BREAKING: Suspect Linked To Theft Of DHS Chief Kristi Noem’s Handbag Arrested
Authorities didn’t take long to find who they believe was responsible for stealing Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s expensive handbag filled with jewelry, her government ID, and cash. And the most interesting, ironic part is that the suspect isn’t supposed to be in the country.
Secret Service and DC Metro Police officers have reportedly arrested an illegal immigrant after Noem’s purse was stolen last week from a Washington, D.C., restaurant over Easter weekend. Noem, 53, was celebrating Easter with her family at The Capital Burger when a masked thief made off with her luxury shoulder bag, which contained over $3,000 in cash, her driver’s license, passport, DHS badge, and apartment keys.
The New York Post reported that the unnamed suspect—an illegal alien believed to have ties to an organized theft ring—is expected to appear in court early next week. Police are also searching for a second suspect, another migrant in the country illegally believed to have participated in the crime, D.C. Metro Police sources told the outlet.
D.C. U.S. Attorney Ed Martin stated that it was unlikely Noem was targeted due to her high-profile position. “There is no indication it was because of that,” Martin told NBC News. “It was frankly, it was a nice looking purse. This was not an amateur. This was a person, a thief, that knew how to do this. You could see how he scouted the room out.” The bag—priced at $4,400 on the label’s website—was lying on the ground beside the DHS secretary’s table when it was taken, according to a police complaint. Inside was a Louis Vuitton Clemence purse valued at $600, investigators noted.
Security footage shows a man in an N95 surgical mask, dark pants, a fur-collared jacket, and a ball cap lifting the bag and leaving the restaurant, which sits about a mile from the White House. “It was kind of shocking, actually, because it was sitting right by my feet. I actually felt my purse —he hooked it with his foot and drug it a few steps away and dropped a coat over it and took it,” Noem said during a recent discussion with conservative podcaster Vince Coglianese. “I thought it was my grandkids kicking me in the legs, but it was very professionally done,” she added on the “Vince” podcast. “It tells me that this happens all the time to people, and that they live in communities where this is a danger and it reaffirms why I’m here.”
Julio Rojas of The Blaze Media reported on X that “a law enforcement source” identified the suspect as Chilean national Mario Bustamante Leiva, who has also been arrested for similar criminal activity in London in 2015, according to a DailyMail.com report. It should be noted that neither the U.S. attorney’s office nor USA Journal News has confirmed at this time that Bustamante Leiva is indeed the suspect in custody.
BREAKING: A law enforcement source in D.C. has confirmed to me the man accused of stealing DHS Sec. Noem’s purse is Mario Bustamante Leiva. U.S. Attorney for D.C. Ed Martin has said the man is in the U.S. illegally.
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) April 27, 2025
A Daily Mail article from 2015 says Bustamante Leiva is Chilean… pic.twitter.com/6c1h6nPTsL
