- Here’s a case study of how people aren’t always what they seem.
A seemingly harmless, even popular and well-liked person turns out to be some diabolical criminal mastermind. It’s a plot line that you’ve seen in TV shows, movies, and books again and again.
If you’re a Kansas City Chiefs fan, though, there’s a good chance you’ve been following just such a double-life case for the past couple of years. Now, that story has ended in a prison sentence.
The weird story centers around Xavier Babudar. Those supporting the Chiefs, however, may know him better as ChiefsAholic — a popular social media personality who would show up at virtually every Chiefs game in his signature werewolf outfit.
Outside the wolf costume, however, Babudar wasn’t the nice, energetic football fan he seemed to be. Instead, he was a serial bank robber responsible for 11 robberies.
He would launder his ill-gotten fortune through various casinos. His profits went into funding his constant travel between Kansas City Chiefs games.
Both Babudar’s social media presence and crime spree ended in 2022, after his first arrest. Just a couple months later, he went on the lam until finally being caught again in July 2023.
Now, Babudar has received his sentence. The judge’s gavel sealed a more than 17-year prison sentence.
A Beloved Hype Man
For years, the now 30-year-old Babudar was a popular, even beloved sight at Kansas City Chiefs games. You certainly couldn’t miss noticing him — he went to the games dressed in a full-body gray wolf suit, with Chiefs attire draped over it.
Frankly, if you were a fan of the Chiefs, you had no reason not to be a fan of Babudar as well. He was something of the team’s unofficial hype man.
At games, he would run around tailgates and pose for pictures with his fellow fans in the audience. Some big Chiefs fans managed to become buddies with Babudar and would message him outside the games, asking for gambling tips — something the wolf man seemed very knowledgeable about.
That’s foreshadowing, folks.
Babudar was also very popular on social media, where he was known as ChiefsAholic. He would post weekly, pre-game hype videos to rile up Chiefs supporters.
Some wondered how the guy could afford to travel to almost every Chiefs game. But hey; he was a pretty stand-up dude so he must’ve just been successful in general.
Double Life
Outside the spotlight, however, Babudar wasn’t what he seemed. In addition to the Kansas City Chiefs, the self-professed ChiefsAholic was addicted to something else as well — gambling.
Now, gambling can get very expensive if you lose. Add to that the expenses of appearing at almost every Chiefs game, and Babudar was constantly burning through cash.
So how did he afford it all, actually? Well, he did it through bank robbery.
“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. Attorney 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.”
Over his 16-month robbery spree, Babudar stole more than $800,000. However, he knew he couldn’t use the cash straight away, so he had to launder.
To do that, he turned to his gambling expertise. He would use the money to buy chips in various casinos, play a bit, and then cash in the remaining chips for fresh cash that couldn’t be traced back to the robberies.
And then he’d buy tickets to the next Chiefs game.
Caught and Then Caught Again
At the end of 2022, ChiefsAholic mysteriously disappeared from social media. He stopped posting and people began wondering if he got sick or something.
He wasn’t sick, though. He just finally got arrested.
On December 16, 2022, Babudar was arrested as he was fleeing from an armed credit union robbery in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Yet, he was released on bond in February 2023, with a GPS monitor strapped to his leg.
Soon after, he won big, receiving $100,000 from two bets he made on the Chiefs. Now that he had available cash, Babudar promptly cut off his monitor and went on the run.
Babudar evaded the long arm of the law for almost four months. During this period, he robbed two more banks in Nevada and California.
But on July 7, 2023, he was finally caught again, and this time the cops wouldn’t give him a chance to escape. Fast forward to September 5 of this year, and Babudar received his final sentence.
In Kansas City federal court, U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs sentenced him to 210 months in prison, sending him behind bars for 17 and a half years. Babudar also has to pay $532,675 in restitution to the banks and credit unions he robbed.
That’s short of the amount he stole, but that’s simply because some of the stolen cash was recovered.
“Babudar terrorized bank employees throughout his multi-state crime spree, while relishing his celebrity status. Today’s sentencing speaks to the severity of his actions,” Special Agent in Charge Stephen Cyrus of the FBI Kansas City Field Office concluded.