Federal authorities have tracked down a second illegal migrant in Miami and charged him as an accomplice in the theft of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s luxury Gucci handbag.
The pricey bag stuffed with $3,000 in cash was snatched right out from under her as Noem dined with her family on Easter Sunday at The Capital Burger, just a mile from the White House.
The primary suspect, Mario Bustamante-Leiva, a 49-year-old Chilean national with a long history of international theft, was taken into custody in the nation’s capital on Saturday.
Now law enforcement sources tell DailyMail.com that police have captured his alleged accomplice with a second arrest in Miami.
Investigators believe the arrest could be connected to an organized East Coast robbery ring – a network of career criminals exploiting America’s immigration failures while targeting wealthy and high-profile individuals.
The brazenness of the theft, carried out in broad daylight stunned politicians and law enforcement alike, not least because the victim was the nation’s top Homeland Security official and under 24/7 Secret Service protection.
‘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,’ Noem wrote on X.
Federal agents, following leads and surveillance footage, moved swiftly to arrest a second suspect in Miami, believed to be an accomplice of Bustamante-Leiva.
Mario Bustamante-Leiva, 49, was apprehended for the theft in DC. He’s pictured in a mugshot from his robberies in the UK. But sources tell Daily Mail a second man has now been caught
Noem, 53, was dining with her family at The Capital Burger in downtown DC on Easter Sunday when a man in a medical mask was able to sneak off with her Gucci bag
Federal authorities have confirmed the arrest of a second illegal migrant, this time in Miami, connected to the theft of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s luxury Gucci handbag
The pair are also thought to be part of the same network accused of terrorizing patrons of upscale restaurants, hotels, and coffee shops from New York to Florida.
Mario Bustamante-Leiva, the alleged ringleader, is no amateur.
A father of three from Santiago, Chile, he has been living illegally in the United States for years, despite a rap sheet that stretches across continents.
Bustamante-Leiva made DailyMail.com headlines back in 2015 for being one of London’s most prolific robbers waging a five-month robbery spree across the capital’s swankiest venues.
He was jailed for three years after stealing nearly $28,000 worth of laptops, mobile phones, wallets, and passports.
London’s Metropolitan Police at the time described him as one of the city’s ‘most prolific’ pickpockets, targeting exclusive bars, restaurants, and coffee shops.
One victim, a family preparing to travel, lost an entire bag containing all their passports and boarding passes – a level of callousness that prosecutors in London called ‘cold and calculated.’
He admitted 22 charges of theft between July and December 2014. CCTV footage from the spree showed Bustamante-Leiva nonchalantly swiping handbags from directly beneath the noses of unsuspecting patrons.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem had her bag stolen from her table as she dined with her family at The Capital Burger in downtown Washington last Sunday evening
Kristi Noem, pictured with her daughter and grandchildren
Now, nearly a decade later, Bustamante-Leiva stands accused of pulling the same stunt in the shadow of the US Capitol – but this time, his victim was one of the highest-ranking officials in the federal government.
The crime unfolded just before dusk on Easter Sunday.
Noem, 53, was enjoying dinner with her family at The Capital Burger, accompanied by her grandchildren – all under the age of four. She no idea anything had even happened until she rose from her table and noticed her purse was gone.
Her handbag, a luxury Gucci shoulder piece, sat at her feet under the table.
Describing the moment the theft occurred, Noem told The Vince Show podcast exactly what happened.
‘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 four, 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.’
By the time Noem realized what had happened, the bag was gone. Inside: $3,000 in cash, her makeup bag, passport, driver’s license, apartment keys, medication, DHS access badge, and several blank checks.
The level of skill displayed by the thief led both Noem and federal investigators to the same conclusion: this was the work of someone who knew what they were doing.
‘It was professionally done,’ Noem said. ‘It tells me that this happens all the time to people, and that they live in communities where this is a danger.’
Noem poses with DHS agents while holding up guns earlier this month
Even with her full Secret Service detail present, the thief managed to slip away unnoticed – at least until the footage was reviewed.
Surveillance video captured a masked suspect, clad in dark pants, a ‘fur-type’ collar, a ball cap, and a surgical mask, using his foot to slide the handbag away before concealing it beneath his jacket and fleeing.
‘It was frankly… a nice-looking purse,’ US Attorney Ed Martin told NBC News.
‘This was not an amateur. This was a person, a thief, that knew how to do this. You could see how he scouted the room out.’
Martin added that Noem was unlikely to have been targeted specifically because of her political profile. Instead, the flashy Gucci bag made her an appealing mark.
The case has become yet another flashpoint in the nation’s immigration debate, as Noem and allies of President Donald Trump seize on the crime as evidence of systemic border failures.
‘This individual is a career criminal who has been in our country illegally for years,’ Noem wrote on X.
‘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.’
US Attorney Martin echoed those sentiments, stating: ‘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… What I can tell you is he won’t be back on the streets of America.’
With the arrest in Miami of a second suspect, federal law enforcement now believes Bustamante-Leiva may be just one cog in a far larger machine – an organized ring of migrant thieves.
Sources described the group as well-coordinated, targeting high-end establishments where distracted patrons – often tourists or families – are easy prey.
The identity of the Miami suspect has not yet been released, but ICE officials confirmed that the individual was also in the country illegally and is being held on federal immigration violations in addition to pending charges related to the Noem theft.