KANSAS CITY, Missouri (AP) — A federal judge has sentenced the Kansas City Chiefs superfan known as “ChiefsAholic” to more than 17 years in prison for a series of 11 bank robberies in seven states in which he stole nearly $850,000 to fund his social media fame.
Xavier Babudar, 30, learned his fate Thursday – the same day his beloved Chiefs were preparing for their season opener against the Baltimore Ravens. He will spend 17 1/2 years in prison for admitting to bank robberies earlier this year.
Babudar developed a following on his @ChiefsAholic account on social platform X after arriving at games dressed as a wolf in Chiefs gear. His fanatical support of the Chiefs became well known on social media, although he is far from the team’s most famous fan since Taylor Swift began dating tight end Travis Kelce last year.
“Babudar’s robbery spree financed expensive tickets and cross-country travel to attend Kansas City Chiefs games while building a large online following. But the brunt of his true nature was felt by the bank and credit union employees he terrorized at gunpoint,” U.S. Attorney Teresa Moore said in a statement.
Most of the money Babudar stole was never recovered, so the court ordered him to pay over $530,000 in restitution and to turn over all the items he used to launder the money, including a signed painting of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes that the FBI seized.
But of course, he will probably never be able to repay that amount, just as he is unlikely to pay $10.8 million to an Oklahoma bank teller he terrorized and attacked with a gun during one of his bank robberies. Prosecutors have said much of the stolen money was laundered through casinos and online gambling.
Babudar robbed or attempted to rob banks in Iowa, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Tennessee, Minnesota, Nevada, and California in 2022 and 2023. Two of the robberies were committed after he cut his ankle bracelet while out on bail and fled Oklahoma. He even robbed the same bank in Clive, Iowa, twice in 2022, although the bank changed its name in the months between the robberies.
When he was first arrested in 2022, he was carrying a bag containing $289,750 in cash, $24,000 in betting slips, and bank deposit slips showing that he had deposited $20,000 and $50,000 into his account earlier that year.
Before the start of the 2022 season, Babudar placed two successful $5,000 bets, betting that the Chiefs would win Super Bowl LVII and that Mahomes would be named the game’s Most Valuable Player. He cashed a $100,000 check from the Argosy Casino in Illinois before driving off, and used some of his winnings to purchase a vehicle that he used to evade authorities.
He was arrested in Sacramento, California in July 2023 and has been in federal custody since then.
