By Of course. An illegal immigrant has been arrested in connection with the theft of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s purse at a Washington, D.C., restaurant on Easter Sunday, officials announced. Matt McCool, Special Agent in Charge of the Secret Service’s Washington Field Office, confirmed that agents, working alongside the Metropolitan Police Department, apprehended the suspect without incident. The theft took place at The Capital Burger, located about a mile from the White House, while Secretary Noem was dining with her family.
Although authorities did not initially release the suspect’s name, multiple news outlets identified him as Mario Bustamante-Leiva, a 49-year-old Chilean national. Ed Martin, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, later confirmed to NBC News that Bustamante-Leiva was unlawfully present in the country. Officials stressed that the theft appeared to be opportunistic rather than politically motivated.
US Attorney Ed Martin said it is not likely that Noem was targeted based on her high-profile position, adding that the suspects were probably attracted to the pricey Gucci bag — which also contained her driver’s license, passport, DHS badge and apartment keys.
“It was frankly… 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.”
“This individual is a career criminal who has been in our country illegally for years,” Noem said in a statement provided to The Washington Post through a spokeswoman. “Unfortunately, so many families in this country have been made victims by crime, and that’s why President Trump is working every single day to make America safe and get these criminal aliens off of our streets.”
Thank you to @SecretService @ICEgov and our law enforcement partners for finding and arresting the criminal who stole my bag on Easter Sunday as I shared a meal with my family at a Washington DC restaurant.
This individual is a career criminal who has been in our country…
— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) April 27, 2025
The stolen items included a $4,400 Gucci handbag, a $600 Louis Vuitton wallet, approximately $3,000 in cash, Noem’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) access badge, her passport, driver’s license, credit cards, blank checks, and a set of keys. Speaking on the Vince podcast with Daily Caller Editorial Director Vince Coglianese, Noem recounted the moment she realized her bag had been moved, at first mistaking it for one of her grandchildren kicking her legs. “It was very professionally done,” she said.
The New York Post reported that “Security footage captured the moment the suspect in a N95 surgical mask, dark pants, a “fur-type” collar and a ball cap lifted the DHS honcho’s bag before leaving the restaurant — which is located about a mile from the White House and features a signature burger for $23.
Bustamante-Leiva was previously arrested in 2015 for a five-month robbery spree in London, where he made off with nearly 28,000 worth of phones, wallets and computers, according to a report from the Daily Mail at the time.
Martin said that Bustamante-Leiva and his accomplice will never step foot in the country again now that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement is involved in the case.”
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