CHARLOTTE, N.C. — During one overnight shift, a bumbling conspiracy of thieves just west of Charlotte stole more than $17 million from Loomis Fargo.
Paying the money back has taken a lot longer, and time is running out for the U.S. government to collect.
Turns out, most of the thieves and their accomplices have been about as effective coming up with their court-ordered restitution as they were hiding their original crimes.
Twenty people were convicted of roles big and small in the massive 1997 armored-car warehouse heist in west Charlotte. Fourteen defendants were ordered to make restitution payments to Loomis Fargo totaling almost $19 million.
Only a nickel on every dollar have been collected so far.
Loomis has received $978,983.79, according to Sally Butcher, an assistant clerk in the federal courts of the Western District of North Carolina who specializes in criminal debt. More than half of the amount came from the seizure of a luxury home purchased by husband-and-wife defendants during their post-heist spending spree.
That sounds like a lot of money — until it’s compared to the $18,930,201.26 the group was ordered to pay.
Restitution is a familiar part of sentencing in federal court. The figures can be astounding. In 2017, for example, Paul Burks of Lexington was ordered to pay $244 million to the victims of his worldwide Ponzi scheme, Zeek Rewards. Burks was…
