17½ years in prison for K.C. Chiefs superfan who went on bank robbery spree in Minnesota, 6 other states

On the same day that his beloved Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs open the 2024 season, superfan “Chiefsaholic” was sentenced to 17½ years in prison and handed a hefty restitution bill for funding his celebrity gallivanting by robbing or attempting to rob numerous banks in the South and Midwest, including the Twin Cities.

The sentencing of Xaviar M. Babudar, 30, of Overland Park, Kan., in U.S. District Court in Kansas City follows him pleading guilty to money laundering and transporting stolen property across state lines. He also pleaded guilty to bank robbery involving a separate case filed in Oklahoma.

“While parading as a social media celebrity, the defendant secretly engaged in a violent crime spree of armed robberies and attempted robberies across seven states,” said Teresa Moore, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri.

“Babudar’s robbery spree bankrolled the expensive tickets and travel across the country to attend Kansas City Chiefs games while he cultivated a large fan base online,” Moore continued. “However, the bank and credit union employees whom he terrorized at gunpoint suffered the brunt of his true nature.”

The court ordered Babudar to pay $532,675 in restitution to the financial institutions he victimized in 2022 and 2023. Some of the stolen $847,725 was recovered, but most of it was not, according to prosecutors. Once out of prison, he’ll be under court supervision for three years.

In a full wolf getup, Babudar was a regular presence at Chiefs home and road games. But after he missed the Chiefs’ game in Houston on Dec. 18, 2022, against the Texans and his social media postings went dark, word spread among fans about his arrest two days earlier in Oklahoma following the bank robbery there, according to KMBC-TV in Kansas City.

Babudar attempted to launder the cash by buying more than $1 million in gambling chips at casinos in Missouri, Illinois and Kansas, then redeeming a similar amount, the charges read.

Thursday’s sentencing, mere hours before the Chiefs begin their season vs. the Baltimore Ravens in search of a third straight Super Bowl title, also ordered Babudar to forfeit to the government any property involved in his money laundering scheme, including an autographed painting of Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes that was recovered earlier by the FBI.

Defense attorney Matthew Merryman argued before sentencing for Babudar to receive 10 years in prison. Merryman cited his client’s life of chronic homelessness and addiction to gambling as hardships.

Among the 11 banks he admitted to targeting were two in the Twin Cities, but came away empty-handed both times.

A masked Babudar attempted to rob Wings Financial Credit Union on Hwy. 13 in Savage on Nov. 29, 2022. He entered with what appeared to be a gun and demanded that employees open the vault. Babudar fled from the credit union, however, after seeing the vault only held small bills.

On the same day, he also attempted to rob Royal Credit Union in Apple Valley with what appeared to be a gun. After again only seeing small bills in the vault, Babudar demanded $100 bills. Employees told him they didn’t keep $100s in the vault, and he fled on foot.

Along with Minnesota, Babudar’s crime spree from March 2022 to July 2023 included holdups in California, Iowa, Nebraska, Nevada, Oklahoma and Tennessee.

In late December 2022, Babudar was arrested with a BB gun and charged in Oklahoma with robbing a bank just outside of Tulsa. While out of jail on bond in March 2023, he removed a monitoring bracelet from his ankle and was a fugitive until his capture July 7, 2023, near Sacramento, Calif., according to federal prosecutors.

“The bank was not the only victim of these crimes,” read a post-sentencing statement from Stephen Cyrus, special agent in charge for the FBI in Kansas City. “Babudar terrorized bank employees throughout his multistate crime spree, while relishing his celebrity status.”