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Elizabeth Merrill
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Elizabeth Merrill
ESPN Senior Author
- Elizabeth Merrill is a senior author for ESPN. She beforehand wrote for The Kansas Metropolis Star and The Omaha World-Herald.
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David Purdum
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David Purdum
ESPN Workers Author
- Joined ESPN in 2014
- Journalist protecting playing trade since 2008
Notorious Kansas Metropolis Chiefs superfan Xaviar Babudar was sentenced in an Oklahoma courtroom Monday to 32 years in jail, 2½ years after authorities caught him within the state as he fled from an area financial institution theft.
Babudar, referred to as ChiefsAholic, is already serving a 17½-year federal sentence for robbing banks in seven states from 2022 to 2023. However the Tulsa County district lawyer’s workplace needed him to serve extra time and sought a life sentence for the 30-year-old. His sentence is concurrent, that means he’ll serve a further 14½ years in an Oklahoma penitentiary after his federal time period ends.
“It was offensive to me,” stated Tulsa County District Legal professional Steve Kunzweiler, “{that a} serial robber might victimize as many hardworking People as this man did all throughout the nation and solely obtain 17½ years from the federal authorities.
“My desire was for him to serve the remainder of his life in jail. He caught one other break in the present day, however no less than he’ll be serving some further time, and my ideas are with the victims who proceed to be affected by his violence.”
In March, Babudar pleaded responsible in Oklahoma to theft with a firearm, assault whereas masked or disguised and eradicating an digital monitoring system in reference to a Dec. 16, 2022, armed theft of the Tulsa Lecturers Credit score Union.
Babudar’s attorneys, Brett and Jay-Michael Swab, expressed reduction on the sentencing resolution. “[The prosecution] needed him to die in jail,” Jay-Michael Swab stated.
“Our total place from the start is that we need to reside in a world the place everyone’s handled equally, not based mostly on notoriety or social media presence.”
He stated his shopper’s theft spree was fueled by a playing dependancy and a troubled childhood that left him homeless. Swab stated Babudar is remorseful and has discovered Jesus throughout his incarceration.
In December 2022, en path to a Chiefs sport in opposition to the Houston Texans, Babudar stopped in Bixby, Oklahoma, and pointed a black CO2 pistol at a financial institution teller on the credit score union earlier than fleeing with $150,000. He was caught shortly afterward and in February 2023 was launched on bond. A month later — after receiving $100,000 in winnings from two bets on the Chiefs — he eliminated his GPS system and went on the run.
After robbing banks in Sparks, Nevada, and El Dorado Hills, California, Babudar was caught by the FBI in California in July 2023. He was accused of a string of beforehand unsolved robberies all through the Midwest and in Tennessee.
In 2024, Babudar entered a plea deal within the Western District of Missouri federal court docket and admitted to stealing greater than $800,000 in 11 robberies throughout seven states and laundering the proceeds via casinos.
Regardless of his request to be housed at a federal jail in Illinois, Babudar, based on court docket paperwork, was despatched to a super-maximum safety jail in Colorado referred to as the “Alcatraz of the Rockies.” He has been within the Tulsa County Jail awaiting court docket proceedings since January.
Earlier than his arrest, Babudar was probably the most standard superfans in Kansas Metropolis. Wearing a grey wolf go well with, he fired up sport crowds, mugged for photos with youngsters, and solid a robust social media presence constructed on a persona of a hardworking, beneficiant bachelor.
Jay-Michael Swab stated Babudar didn’t deserve a life sentence, or any further penalties, as a result of he by no means supposed to harm anybody and did not use a “actual firearm.” Others in Oklahoma disagreed. Frank Frasier, a Tulsa lawyer who represents former financial institution teller Payton Garcia, stated his shopper needed to give up her job on the Tulsa Lecturers Credit score Union due to the trauma of that day. Frasier stated they felt strongly that Babudar must be punished to the utmost extent of the legislation.
Brett Swab stated his shopper is taking accountability for actions and can take “each avenue” to enhance himself and finally grow to be a productive member of society.
“No single or a number of sequence of occasions defines him as an individual,” he stated.
