Illegal Aliens Accused of Stealing Noem’s Purse Pulled Off Similar Schemes Days Before
“Bustamante-Leiva, who is in the US illegally, is believed to be part of a large East Coast robbery organization.”
Officials arrested two illegal aliens for allegedly stealing DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s Gucci purse last weekend.
Noem’s purse contained $3,000 in cash, her passport, blank checks, and her access badge.
Prosecutors filed federal charges against Chilean native Mario Bustamante-Leiva: 18 U.S.C. § 1343 (Wire Fraud), 18 U.S.C. 1028A(a)(1) (Aggravated Identity Theft), and 22 D.C. Code § 2801 (Robbery).
The charges include two robberies in the days before Bustamente-Levia allegedly took Noem’s purse.
The man who allegedly snatched the purse is from Chile. From The New York Post:
Mario Bustamante-Leiva, 49, of Santiago, was arrested Saturday after he allegedly made off with the luxury shoulder bag while Noem, 53, was at an Easter outing with her family at the Capital Burger in Washington, DC, sources told The Post.
Bustamante-Leiva, who is in the US illegally, is believed to be part of a large East Coast robbery organization.
Cops later arrested a second suspect — another illegal migrant — in Miami and are holding him on a deportation notice while finalizing charges, according to sources.
The two suspects allegedly work together and have committed similar robbery schemes across the country, the sources said.
From the charging document:
USSS-WFO and USSS-UD personnel (collectively, the “United States Secret Service” or “Secret Service”) subsequently reviewed and obtained video from the Capital Burger. In relevant part, BUSTAMANTE LEIVA entered the business at approximately 7:52 PM and sat down at a table within arm’s reach of Victim-3. BUSTAMANTE LEIVA sat down in the chair closest to Victim-3 and pushed the chair back from his table and in the direction of Victim-3. In the context of this investigation, investigators believe this action was deliberate and done in an effort to get closer to Victim-3’s belongings. The suspect then looked downward (likely in the direction of Victim-3’s purse) and then at a child milling around nearby. CCTV footage from Capital Burger captured Victim-3’s purse at her feet and the base of her chair, and in the immediate possession of Victim-3.
Seconds later, BUSTAMANTE LEVIA twisted his body to his left towards Victim-3’s purse and moved his left leg. Simultaneous to that movement, an object determined to be Victim-3’s purse was seen moving out of camera view and in the direction of the suspect (between the 49 and 51 second mark of the aforementioned video). The video then captured the suspect bend down with his jacket in one hand and, with his other hand, pick up an object from the floor that law enforcement to be Victim-3’s purse (beginning at the 1 minute and 3 second mark of the video). The entirety of the referenced video is in possession of the Secret Service.
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
U.S. Attorney Ed Martin believes the men targeted Noem because of the Gucci purse and not because she’s a high ranking official in President Donald Trump’s administration.
Martin told NBC News: “There is no indication it was because of that. It was frankly, it was a nice looking purse.”
I’m a luxury purse snob (My Lady Dior purse is a prized possession!) and man…When I am out, the purses do not leave my sight. I also won’t travel with them.
The New York Post linked to a 2015 Daily Mail article because Bustamante-Leiva performed the same schemes in London.
He admitted to 22 theft charges between July and December 2014:
One of London’s most prolific thieves has been jailed for three years after stealing £21,000 worth of phones, wallets and computers during a five-month crime spree.
Jobless father-of-three Mario Bustamante-Leiva, 39, of no fixed address, wore a flat cap and a large overcoat even in the height of summer in order to conceal his pickings.
The Chilean national trawled exclusive bars, restaurants and coffee shops looking for laptops, mobile phones, iPods and tablets.
The Old Bailey heard in one case he even stole a bag containing an entire family’s passports and airplane boarding passes.
Police have released CCTV footage which shows the brazen thief swipe an unsuspecting woman’s handbag from under her nose as she chats with a friend.
Bustamante-Leiva can be seen hooking the bag with his foot before quickly leaving the cafe with the handbag tucked under his coat.
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Comments
Shoot him.
Or, if we prefer to be more environmentally aware, a reusable noose could be employed,
Made of locally-sourced hemp that has been raised without pesticides.
Harvested by union field workers.
Doing work Americans want to do.
Or, recycled via hog-pen, or run through a feed mill. Indirect path to returning to the earth from whence he came.
The noose is minor greenwashing. Just mulch his body.
Compost!
woodchipper
Mulch him alive!!
