The Kansas City Chiefs superfan known as “ChiefsAholic” was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison by a federal judge for a series of 11 bank robberies that took place across seven states. He stole over $850,000 from the banks to fund his social media fame.
On Thursday, as his beloved Chiefs prepared for their season-opening against the Baltimore Ravens, 30-year-old Xavier Babudar found out his fate. Because of the bank robberies, he acknowledged earlier this year, he will serve 17 and a half years in prison.
Babudar gained popularity on the social media platform X with his @ChiefsAholic account after dressing up as a wolf in Chief’s clothing and going to games. Though he’s not even close to becoming the Chiefs’ most well-known fan since Taylor Swift started dating tight end Travis Kelce last year, his ardent devotion to the team gained widespread attention on social media.
“Babudar’s robbery spree bankrolled the expensive tickets and travelled across the country to attend Kansas City Chiefs games while he cultivated a large fan base online. However, the bank and credit union employees whom he terrorized at gunpoint suffered the brunt of his true nature,” U.S. Attorney Teresa Moore said in a statement.
Babudar was ordered by the court to pay nearly $530,000 in restitution and forfeit anything he used to launder the money, including an autographed painting of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes that the FBI was able to recover. The majority of the money that Babudar stole was never found.
Naturally, he might never be able to pay back that much, just as it’s improbable that he will return the $10.8 million to the Oklahoma bank employee he used a gun to threaten and attack during one of his bank robberies. Many of the stolen funds, according to the prosecution, were laundered through online and casino gaming.
In 2022 and 2023, Babudar committed bank robberies or attempted bank robberies in Iowa, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Tennessee, Minnesota, Nevada, and California. He broke off his ankle monitor when he was free on bond and ran away from Oklahoma after committing two of the robberies. In 2022, he even committed two robberies at the same bank in Clive, Iowa, even though the bank had changed identities in the interim.
He possessed a bag containing $289,750 in cash, $24,000 worth of betting slips, and bank deposit documents proving he had deposited $20,000 and $50,000 into his account earlier in the year when he was originally caught in 2022.
Babudar wagered $5,000 twice before the 2022 season began, winning both times that the Chiefs would win Super Bowl LVII and Mahomes would be awarded the MVP of the match. Before leaving, he picked up a $100,000 cheque from the Argosy Casino in Illinois, and he used some of his gains to purchase a car that he drove away from the law.
He was taken into federal jail in July 2023 after his arrest in Sacramento, California.
