The individual who was apprehended for stealing Kristi Noem’s Gucci purse while she was dining has now been identified as a Chilean repeat offender.
Noem, who serves as the Secretary of Homeland Security and is 53 years old, was having dinner with her family at The Capital Burger in downtown DC when a man wearing a medical mask managed to abscond with her Gucci handbag last weekend.
It contained roughly $3,000 in cash, her makeup bag, driver’s license, passport, medication, apartment keys, DHS access badge and some blank checks.
The culprit, Mario Bustamante-Leiva, aged 49, was taken into custody for the bold theft, as reported by the NY Post. He has been residing unlawfully in the United States for an extended period and is suspected to be part of a larger criminal group that has been carrying out robberies along the East Coast.
This is not the Chilean’s first run-in with the law. He made headlines on DailyMail.com back in 2015 for being one of London’s most prolific robbers.
He was jailed in the UK for three years after stealing $27,957 worth of phones, wallets and computers during a five-month crime spree.
Bustamante-Leiva was a jobless father-of-three at the time with no fixed address.
Mario Bustamante-Leiva, 49, was apprehended for the theft in DC. He is pictured here in his mugshot from his robberies in the UK
Noem, 53, was dining with her family at The Capital Burger in downtown DC , when a man in a medical mask was able to sneak off with her Gucci bag last Sunday
The Chilean national trawled exclusive bars, restaurants and coffee shops looking for laptops, mobile phones, iPods and tablets.
In 2015, the Old Bailey court in London heard in one case he even stole a bag containing an entire family’s passports and airplane boarding passes.
Police released CCTV footage which showed the brazen thief swipe an unsuspecting woman’s handbag from under her nose as she chats with a friend.
He admitted 22 charges of theft between July and December 2014.
Noem thanked law enforcement for arresting her suspected robber.
She wrote on Sunday: ‘Thank you to Secret Service and ICE 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 illegally for years.
‘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.’
Reports indicate that Bustamante-Leiva sat alone at a table next to the secretary and was able to snatch her purse while no one was looking.
He used his left foot to drag and slide the bag into his possession and away from Noem.
The suspect looked around the restaurant, picked up the bag, put it under his jacket, and bolted.
DHS Sec. Kristi Noem had her bag stolen from her table as she dined with her family at The Capital Burger in downtown Washington Sunday evening
Noem had no idea anything had even happened until the rose from her table to see the purse was gone.
Speaking on The Vince Show, a podcast with Vince Coglianese, this week, Noem said: ‘He hooked it with his foot and dragged it a few steps away and dropped a coat over it and took it
‘I think I was a busy grandma with four grandkids under the age of 4, and I was taking care of them and feeding them food and enjoying my family, yeah, but certainly had my purse even touching my feet.’
The brazen theft was significant when considering that Noem has an around the clock Secret Service detail watching her every move.
The secretary also disclosed that she believed the criminal is a professional.
‘It was professionally done,’ Noem said on the show. ‘It tells me that this happens all the time to people, and that they live in communities where this is a danger,’ she added.
