Chiefs superfan arrested, charged after allegedly robbing banks across the central U.S.

Xaviar Babudar, a Kansas Chiefs superfan that allegedly robbed a Tulsa County bank in Oklahoma, was arrested by authorities on Friday near Sacramento, California, federal prosecutors announced Monday. The 28-year-old has been arrested and charged with one count of bank theft and one count of transporting stolen property across state lines, according to CBS News. The two federal charges each carry a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. 

“I am thankful for the hard work of the FBI in finding and arresting Xaviar Babudar,” Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler said in a statement Monday, via ESPN. “As Tulsa County was the first jurisdiction to arrest and charge Babudar in December 2022, it is the goal of my office to prosecute him in Tulsa County District Court prior to a federal case. As a fugitive from justice from our jurisdiction after his bond was reduced over our objection, Babudar posed an extreme risk to the public. I am grateful that no other citizen or law enforcement officer was subjected to the violence he demonstrated in Tulsa County, Oklahoma.”

An affidavit accuses Babudar of a robbery that took nearly $70,000 from Great Western Bank in Clive, Iowa in March of 2022. Prosecutors also said that he is suspected in many other robberies and could face additional charges. 

Babudar previously landed on the Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers most wanted list in connection to his alleged involvement in the robberies and was listed as the region’s fifth most wanted fugitive. Up until his arrest Friday, he had been on the run after Babudar removed his ankle monitor and missed his arraignment hearing in Tulsa County in March. Once it was determined that Bahudar was on the run, a $1 million bond warrant was issued, according to the Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office.

Babudar was arrested back on Dec. 16 after he allegedly robbed the Tulsa Teachers Credit Union in Bixby, Oklahoma. He was facing charges of robbery with a dangerous weapon and assault while masked or disguised. In February, Babudar pleaded not guilty to those charges and was released on bond.

Back in March, Babudar’s bail bondsman, Michael Lloyd, told ESPN that he received a notification on March 25 that his client’s ankle monitor had been removed. Lloyd then traveled to the Tulsa hotel where Babudar had been staying, but Babudar was nowhere to be found. According to a court affidavit, the ankle monitor was disposed of in the woods nearby and the District Attorney had then filed an additional charge of removing an electronic monitoring device against Babudar.

This latest affidavit says Babudar traveled the Midwest  and robbed banks and credit unions in Oklahoma, Nebraska, Iowa and Tennessee, and is also suspected of two credit union robberies in Minnesota. He allegedly would then launder the robbery proceeds through casinos and bank accounts. 

An investigation by the FBI, per the affidavit, determined that Babudar purchased and redeemed over $1 million in chips at casinos in Missouri, Kansas and Illinois between April 2022 and December 2022.