A man who stole a purse from then-US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem while she was dining under Secret Service protection has been sentenced to three years in prison for a series of thefts in Washington DC.
Mario Bustamante Leiva, 50, took Noem’s Gucci handbag containing credit cards and about $3,000 in cash from the floor of a restaurant where she was eating with her family in April 2025. He did not recognise her at the time, according to the US attorney’s office.
Bustamante Leiva, a native of Chile, pleaded guilty in November to three counts of wire fraud and one count of first-degree theft. He also robbed two other people and made fraudulent purchases on their credit cards. Police recovered Noem’s purse from his motel room.
US District Judge Trevor McFadden imposed the sentence. Bustamante Leiva now faces deportation. In a statement, US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said: ‘Bustamante Leiva came to Washington illegally to prey on citizens of the district. His pattern of theft ends here.’
Noem, identified only by her initials in court filings, previously referred to Bustamante Leiva as ‘a career criminal who has been in our country illegally for years’. A second suspect, Cristian Montecino-Sananza, was sentenced in March to 13 months for his role in a related theft.
