Wednesday · November 11, 2026
Edited daily
American history, reported as it happened
Made for the 250th
19971776 Club

A vault supervisor loads $17.3 million into a company van and drives away

David Ghantt sends a new co-worker home early, then empties the Charlotte vault into private cars at a printing shop across town.

By the fall of 1997, Loomis, Fargo & Co. had just formed from the merger of Wells Fargo Armored Service and Loomis Armored, and its Charlotte, North Carolina regional vault held millions in cash. On the evening of October 4, vault supervisor David Scott Ghantt sent a newly hired co-worker home early at 6 p.m., then loaded roughly $17.3 million into a company van. Outside, he met his girlfriend Kelly Campbell and five others, who helped transfer the cash into private vehicles at a printing business in northwest Charlotte. Ghantt kept $50,000 for himself and flew to Mexico. The rest stayed with his accomplices…

1776 Club

This story is held for members.

Members read every story of the day — and tomorrow's, and the next.

Join the 1776 Club
$17.76 your first year · then $39.99/yr · cancel anytime
More from October 4
1777

Fog swallows Washington's attack; his own columns fire on each other at Germantown

A fortified stone mansion and a morning fog stopped Washington's most ambitious attack of the war so far.
1862

Galveston's mayor surrenders the city after a truce the Confederates used to haul away its cannons

A single disabled gun was all that stood at Fort Point when 150 Union sailors raised the flag over the city.
1993

By dawn, a relief convoy finally reaches the surrounded Americans in Mogadishu

Seventeen hours after the first Black Hawk fell, Pakistani and Malaysian armor opens a corridor out of the city.
18761776 Club
The doors were supposed to open two days earlier, but only six students showed up.
Read this as a member →
Read the full October 4 edition →Everything that happened on October 4 →
More from Modern America
2001

Hijacked jets strike the World Trade Center and the Pentagon; a fourth crashes in a Pennsylvania field

Passengers aboard United 93 fought back before it went down near Shanksville.
2008

Lehman Brothers collapses into bankruptcy; $600 billion in assets, no buyer, no rescue

A weekend of failed talks with Barclays and Bank of America ends with the largest corporate bankruptcy filing ever recorded.
2001

Bush tells Congress: this is a war on terror, and it starts with al Qaeda

Nine days after the towers fell, the president draws a line meant to reach far past Afghanistan.
2001

Every network goes dark to the same broadcast tonight; $200 million follows

ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox suspend their rivalry for two commercial-free hours of grief and music.
The Daily Record · free by email

Tomorrow's edition in your inbox — one featured story, one quote, and today's flag status. Free, every morning.

The full experience

Read every story, narrated, in the app.

Take this story with you.

The complete daily edition, the deep-cut narration, and a library that's yours — the 1776 Club lives in the app.

Your membership comes with you — every event, narrated, with flag alerts, CarPlay, and your saved library.

Download on the App Store