nasty – there was one really just nasty FBI agent on my case. And the other ones were just like – it's kind of like the guards. It's like the guards that are there that are just like – I'm sorry, COs. When you go to prison, some of them are just complete sadistic assholes. And the other ones are like, listen, man, this is just a job.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Like I just want to come punch the clock, sit down, please don't bother me. You know, let me get out. Let me do my thing. Let me go home. Like those are the guards that are great. Even if you're enforcing the rules, I don't mind that you enforce the rules, but you don't have to be a dick about it. Um, so yeah, I had some of the secret service agents and FBI agents that were totally cool.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I was totally cool with them. And then there was this one that was just a complete jerk.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
It seems like there's always one, you know?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's always, yeah. That's the one that makes them all look bad. Yeah. Um, Well, OK, so and now and so why are you why are you in Tampa?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I came down. There's a charity here in Tampa. It's called Forgotten Angels, and they help young people who have timed out on the the adoption program. And they've gone through their whole life bouncing from house to house. A lot of them, you know, and when they turn 18, the adoption houses, I'm not sure what the correct term is, they don't have anything to do with them.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
So a lot of them end up out on the street. Right. A lot of them turn to drugs or crime or whatever. And this organization works with them, helps them, helps them get their GEDs, get some education, get a driver's license, job skills, and they help them get back on their feet. And when I heard about it, I'm like, that's something I can get behind.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
You know, a lot of these people that they're helping never got first chance. And here I am with several chances in my life. And if I can come down here and spend a little money with them and buy a T-shirt, whatever, and it helps these people, helps these young people,
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I don't mind it. Right. I actually wrote a story about a kid named Jacob Diaz and he was foster care. And when it turned like, I want to say 18 or 19, he just, they basically were like, Hey, well, you know, you got to leave next week. And he was like, well, what?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah, here's the garbage bag. Put your stuff in it. Get out.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
So you got, you got the job and the job it's broken up into. I mean, I just know from having written that story was it's broken up to everybody has a different responsibility, right? Like you've got the driver, you've got the runner, you've got the, the loader or something like the guy that loads the machines or something. I mean,
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
And he was just like... He was like, actually... And his foster family was like... He was like... Or where he was staying, he was like, everybody was really nice to me, but nobody had even prepared me that this is something that's happening. And he said, I guess I should have known that, but this was my home.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
And it just one day it was like, Hey bro, like, you know, next week you're leaving, right? Well, what do you mean I'm leaving? Where am I going? I don't know where you're going, but you can't stay here.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
You can't stay here.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Right.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
And a lot of those places, the kids that they take in are just a paycheck.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Each kid is valued at whatever. And they, when that check ends, you're, they have no use for you. Yeah. And, uh, In a country like America, that this goes on, that this happens, and our government screws up a lot, but this could be easily fixed. A program to help, they can improve that program easily.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Just ease them back into society, get a job. What's funny is there's lots of jobs. There's lots of jobs, and there's lots of jobs that you can make a decent living in and take care of yourself.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
But if you don't even know they're out there and you're not being prepared to kind of acclimate yourself into society or ease yourself into society and just have it thrust upon you, you're not prepared for that as an 18-year-old.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah. And they can do the same thing with the prison system. And I've told people, well, yeah, you want prison to be harsh. Cool. All right. I get that. What kind of, when they come out, what kind of, that guy's going to be your neighbor. What kind of neighbor do you want coming out of there? Do you want somebody that hasn't really changed?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Or do you want somebody, like one of my greatest accomplishments when I was in is, and I had to do it on the sly because he was in the Muslim Brotherhood and he wasn't supposed to be associating with us crackers. And I helped this guy, he was four,
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
better than 40 i helped him learn to read and to me that's one of my highest personal accomplishments right you know and granted he didn't like me i had no real reason to like him but i helped him read
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Well, what's what's funny is that people want prison to be hard. They people get upset that, for instance, I did an interview with a guy the other day and somebody in the comments section because the guy ended up getting like a master's degree or a master. He got a college degree. I think he was trying to get his master's, but.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
The guy was upset because he had gotten a college education while in prison. Now, granted, the guy had like 20 something, 25. I think he did 25 or 26 years. Yeah. So they was upset. Like, I can't believe that he's being taken care of. And he got an education. And my thought was.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah, the ATM people. The basic jobs that you would find at an armored car company is the very basic is the driver. He knows the route, knows nothing much else. He runs the radio. And then you have what we call them a messenger. He's the guy that goes into the bank and... He does all the paperwork.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
the likelihood that he gets an education and gets out of prison and goes back is very low yes if he doesn't get the education there's a damn good chance he goes back to prison oh yeah so are you gonna bitch about are you bitching because about recidivism or are you gonna bitch because he got you're giving him an education because you got you can only pick one to bitch about so if you don't give him the education he goes back and now you're bitching about him going back to prison yeah
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Or do you let him get a get a job, become a paying taxpaying citizen and not go back to prison? So, you know, pick your battles, bro. Yeah. And he just did 25 years. Is that not enough for you? Yeah. So but yeah, we talk about that. Me and this guy, Boziak, that it really all not everybody, but some of the guys talking. And it is it's the the reentry program is horrible. Yeah.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Like like the idea that, you know, like me getting out. I got out of prison. Had I not been preparing the entire time while I was in prison to get out of prison. I literally would have gotten out with no money, seven months halfway house. They're taking, what, 35%? Oh, yeah.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Gross. Yeah. Gross. So basically, you're making less than a dollar. Yeah. Now, me, I tried to make it a game to...
