Kansas City Chiefs superfan sentenced to 17.5 years in prison for armed bank robberies
A Kansas City Chiefs superfan was sentenced to 17½ years in prison without parole for committing numerous armed bank robberies, the Department of Justice announced Thursday.
Xaviar Babudar, 30, also known as "ChiefsAholic," was also ordered to pay $532,675 in restitution to the victim financial institutions and give up an autographed painting of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes that has since been recovered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Missouri, Babudar lived a nomadic existence at various locations around the Kansas City metropolitan area. He would usually show up at Chiefs games – both home and away – in a gray wolf suit.
Federal authorities say his 16-month crime spree, which began in March 2022, resulted in 11 different banks being robbed. Babudar stole $847,725, and authorities say most of that money was not recovered.
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In February, he pleaded guilty to one count of bank robbery, one count of money laundering, and one count of transporting stolen property across state lines. Babudar also pleaded guilty to another count of bank robbery, which was contained in a separate case filed in the Northern District of Oklahoma. He was sentenced to 17½ in each case, which will be served concurrently.
His life of crime ended on July 7, 2023, when he was arrested in Lincoln, California.
Bixby, Oklahoma, police caught him running from an armed robbery on Dec. 16, 2022, after stealing $139,500 from Tulsa Teachers Federal Credit Union. He was released on bond two months later, and the following month, he cut off his GPS monitor after winning $100,000 in gambling bets on the Chiefs.
Babudar proceeded to rob two more banks in Sparks, Nevada, and El Dorado Hills, California, while authorities looked for him.