Elizabeth Merrill
David Purdum
David Purdum
ESPN Workers Author
Joined ESPN in 2014
Journalist overlaying playing business since 2008
A decide ordered the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs superfan who dedicated a collection of financial institution robberies to pay $10.8 million to a Bixby, Oklahoma, teller he threatened with a gun in December 2022.
Final Wednesday, Tulsa County District Choose Tracy L. Priddy ordered Xaviar Babudar, broadly referred to as Chiefsaholic, to pay Payton Garcia, the previous teller, $3.6 million for inflicting bodily hurt and emotional misery and $7.2 million in punitive damages.
Babudar’s lawyer, Matthew Merryman, didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Garcia’s lawyer, Frank Frasier, acknowledged Monday that it will likely be a problem to gather the cash. Babudar was unemployed and dwelling in automobiles on the time of his crimes. He reached a federal plea settlement in February, admitting to stealing greater than $800,000 in 11 robberies throughout seven states and laundering the proceeds by way of casinos. The plea deal requires him to pay at the least $532,675 in restitution to the monetary establishments he robbed.
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“However the level is 2 issues,” Frasier instructed ESPN. “He’ll by no means have the ability to revenue from this. Say he writes a guide in jail, say he does the Lifetime or Hallmark film … something he obtains from that will likely be paid to his collectors.
“The second half total is that this: The decide despatched a message that you just can’t revenue from crime. You can not revenue by higher notoriety, you can’t revenue from clicks, getting extra views, getting extra likes.”
Babudar, 29, constructed a big social media following as @Chiefsaholic on X and Instagram, cultivating the picture of an formidable, beneficiant younger man who loved playing, Kansas State sports activities and, most of all, the Chiefs. Nonetheless, an ESPN investigation revealed that a lot of what he portrayed about himself on-line was not true.
Babudar was first arrested Dec. 16, 2022, in Bixby, after fleeing the Tulsa Academics Credit score Union, the place he pointed at black CO2 pistol at Garcia and demanded she give him “the 100s” or he’d put a bullet in her head, in line with Bixby police.
He was launched on bond in February 2023, and a month later, after receiving $100,000 in winnings from two bets on the Chiefs, escaped. He evaded authorities for practically 4 months earlier than being apprehended July 7, 2023, in California.
Babudar is at the moment at Leavenworth federal jail in Kansas and is scheduled to be sentenced in July.
Frasier mentioned Garcia needed to go away her job after the theft and continues to be coping with the trauma of the crime.
“This has affected her kids, her marriage,” Frasier mentioned. “She’ll by no means have the ability to return into work in banking. [It affected] all facets of her life.”