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
save as much as I could and live you know like I ate the bologna sandwiches every day I ate all the free meals I never paid like you could pay to upgrade and get a hamburger if you want to like I'm not paying nothing yeah so I'm getting the bologna sandwich whatever you give me for free I'm sleeping here I'm buying I'm going to Walmart buying the cheapest stuff and I still got lucky because I happen to have sold an option and
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
And they re-optioned it, and I got a check a couple weeks after I got out. I happened to get a check for a few thousand. If not, I don't know what I would have done. Oh, yeah. And I had seven months to prepare. But you're starting your entire life over. That's difficult.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
And if you don't plan at all, you're screwed.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Oh, yeah. No, if you're not a planner and you're not bright enough to know this is coming, which most people just aren't.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
And it's not about being smart. It's having, well, it takes a little, but to plan ahead. And if you don't, if you're not a planner, then you're done.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
And listen, and anybody that thinks that there's some counselor in prison preparing you, like, hey, you need to think about this. Listen, those counselors don't want to see you at all. They despise you. Oh, God, yes. And it's obvious, too. It's like...
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
You know, they were like, well, Mr. Gant, you need to program to blah, blah, blah. I'm like, you want me to take the GED? I graduated high school. I've been in the military. I can read, write. I can do advanced math. You've got nothing to offer me. And that just, all of that just, they wanted me to work in Unicor. I'm like, I don't owe y'all a dime. I got angry back at them.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I'm like, I don't owe you nothing.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I had a counselor one time tell me, because one of my charges was identity theft. She said, identity theft. She went, you know, she said, I think people like you. Oh, identity theft and fraud. She goes, I think people like you should be strung up by the police. by the flagpole. And I said, well, thank God they don't do that.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
And she just, you know, and she was, she just, she was just a nasty person. Luckily, over time, she ended up liking me. But for the first, listen, for the first five years, like five years is a long time.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
He knows the route forwards and backwards, knows all of his customers, knows which keys they need, and he's basically the boss of the truck. And then a third one would be the ATM guys, and they fill up all the ATMs. There's a myriad of other things behind the scenes.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
It takes a long time to win someone over.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah. You gotta be working at it. After five years, she started being civil. Yeah.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
That's oddly not an uncommon attitude from them. Yeah. It's like, we should have probably just shot you. I'm like, maybe you should have. It would have been cheaper, but then you'd be out of a job.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I was going to say, it's funny because even the guys we were talking about where I was saying they just come and it's just a job and they leave, even them, although those are the guards I liked because they're just enforcing the rules and they have nothing in it. There's no skin in the game. They're still not going to go above and beyond. No.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
the status quo is make sure they don't count them, feed them. But, and that's it. Like as far as preparing them to go back into society, they're like, ah, they're grown men. They're fit. They'll figure it out. Well, they could have figured out how to live and function in society to begin with. They probably wouldn't have been here. Um, and, uh,
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
This is kind of weird, but I look at people getting out of prison as an untapped resource. These people have shown that they're self-starters. A lot of them are natural entrepreneurs. Why not harness that?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I used to teach the real estate, you know, the ACE courses. Yeah. I used to teach the real estate one and I used to go in there and I would say, listen, real estate is the one thing that you guys can train because most of 85% of the guys in my class were drug dealers. Yeah. I was like, it's the one thing that you got you that the drug dealers, I said, will exceed that. Yeah.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Because you're hustlers.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah. And they understand that. I was helping a buddy of mine do a math class. And we had 20 or 30 former drug dealers. And they were struggling with fractions. I'm like, dude, you guys have dealt. How much is an eight ball? Yeah. Oh, that's an eighth. There you go. You've been using fractions your whole life.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
And once that clicked in their head, man, they took that next math test and blew it out of the water. Right.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I used to love they would say, well, I can't do it. I can't. I can't. I'm not smart enough to figure this out. I'm like, really? Really? You can tell me the starting lineup of the Super Bowl. You can tell me how much all these people make, how much this actor made or this this rap star. You can tell me like, you know, the stats for every single person playing in the NBA.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
But you can't remember this. Stop it, bro. Like, don't don't give me that shit. Like, that's that's a cop out. And, you know, eventually, yeah, they I ended up teaching the the SLD class and G and GED. It was the same thing. I had a guy that I always think this is tragic. I had a guy that had taken the GED and failed it like twice, two or three times. Not not a stupid guy. Yeah.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
