KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Attorneys for Xaviar Babudar, the alleged bank-robbing Kansas City Chiefs superfan, asked for and were granted a more-than-three-month delay in his federal trial.
Babudar, 29, who attended Chiefs games in a wolf costume and gained a sizable social-media following for his “ChiefsAholic” account, has been charged with 11 counts of money laundering, four counts of interstate transportation of stolen property and four counts of bank theft in a 19-count indictment handed down by a federal grand jury in August 2023.
Babudar’s trial was originally scheduled to begin Jan. 8, 2024, but it has been pushed back to April 29, 2024, after a judge with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri granted a continuance Wednesday.
“(T)he Court finds that it would be unreasonable to expect defense counsel to prepare this case adequately for trial prior to April 29, 2024, and that failure to grant a continuance would deny defense counsel the reasonable time necessary for effective preparation, and thus, would deny the defendant a right to effective assistance of counsel,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Jill A. Morris said in an order granting the continuance. “The Court finds that the ends of justice served by granting a continuance outweigh the best interests of the public and the defendant in a speedy trial.”
Morris also ordered a pretrial conference on April 10.
@kshb41 Wolf on the run: Xaviar Babudar’s journey from Chiefs super fan to bank robber to fugitive. #kc #chiefsaholic ♬ original sound - KSHB 41
Federal authorities allege that Babudar robbed or attempted to rob seven banks in five states — Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Tennessee and Oklahoma — between March and December 2022.
He allegedly laundered $1.1 million through Kansas City and St. Louis area casinos.
Babudar was arrested after he was apprehended fleeing from a bank robbery in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in December 2022.
He skipped bond after his arrest in Oklahoma and was captured in July 2023 in California.
According to court documents, Babudar also allegedly robbed banks in Nevada and California after cutting his ankle monitor in March 2023.
Babudar was extradited from California to Kansas City for his arraignment in federal court in early August.
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