Millions Taken In Armored-Car Heist Are Discovered In N.C. Storage Unit

MOUNTAIN HOME, N.C. - Millions of dollars stolen six months ago in the largest armored-car heist in U.S. history were found today in a rented storage unit.

FBI agents found the money in a mini-storage facility in Mountain Home, about 15 miles south of Asheville, where the stolen armored car had been abandoned.

More than $18.8 million was taken in the heist in Jacksonville, Fla. The FBI in Charlotte would not say precisely how much was found, except to say it was in the millions. The statement also did not say what led them to the money.

A former driver for Loomis, Fargo and Co. armored car company, missing since the March 29 robbery, was arrested Aug. 30 as he crossed into the United States from Mexico on a bus headed for Houston. Philip Noel Johnson, 33, faces charges of kidnapping, money laundering and robbery.

Authorities said he held two co-workers at gunpoint as he filled a van from floor to ceiling with bags of cash. One co-worker was found handcuffed inside a closet at Johnson's home. The other was shackled to a tree in Asheville.