Posted on: September 9, 2024, 05:41h.
Last updated on: September 9, 2024, 05:41h.
A Kansas City Chiefs superfan turned serial armed bank robber has been sentenced to 17½ years for hitting banks across the Midwest, Nevada, and California and laundering the proceeds through casinos.
Xaviar Michael Babudar, 30, was a familiar sight at Chiefs games where he was often picked up by TV cameras because of his gray wolf costume. He had an online following under the social media handle “@Chiefsaholic.”
But he was also a troubled individual who had a difficult upbringing and lived a nomadic existence around the Kansas City metropolitan area, according to federal prosecutors.
His crime spree began in March 2022 when he robbed a Great Western Bank in Clive, Iowa. On December 16, 2022, he was arrested while fleeing on a bicycle from a robbery at Tulsa Teachers Credit Union in Tulsa, OK.
On the Run
Babudar was released on bond in February 2023. He was ordered to remain in Oklahoma and wear a GPS monitor on his ankle.
Shortly after, he won $100K from bets placed in June 2022 on his beloved Kansas City Chiefs winning the Super Bowl. He sawed off his ankle bracelet, withdrew the money, and took off.
Babudar remained at large for almost four months, robbing banks in Sparks, Nevada, and El Dorado Hills, California, as he went. He was arrested on July 7, 2023, in Lincoln, California.
All in all, Babudar stole $847,725 from 11 banks and financial institutions, most of which remains unrecovered.
From April to December 2022, he bought more than $1 million in chips from casinos in Missouri, Kansas, and Illinois, redeeming a similar amount through the casinos, a pattern indicative of money laundering, according to prosecutors.
‘Addiction to Fame’
In a court filing, Babudar’s attorney, Matthew Merryman, argued the robberies were driven by his client’s gambling addiction.
“It’s not an addiction to gambling. It’s not an addiction to the Chiefs,” Patrick Daly, senior litigation counsel at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, countered. “It’s an addiction to fame.”
In a post-sentencing statement, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Kansas City Field Office Stephen Cyrus agreed with that sentiment.
Babudar terrorized bank employees throughout his multi-state crime spree, while relishing his celebrity status,” Cyrus said. “Today’s sentencing speaks to the severity of his actions and the significant law enforcement assistance and resources utilized across multiple states to hold him accountable for his violent and criminal behavior.”
Babudar was ordered to pay $532,675 in restitution to financial institutions he robbed and give up an autographed painting of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes that was seized by the FBI.