He just he couldn't pass the essay portion. So they sat him in a room with me for about a week. We wrote multiple essays. I gave him a very simple formula. He went back and passed the GED and including the essay portion. And I was always like, like, that's great. Like, wow, I did. I know. So I noticed yourself. I felt great about that. He died about two weeks later. Massive heart attack.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
But, you know, you know, so it's not a great story.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah, it's not a great story.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
But I hear you. I hear you. So, okay. I mean, I feel like I've gotten everything I can get out of you. I mean, can you think of anything else you want to say or clear up?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Well, I think the biggest thing I learned about prison is if you have to go, Don't waste your time. Apply yourself. Pick up a book. I spent years reading psychology books, self-help books, and just reading in general from everything from small engine of repair to science and history. Don't be the guy that spends your time living on your bunk.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
But they're not, like the ATM guys and the messenger and driver, they're not going out at the same time, right? They're on two different routes, right?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Did you kind of have a plan for what you figured you were going to do when you got out?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I had a general idea that I wasn't going back to North Carolina. And I wanted to get away from anything that had to do with security. And I wanted to work outside. And I just wanted to change my life. And so that's why I started looking at psychology books and self-help books. And I had to fix, I had to fix Dave first before that or everything else would fail.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Okay. I mean, I, I mean, trust me, I feel the same way. Like when I, I had a, when I started writing, like I, my memoir, writing in my memoir and reading about writing is, And reading about the things in your past have helped shape you. And reading about that makes you do a lot of self-reflection.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah, they're usually on different routes. The ATM guys usually keep to themselves.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
And to me, that's like at that point, I had like a, I would say it was like a fundamental shift in my attitude. I went from it was everybody else's fault to, no, it's my fault. It's my fault. I fucked up.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I screwed up. Right. and then you have to go, okay, where do I fix this? Why am I a walking can of worms? And then figure it out.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah, I have a buddy, Pete, who always says, you cannot come to prison and continue to behave the way you did prior to prison and not expect to come back. And that was really how I took that to heart. So yeah, and now I'm here with you. This was David Gant's story and I appreciate you coming by, obviously. And I appreciate you guys watching and do me a favor, check out my Patreon.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Okay. And once you get the money, you go back to like a warehouse, like a secured warehouse and unload the money and they count the money and...
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
All of the links to my books are in the description box. See ya. I don't know if you guys know this or not, but when I was locked up, I wrote a whole bunch of true crime books. And all of the books are on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Audible. They're e-books. Check out the trailers.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
There's a whole separate crew that counts all the money. They have a money room. And the messenger, he never actually touches raw cash money. Never. It's always bagged with an address. Never an amount. And... So you get your manifest in the morning, you load your truck, triple check everything, sign it off, and you go out on your route.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
If you saw anything you like, links to all the books are in the description box.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
So you started as a messenger?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
No, I started off as a driver. Oh, okay. I drove the Hickory Run for close to a year. Hickory's a little town up north of Charlotte.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Okay. And so when did you—I thought you said you had become a messenger, or then you went to a—
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah, there was a, I'll call it an incident at Wells Fargo. And I ended up becoming a messenger and then later a vault superintendent.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah, and they've decided they're going to kill me. Right. He's got a buddy. McKinney, and they're going to hire him. He's going to go down to Mexico and kill me.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
What, I mean, what was that, like layoffs, or was that the layoffs?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah, they had a large layoff, and a lot of people, we were really shorthanded, and a lot of people got promoted. I probably got promoted, I probably should have never been promoted, probably past driver. To be brutally honest, I was really good at being driver. I understood the route, I knew all the safety procedures, and I was really good at it. And I probably should have never went past that.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
So I have a question because like I said, I only reason I know this is like, is money come up missing before? Does it just come up missing sometimes?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
I'm sure it does. Usually the biggest thing was they would lose coins because they have them boxed up. And one of our horror stories was a bad rainstorm. A guy got caught in. He was out taking in a load of coin. The boxes got wet and busted. Coins go everywhere. And they had to go out there with brooms and sweep it all up.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
The guy, Jamal, that I did the story on, he told me that one time a guy came and turned in the bags, right? Like here's, you know, the messenger came in. Here's the bag. He said he scanned them all in and the manifest or whatever, he's like, okay, you're missing a bag. You're missing like 60 grand. And he said, and the guy had been there like three years. And he was like... No. He goes, yeah.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
