Monday, November 4

Chiefs soccer fan charged with robbing Iowa financial institution, suspected in string of crimes

Federal prosecutors filed costs Monday towards a Kansas City Chiefs fan accused of robbing a financial institution in Iowa and suspected of holdups in different states.

Xaviar Michael Babudar, 29, of Overland Park, Kansas, often known as the wolf-costume-wearing fan ChiefsAholic, was charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office within the Western District of Missouri with one depend of financial institution theft and one depend of transporting stolen property throughout state traces. 

Federal prosecutors filed the fees after Mr. Babudar was arrested Friday within the Sacramento suburb of Lincoln, California.



“[Investigators] determined 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,” the legal criticism reads.

Mr. Babudar was first arrested in December after he was accused of robbing $150,000 from an Oklahoma financial institution. The suspect was launched on bond in February, however he minimize his ankle monitor in March and was on the lam till his arrest final week.

FBI brokers started reviewing financial institution data, on line casino transaction data and delicate monetary reporting following Mr. Babudar’s arrest in December. The legal criticism stated investigators discovered the suspect purchased and redeemed greater than $1 million in chips from numerous casinos in Missouri, Kansas and Illinois from April 2022 to December.

After discovering that Mr. Babudar hadn’t reported any wages in Kansas since 2018 or in another state since October 2021, investigators seemed into unsolved financial institution robberies to see if that’s the place the suspect was sourcing his cash.

Records confirmed that Mr. Babudar’s cellphone was positioned in the identical cities and areas of 4 financial institution robberies in Nebraska, Iowa, Tennessee and Oklahoma in addition to two tried holdups of credit score unions in Minnesota. 

The legal criticism charged Mr. Babudar with stealing $70,000 from the Great Western Bank in Clive, Iowa, in March 2022 and taking the cash to Missouri. 

Prosecutors stated the NFL fan pulled off the heist by sporting a ski masks and handing a teller a word demanding cash. He was given the $70,000 by the teller, and authorities stated they later discovered $1,460 in close by woods and a glove worn by Mr. Babudar in the course of the theft.

The suspect then deposited the approximate quantity of the financial institution’s stolen cash right into a cash market financial savings account, the criticism stated, and made a number of on line casino chip purchases and redemptions on the Argosy Casino in Riverside, Missouri.  

If convicted, Mr. Babudar faces as much as 30 years behind bars.

Content Source: www.washingtontimes.com