Two Illegal Aliens Arrested in the Theft of Kristi Noem’s Purse

The man who stole the Homeland Security Secretary’s bag in a D.C. restaurant is an illegal immigrant and career criminal. The man who possessed some of the contents is an illegal immigrant.

The suspect grabbed Kristi Noem’s bag while she dined with family at a hamburger restaurant late Sunday. The defendant was taken into custody in the District of Columbia, and he has a lengthy arrest record.

The thief Mario Bustamante-Leiva is a serial offender. He appears not to have targeted Noem because of her person or position. He will face charges in a federal court. Bustamante has been committing crimes in the country illegally for years.

A second person was arrested and charged with driver’s license/possession of stolen or fictitious identification. That is a state violation.

Secretary Noem thanked the Secret Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other law enforcement agencies investigating the theft that occurred on April 20th in the Capital Burger, which is about a mile from the White House.

Bustamante Leiva, 49, of Santiago, Chile, will face Federal charges.

How He Did It

Leiva was masked, walked upstairs, dragged her purse, tucked it under his jacket, and walked out.

“This was not an amateur. This was a person, a thief, who knew how to do this. You could see how he scouted the room out,” U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ed Martin told NBC News.

The bag was between her feet, but she thought it was her grandchildren kicking her when she felt it move.

“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 dragged it a few steps away, dropped a coat over it, and took it,” Noem said on the “VINCE Show.”

“I felt it, but I thought it was my grandkids kicking me in the legs. But it was very professionally done, and it is telling that this happens all the time to people and that they live in communities where this is a danger, and it reaffirms why I am here,” she added. “My job is to make sure that I do everything, every day I can, to make our communities safer, and President Trump recognizes that families shouldn’t have to live with any kind of violence in their lives.”

What he took

The stolen item was a $4,400 Gucci bag lying on the ground next to Noem and containing a $600 Louis Vuitton Clemence Purse and $3,000 in cash, according to the Post.

It also contained Noem‘s DHS access badge, her passport, various credit cards, blank checks, a set of keys, and her driver’s license, NBC News reported.

ICE is involved.

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