He said, yeah, look. Shows him, and he goes, huh. So he goes back, and he goes, let me check the truck. Goes back in, checks the truck. Comes back. He goes, it's not in the truck. He goes, are you sure? He goes, I'm just telling you. Says you're supposed to have eight bags. You got seven. And he's like, oh, wow. And he said, okay. He goes... So he makes a note.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
He said, I guess they'll figure it out later. I don't know. He made a note, turned it in, explained the whole thing. Guy went home. Guy came back the next day. They talked to him. He's like, no, I mean, yeah. They called the branch. They were like, you picked it up. He's like, well, it should be here. It just acted like, I don't know. And he ended up not getting – like they didn't fire him.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
They were like, it's just – I don't know what happened. They kept him on. Like he had just locked – I want to say it was $60,000, but it may have been $30,000. I know there was two different events. Then he said – like they literally kept him on. He was listening. He was about two weeks later. He shows up on a brand-new $12,000 motorcycle.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
and i was like i was like no he said i swear he is when i he is i remember looking at him going nice bike and he goes yeah you like that and just kept on walking like yeah and he's like like i just took him for this they did nothing happen to him now another time there was he said there was a woman same basic thing but she had pulled up
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
And so when they checked the – when she showed up, same thing, I'm missing money. They were like, that's weird. They went back and checked the surveillance, and she had stopped the vehicle, got out, went to her car, and came back. And they were like, no, something's wrong. So they actually called the police, went to her car, and found the money. She was fired.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Hey, this is Matt Cox, and I am here with David Gant. David Gant was – he's – should I say bank robber or bank robber or –
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
And he goes, but the thing is, he's like, they recovered the money. He goes, they just fired her. They didn't press charges or anything.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Because they don't want the publicity. Right. They don't want that in the news. They don't want to be in the news at all. One of the things I do remember is we had a messenger. He went all around. He went for like five or six stops on his route. And I think there was like 100. $175,000 cash. There was a little spot on the back bumper. And this bag, big cloth bag, fit right in that little nook.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
And he rode around, I think it was Mooresville? I'm not sure. But it was somewhere in western North Carolina. He rode around for like an hour and a half with $175,000 on the back, on the bumper of the truck.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Just... Did he stop, did it fall off? Did he stop and notice it?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
He, when he got to his next stop, he noticed...
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
And, you know, but it... Wow. I mean... Yeah. Well, so, I mean, I know, you know, I think obviously what they want to do is they want the public to feel like, hey, this is a super secure industry. We dot all our I's. We cross all our T's. It's super secure. Everybody's paid well. Everybody's trained. They're all professional. But the truth is that's not what's really happening. Yeah.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Basically, on that, the emperor has no clothes. Right. You know? You go to, I look back on it now, and the gun training we got was poor. You're firing an old, they used a 38 special back then, and the range is maybe seven, eight feet to the target, and it's just huge. It's bigger than a life-size target, and you only need to hit it about eight out of ten times.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
That's usually the title I end up with.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Everybody gets to fire a shotgun, and it's a really sad joke.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
He was saying, the guy I had interviewed, he was like, they tell you, like, give up the money. Like, if you're in a crowded place, give up the money. Like, we don't want pedestrians shot. Don't get into a gunfight. If somebody shows up, pulls a gun, you're in a crowded place, give up the money immediately. Do what they say. You've got a better chance of survival, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah, bank robber for Loomis Fargo. One of the largest Loomis Fargo robberies in history. It was $17.5 million. And it was, they say this over and over again, that it was literally a ton of cash. And so we're going to do an interview and I appreciate you guys watching. And so check this out.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Basically, they tell you to run away. And if the driver is watching you, because they're supposed to watch you in the mirror, not all of them do, he sees you run away, he's supposed to drive away as well. That way, you lose that one stop, and that's it.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Okay. Okay, so, I mean, what happened? You're working there and you're working overtime. You're not making great pay. You're married. Is your wife work?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Yeah, my wife at the time worked.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
Okay. Did you have kids?
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
No, no kids. Okay. What happened was over time, you know, the stress of the job and the stress of my life, we just bought a house, two new cars, and we're getting by, but just as long as I keep working long hours, we'll be fine. And that started to wear on me. And... You know, I probably had other issues from before, and it starts to build up, and I'm getting... I got desperate.
Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
How He Pulled Off a $17 Million Robbery | The Loomis Fargo Bank Heist
And then when they came and suggested this to me, it looked like a way out. Right. Who suggested it? Kelly Campbell and her friend... Chris? No, it wasn't Chris. It was... I'm probably going to get hate mail now for not remembering the guy's name. Chambers.