‘ChiefsAholic’ sentenced for robbing banks to fund his football road trips

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A Kansas City Chiefs superfan known as “ChiefsAholic” will spend the next 17 football seasons in a federal prison.

Xaviar Michael Babudar, 30, appeared in U.S. District Court in Oklahoma, where he was sentenced to 210 months for money laundering and robbing an Oklahoma bank. He was also sentenced to 87 months for transporting stolen property across state line. All three sentences are to run concurrently, and when he gets out of federal prison, he will be on supervised release for three years and ordered to pay $594,555 in restitution.

Babudar’s robbery spree enabled him to purchase expensive tickets to Kansas City Chiefs games and cultivate a large online following as “ChiefsAholic,” a knockoff of the Chiefs’ official mascot K.C. Wolf.

U.S. Federal Prosecutor Teresa A. Moore argued in her sentencing memorandum that “a lengthy sentence would be commensurate to Babudar’s crimes.”

Matthew T. Merryman, Babudar’s attorney, argued in his sentencing motion that his client should only serve 120 months or a 10-year federal sentence. According to the presentence investigation, the sentencing guideline ranges from 262 to 327 months.

Babudar’s mother, Carla Babudar, his brother, Noah, and a friend submitted letters to U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs asking for leniency.

In a handwritten letter, Carla Babudar took the blame for not recognizing her son’s gambling problem and also said her son has “expressed remorse for his social indiscretions honorably” and cited a scripture verse often taken out of context regarding judging a person.

Babudar admitted to robbing or attempting to rob 11 different financial institutions in eight states from March 2022 to July 2023, stealing $532,455. He also admitted to using a dangerous weapon in the commission of these robberies.

However, federal prosecutors put the robbery proceeds at $847,725, saying some of the money he stole was recovered, though most was not.

In his motion, Babudar’s attorney attributed a chronic gambling addiction and poverty as the root of his decisions to rob banks and credit unions.

“During the past 20 years, Xaviar experienced chronic homelessness with his mother and brother due to financial hardships and family trauma suffered as a result of Xaviar’s father abandoning the family when Xaviar was an 8-year-old boy,” according to the motion.

“As Chiefsaholic’s following grew, Xaviar began to run contests for his fans and routinely gave away sports memorabilia, gift cards, and cash prizes to his followers on social media. It was against this backdrop that Xaviar began to get involved in sports betting,” the federal pleading states.

Sports betting evolved into frequent trips to the various riverboat casinos in the area, where Babudar developed into an “all-consuming gambling habit.”

In a civil suit, Babudar was also ordered to pay Payton Garcia $1.6 million for losses, $2 million for emotional damages, and $7.2 million in punitive damages in connection with the Dec. 2022 robbery of the Tulsa Teachers Federal Credit Union in Bixby, Okla.

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