Yahoo News 'ChiefsAholic' missed Kansas City's opening win after getting 17½ years for bank robbery
Taylor Swift was there. So was every other red-clad, diehard superfan when the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Baltimore Ravens 27-20 to open the NFL season Thursday night at home.
With one exception.
A man popularly known as “ChiefsAholic” for wearing a gray wolf's suit to games was sentenced Thursday for committing 11 bank robberies from which he stole nearly $850,000 in seven states and laundered the money at casinos.
U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs sentenced Xaviar Michael Babudar to 17½ years in federal prison without parole, according to the U.S. attorney's office. The court also ordered Babudar to pay more than $500,000 in restitution.
Babudar, 30, and federal authorities reached a plea agreement in February. He was arrested after spending four months as a fugitive and admitted to robberies in 2022 and 2023. In August 2023, he was indicted on three counts of armed bank robbery, one count of bank theft, 11 counts of money laundering and four counts of transporting stolen property across state lines.
“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,” U.S. Atty. Teresa Moore said in a statement. “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.
"However, the bank and credit union employees whom he terrorized at gunpoint suffered the brunt of his true nature. He tried to flee from justice, but law enforcement caught up with him and now he will spend a significant portion of his life in prison.”
Bank employees who were victimized by Babudar testified or provided written statements at his sentencing hearing.
“I still have nightmares about my bank being robbed,” one victim said in court.
Another victim wrote in a statement: “Every morning, I think about the robbery before I go to work."
Babudar made a short statement during the hearing, saying, “Every day is a reminder of that shame I must carry."
More than a dozen charges were dismissed in the plea deal, which also stipulates that he must forfeit to the government any ill-gotten property, including an autographed painting of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
The revelation that the "ChiefsAholic" was a criminal jolted a Chiefs fan base that can come to revere Babudar, who said he wore the wolf costume to honor the team's mascot, KC Wolf.
Read more: Freddy Falcon, Sir Purr and a bunch of huge-headed dudes: A definitive guide to NFL mascots
Babudar was initially arrested in December 2022 in Oklahoma and released on bond to home confinement. However, prosecutors allege that he removed his ankle monitor and robbed two more banks. He was captured by the FBI near Sacramento after spending months on the run.
In April, an Oklahoma judge ordered Babudar to pay bank teller Payton Garcia $3.6 million for inflicting physical harm and emotional distress and $7.2 million in punitive damages. He pointed a black pistol at her head while robbing the Tulsa Teachers Credit Union of $150,000.
Garcia's lawyer, Frank Frasier, acknowledged that while it will be all but impossible for Garcia to collect the award, the judgment still has value.
"He'll never be able to profit from this," Frasier told ESPN. "Say he writes a book in prison, say he does the Lifetime or Hallmark movie ... anything he obtains from that will be paid to his creditors."
Meanwhile, Babudar was deprived Thursday of his favorite activity, donning the wolf costume and cheering the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. He missed the thrilling rematch of last season’s AFC title game, which Kansas City won by a touchdown in Baltimore.
This time, Ravens receiver Isaiah Likely appeared to catch the tying touchdown pass with no time on the clock, but replay revealed his right toe was just into the back of the end zone, giving the Chiefs the victory.
Read more: Chiefs' Travis Kelce helps ignite Kansas City community with car rebuilding shop for students
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
