The Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, DC, on Sunday, April 27, arrested Mario Bustamante Leiva, 49, in connection with the theft of a handbag belonging to Kristi Noem, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The incident occurred on April 20 while Noem was dining with her family at the Capital Burger during an Easter outing. According to authorities, the stolen bag contained approximately $3,000 (Rs 2,47,500) in cash along with several sensitive personal items, including her passport, driver’s licence, apartment keys, and DHS badge, the New York Post reported. The Metropolitan Police Department stated that the suspect was linked to two additional purse thefts at Washington restaurants earlier this month, based on video evidence, following which he was charged in connection with those incidents. Noem expressed her gratitude to the Secret Service and Immigration and Customs Enforcement in a post on X on Sunday, calling the primary suspect a “career criminal who has been in our country illegally for years.” "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," she wrote in her post. 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 “On Saturday, April 26, 2025, members of the Metropolitan Police Department and the United States Secret Service located and arrested 49-year-old Mario Bustamante Leiva," the police department told Newsweek. "Leiva was charged with two counts of Robbery (Stealth) and faces additional charges for an ongoing investigation by the United States Secret Service." Leiva, who resides in the US illegally, is suspected of being part of a large East Coast robbery network. He was arrested in 2015 for a five-month crime spree in London, where he stole nearly $28,000 worth of phones, wallets, and computers, as reported by The Daily Mail. Meanwhile, a second suspect, also an undocumented immigrant, was arrested in Miami. This individual is currently being detained under a deportation notice while charges are being processed. Leiva and the other suspect are believed to have worked together to carry out similar robbery operations across the US.
