Super fan ‘Chiefsaholic’ nabbed in California, accused of armed robberies across Midwest
A popular Kansas City Chiefs fan, known for dressing as a wolf at games, has been arrested and charged more than six months after he was initially arrested for robbing a bank in Oklahoma, and after four months on the run.
Xaviar Michael Babudar, a 29-year-old from Overland Park known as “ChiefsAholic” online, was arrested Friday in California and faces a new federal robbery charge in addition to his earlier charges in Oklahoma.
Investigators determined, according to the affidavit, that Babudar “would travel to various locations throughout the Midwestern United States to perpetrate a string of robberies at various banks and credit unions before returning home to the Kansas City Metropolitan area to launder these robbery proceeds through area casinos and deposit these proceeds in his various bank accounts.”
While allegedly robbing a bank in Nashville, Tennessee, in November, Babudar allegedly told bank employees he would “put a hole in your head” if they included a dye pack with the $125,000 cash he was stealing.
Babudar was arrested Friday in Lincoln, California, federal authorities said. His initial court appearance is set for Monday afternoon in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California in Sacramento.
A federal grand jury will ultimately decide if Babudar should be indicted on the current federal charges of one count of bank theft and one count of transporting stolen property across state lines.
“Babudar enjoyed a robust social media presence as Kansas City Chiefs superfan Twitter user @ChiefsAholic,” Monday’s federal news release stated.
His Twitter account appears to have since been deleted.
After Babudar’s initial arrest, authorities would not confirm that he was the person behind the social media page for Chiefsaholic. Nevertheless, his arrest immediately went viral on social media as fans speculated about the incident.
Babudar’s name initially hit headlines in December, after he was arrested in Tulsa County, Oklahoma, for allegedly robbing a credit union at gunpoint of more than $150,000. He was charged with armed robbery and assault while masked or disguised.
Authorities said he was wearing ski goggles and a paintball mask at the time, not the wolf mask he was known for donning at Chiefs games.
After Babudar’s arrest in December, FBI investigators connected his cell phone location to historical data from cell towers near the scenes of unsolved robberies at four banks in Nebraska, Iowa, and Tennessee, and to attempted robberies of two credit unions in Minnesota.
FBI investigators found that between April and December of 2022, Babudar also purchased and redeemed more than $1 million in chips from casinos in Kansas, Missouri and Illinois.
In January, Babudar’s public defender at the time filed a motion seeking to reduce his bond, saying his then-bond of $200,000 was excessive. In that filing, his attorney said Babudar reported having been self-employed for about five years.
He bonded out in February. In March he violated court orders by cutting off his ankle monitor in Tulsa and going on the run. A warrant for his arrest was issued in late March. In June, he placed on the Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers’ “Most Wanted” list.
The latest charges announced Monday are specifically related to $70,000 stolen from Great Western Bank in Clive, Iowa, on March 2, 2022.
Bank employees told police at the time that a thief came into the bank wearing a ski mask and appearing to be armed, then handed the teller a note demanding money. Police later found nearly $1,500 in $20 bills in the woods, along with a glove they connected to Babudar.
In the six weeks after the robbery, Babudar deposited the same amount that was stolen in Clive into his money market savings account and made multiple casino chip purchases and redemptions at the Argosy Casino in Riverside, Missouri, according to the affidavit.
The historical cell phone data also showed that Babudar’s phone was in the vicinity of a few Chiefs games, including the Arizona Cardinals game on Sept. 11, the Indianapolis Colts game on Sept. 25, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers game on Oct. 2, the Los Angeles Chargers game on Nov. 20, and the Denver Broncos game on Dec. 11.
Records from the Kansas Department of Labor showed Babudar last reported wages in Kansas, where he resided, in 2018, according to the affidavit. The last time he reported wages was in October 2021, in another state.
“ ... Other than occasional eBay sales activity, we have not yet detected a consistent source of wages, revenue, or income from any legitimate employment for Babudar over this time,” court records read.
In previous court filings, he listed his mailing address in Overland Park, but he also called himself homeless. He wrote that his last employment was in 2020 in a warehouse.
He previously filed a slip and fall lawsuit against Gillette Stadium from an incident he alleges occurred in 2019 on the day the Chiefs played the Patriots in Boston, according to federal court records filed in Massachusetts.