Toss him in pig feedlot alive.
Similar to the Tower of Silence used to dispose of the bodies of those of the world’s oldest monotheistic faith, Zoroastrianism.
Easier to just have him stand between a Senator, any senator, and a TV camera.
I remember being warned not long ago about the crime tourists that flew into the US specifically to steal stuff.
It would be a crying shame to steal a purse rigged with a charge that would provide the “Eye for an Eye, Tooth for a Tooth” justice these nonsociable cretins desire.
To do so would certainly be horrible, but one instance of “los Manos” being severed would certainly give them a hint as to what we are capable of.
¿si se puede?
Manis, the Hands of Fate!
Include a pager in the purse.
I like pager in each of his pockets.
TFW the bitch you just ripped off is the top cop of the United States of America…
The irony of it is pretty funny.
I am both impressed by, and alarmed by, the ability of law enforcement to identify and apprehend this shadowy career criminal. They must have eyes everywhere.
Cameras are all over the place. Traffic, ATMs, Security cameras …many jurisdictions have dedicated cameras in public places/sidewalks for LEO purposes, some use drones as well. No expectation of privacy in public has never been more true.
Exactly. We are entering 1984 Orwellian society, where the cameras will soon be in your living room.
Trump is watching YOU now!
I don’t know about eyes but there are cameras everywhere,
Ring routinely invites all their consumers to volunteer to make their videos available to law enforcement. As far as I understand, that lets LE make a single request from Ring HQ for any footage taken in a specified neighborhood during a specified period, with no warrant required, from participating consumers only.
They can solve pretty much any case they want to. If they actually try.
And yet, they couldn’t track a pipe bomber who set two devices near the center of the lawmaking buildings, or the murderer of Seth Rich. If you read the charging document, it’s mostly one DC officer doing the investigation tracking this guy and his accomplice down. It reads like the feds only assisted.
Two SS agents right there
Can’t make this crap up
Guess they were not doing their job
Again
Well, Trump is in charge of the SS now.
“Well, Trump is in charge of the SS now.”
I see One-Note Junior has made his obligatory TDS post for the evening.
Say hello to TeeJayVee and Reselyup when you go collect your nickel tonight.
definitely overpaid even if it was a plugged nickel.
Trump is everything JR envies, that eats at him.
Earn those nickels, troll.
There wasn’t even a slopey roof.
District Court Judge weighing into to stop deportation in 5…4….3….2….1
Of course if this were ever to go to trial the perp would first be released on personal recognizance with 0 bail. The Soros DA would then plea bargain down to 6 months probation and 200 hours community service. They would then be feted by the democrats. Van Hollen would buy them the cocktail of their choice complete with colorful parasol.
I suspect criming against a federal official makes it a federal beef, so those judges will have to gnash their teeth in the dark for a while longer.
How soon will a judge get the case to free them?
Why is she carrying around $3000? That’s a lot of walking around money….
I carry cash. When I get down to $100 I will resupply with $300. I can’t see anybody carrying over a thousand dollars unless they are in a cash only type of business or buying drugs.
Or traveling. CC companies freeze accounts all the time because they suspect one is comprised No cah, shit up the creek.
Three tires, a battery, and a mobile welding service. Stuff happens.
What do you mean, you “can’t see”? That’s the step before “there oughta be a law.” I’ll carry as much or as little as I choose, thank you.
I’d have loved to be a fly on the wall watching as these two Illegal Alien thieves realized the purse they boosted belonged to the DHS Secretary!
LOL!!
If we deport all the illegals who will steal purses? Is this a job Americans are willing to do?
plenty aka blmplo
I am both comforted and concerned about this. It is a good thing that the criminal justice is able to rapidly track down and imprison career criminals in this fashion. I’m less convinced it is a good thing when they turn that same tight, efficient, steamroller of justice against defenseless political enemies such as about 95% of the J6 arrests, and do not use it as a way of taking real criminals off the streets. This guy and his ilk have committed thousands of crimes against DC residents, 99% of which were never investigated more than taking a statement and seeing if perhaps the perp was lounging in plain sight with a sign around their neck. I would very much like to see criminals fearing to walk the streets and citizens out and about rather than the inverse.
Perp Only caught because of the victim’s name. Hundreds or thousands of similar crime victims get no resolution. Worse, in some jurisdictions perps get free lodging, meals, clothes, etc. and a Congress person to travel internationally to their aid.
another hero to the left