Wolf-costumed Kansas Metropolis Chiefs superfan sentenced for robbing almost $1 million from banks
A Kansas City Chiefs fanatic has been sentenced to almost twenty years in jail for robbing or making an attempt to rob 11 banks, in a double life that noticed him stealing near $1m.
Xaviar Babudar grew to become a social media sensation for his superfan “ChiefsAholic” persona, for which he would costume up in a full-body wolf costume full with Chief’s merch.
Nevertheless, the 30-year-old’s parade was solely half the present, as he was on the identical time “secretly engaged in a violent crime spree of armed robberies and tried robberies throughout seven states,” mentioned US lawyer Teresa Moore after Babudar’s sentencing on Thursday.
She mentioned the convicted armed robber funded his costly superfan life-style of chiefs tickets and transport utilizing the cash stolen from his heists, which got here to a complete of $847,725.
Along with being sentenced to 17-and-a-half years behind bars, the courtroom ordered Babudar to pay $532,675 in restitution to the banks he focused, based on the US Legal professional’s Workplace.
The fees had been associated to a string of 11 robberies, or tried robberies, together with on the Tulsa Academics Credit score Union in Bixby, Oklahoma in 2022.
Coming into the financial institution on December 16 that yr, Babudar jumped the teller counter armed with what gave the impression to be a black handgun, ordering an worker at gunpoint to the credit score union’s vault.
He then demanded financial institution staff open the vault and transfer cash from it to a plastic bag, threatening to shoot them if they didn’t comply.
Based on a press release from Bixby chief of police Todd Blish on the time, the “fast and decisive motion” of a witness in reporting the robber’s description and the route he fled enabled officers to reply in “lower than two minutes and have the suspect in custody inside six minutes.”
The person apprehended was recognized as Babudar, who was carrying a big bag containing $150,250 in $100 and $50 payments.
Officers discovered pairs of goggles and gloves, which he had utilized in different financial institution robberies, in addition to two betslips for $4,000 and $20,000 and letters from Group America Credit score Union associated to his deposits of $20,000 and $50,000 in Might.
“The actions of Babudar had been brazen and traumatic for the financial institution staff robbed in Bixby, Oklahoma,” mentioned US Legal professional Clint Johnson of the Northern District of Oklahoma, who additionally thanked the Bixby Police Division for its work in collaboration with the FBI Tulsa area workplace, which helped detain Babudar.
The now orange jumpsuit-donning Babudar admitted robbing the Bixby financial institution and 10 different robberies or tried robberies.
He additionally pleaded responsible to at least one rely of cash laundering and one rely of transporting stolen property throughout state traces.
Following his arrest, Babudar was launched on bond in February 2023.
Days after inserting a number of bets starting from $5,000 to $100,000, Babudar reduce off his ankle monitor and fled from Oklahoma, based on courtroom paperwork by way of the discharge, utilizing his playing winnings to buy a automobile in Henderson, Nevada.
He admitted robbing two of the 11 banks whereas on the run, earlier than he was arrested for a second time in Sacramento on July 7, 2023.
