Chiefs Fan, ChiefsAholic, Who Robbed Banks To Fund His Superfan 'Addiction' Is Sentenced to 17 1/2 Years
Kansas City Chiefs superfan ChiefsAholic pulled 11 robberies and stole more than $800,000 over a seven-state crime spree to fund his superfan addiction, prosecutors said Thursday after Xaviar Babudar was sentenced to 17 ½ years in prison.
For Babudar, 30, his days of telling a Nashville bank teller that he would "blow your brains out" are over - for now. He'll be on the hook for the full 17 ½ years without parole and then three years of supervised release, according to ESPN.
Meanwhile, Babudar's team contends the sentence is too harsh for a guy who had a gambling addiction. Prosecutors say the gambling addiction defense is garbage.
ChiefsAholic at a Chiefs-49ers game October 23, 2022 at Levis Stadium in Santa Clara, CA. (Photo by Bob Kupbens/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
"It's not an addiction to gambling. It's not an addiction to the Chiefs," Patrick Daly, senior litigation counsel at the U.S. Attorney's Office told reporters. "It's an addiction to fame."
The ultimate insult to Chiefs superfan ChiefsAholic came when the U.S. government sentenced him on opening day of the 2024 season
With Patrick Mahomes and his beloved Chiefs just hours away from taking on the Ravens at Arrowhead Stadium and with Taylor Swift ready to OMG her way through another season from a suite, Babudar learned he was going away and would never see Mahomes throw another pass.
At 28, it's highly unlikely Mahomes will still be slinging it in 17 years when he's 45. He'll have kids in their 20s and he'll be a billionaire. Meanwhile, ChiefsAholic will be released back into the wild as a nearly 50-year-old who won't even recognize the Chiefs franchise.
Let this be a lesson to the other NFL superfans, or any superfan, out there who thinks about robbing a bank to fund your superfan activities. Telling a bank employee that you'll "come back and put a bullet in your head" if there's a dye packet in a robbery bag has consequences.
"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 an official response from the U.S. Justice Department. "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."
ChiefsAholic cut off his ankle monitor bracelet in 2023 after a casino paid him off for a winning Patrick Mahomes MVP gambling ticket. / Getty Images. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
ChiefsAholic bank heists, according to the government:
- $70,000 from a Clive, Iowa bank
- $139,500 from a Tulsa Teachers Credit Union
- $170,860 from an Omaha bank
- $303,845 from a West Des Moines, Iowa credit union
- $125,900 from a Nashville credit union
- $25,000 from another Clive, Iowa bank
After a December 2022 bank robbery, Babudar was released on bond.
"Months earlier, Babudar had placed two winning bets at the Argosy Casino in Alton, Ill. On June 10, 2022, Babudar bet $5,000 that Kansas City Chiefs’ quarterback Patrick Mahomes II would win the Most Valuable Player at Super Bowl LVII, which would pay out $45,000 should that occur," the Justice Department says. "Babudar also bet $5,000 that the Kansas City Chiefs would win Super Bowl LVII, which would pay out $55,000 should that occur. When the Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl on Feb. 12, 2023, and Mahomes won the Most Valuable Player award, Babudar won $100,000. Argosy Casino mailed Babudar a $100,000 check in early March 2023."
After receiving the check from Argosy, ChiefsAholic cut his ankle bracelet and took off. He admits to robbing two more banks while on the run.
Those robberies included:
- $1,100 from a Sparks, Nevada bank
- $950 from a bank in El Dorado, California
Four days after that robbery, he was arrested and hasn't stepped foot in Arrowhead Stadium since.