The purse-snatcher arrested for stealing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s Gucci bag is an illegal immigrant and alleged career criminal with a record going back a decade, according to news reports.
Authorities arrested 49-year-old Mario Bustamante Leiva Saturday in connection with the Easter Day theft at The Capital Burger in Washington, D.C. Leiva could appear in court early this week to face charges, Newsweek reports.
Leiva, a Chilean national, allegedly grabbed Noem’s Gucci bag containing $3,000 in cash and other personal items, including her driver’s license, passport, DHS access badge and apartment keys.
Leiva was caught by the DC Metropolitan Police and the United States Secret Service, according to news reports.
A second suspect connected to the crime, Christian Montecino Sanzana, 51, was arrested Sunday in Miami Beach, NBC 6 News reports.
Police tracked down Sanzana at a Walgreens, charging him with possession of a stolen or fictitious driver’s license, according to an arrest report. The Secret Service confirmed the arrest was the second in the purse theft. Both men were in the country illegally, NBC News reports.
Noem, 53, was on an Easter outing with her family at The Capital Burger when the theft occurred. A masked man passed two plainclothes Secret Service officers who were sitting at the bar on his way to her table, which was upstairs, according to NBC News.
Imagine this and try not to laugh.
You are a criminal illegal and you see a beautiful woman and you decide to snatch her purse only to find out she is in charge of deporting criminal illegals.
Mario Bustamante Leiva meet Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.
Adios Amigo! pic.twitter.com/pHFm1GzxsA
— C3 (@C_3C_3) April 27, 2025
The man sat down next to Noem’s table and put his foot on her purse to drag it toward himself, according to two sources familiar who viewed the surveillance footage. Then, he swiftly picked it up, tucked it under his jacket and walked out, passing the protection agents on his way out.
Noem posted on X on Sunday: “Thank you to @SecretService @ICEgovand 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.”
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 Metropolitan Police Department and United States Secret Service announced in a joint statement on Sunday Leiva has been charged with two counts of robbery, related to two alleged incidents predating Noem’s bag theft.
Secret Service Washington Field Office Special Agent in Charge Matt McCool told Newsweek in statement, “Following a comprehensive investigation, the Secret Service alleges that the defendant is a serial offender. We have also determined that this incident had no protective nexus to Secretary Noem or her role as Secretary of Homeland Security.”
Leiva is believed to be part of a large East Coast robbery crew, sources said, and investigators will likely make additional arrests due to the wider connection to a possible theft ring.
McCool added: “The investigation revealed alleged criminal activity, including potential device and credit card fraud. Given this, the Secret Service will maintain jurisdiction over the case and intends to present its findings to a federal court in coordination with the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.”
Additionally, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ed Martin told NBC News that Leiva was in the country illegally. Investigators don’t believe Leiva targeted Noem specifically because she is the Department of Homeland Security chief.
“President Trump’s direction to us is we charge these folks that are here illegally and we prosecute them, as well as deport them when need be, you know, as soon as that can happen,” Martin told NBC, adding: “What I can tell you is he won’t be back on the streets in America.” and believes Leiva will not “be back on the streets in America.”
Leiva appears to have made a career out of crime, which dates back at least a decade and spans continents, according to news reports. An article published by The Standard in March 2015 reported that Leiva stole everything from purses to phones and jewelry from women across London. The then 39-year-old spent four months across the city, targeting women in bars, restaurants and coffee shops.
Leiva was Chilean and unemployed at the time of his arrest in the United Kingdom, adding that police caught him after he got sloppy while stealing a bag at a bar. Police identified him based on CCTV footage of his other crimes. They arrested him at a second bar where he was listening to an iPod he had stolen from someone, according to The Standard.
He faced 22 separate charges of theft between July and December 2014 and was sentenced to 12 months concurrent for attempted burglary. The presiding judge slammed him as “dishonest to your fingertips” and assessed the total value of stolen goods at £21,000—at the time just shy of $28,000.
