2 Migrants Arrested For Stealing DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s Gucci Bag With $3K In Cash

Alessio AtriaApril 28, 2025, 5:56 pmNews >

The two Chilean nationals who were accused of stealing a Gucci bag belonging to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem have been arrested.

On April 20, Noem’s Gucci bag was stolen from a restaurant in Washington, D.C. On April 21, Noem confirmed this incident at The Capital Burger restaurant.

The Secret Service agents guarding her looked at the security camera footage at the restaurant. They saw an unknown white male wearing a medical mask, stealing her bag and leaving the restaurant.

In addition to $3,000 in cash, the thief escaped with the DHS secretary’s driver’s license, medication, apartment keys, passport, DHS access badge, makeup bag and blank checks.

On April 26, the primary suspect, Mario Bustamante-Leiva, a 49-year-old Chilean national with a lengthy history of international theft, was taken into custody in Washington, D.C. After leads and surveillance footage, federal agents quickly arrested the second suspect in Miami, Florida on April 27, who was thought to be an accomplice of Bustamante-Leiva. Investigators identified the second suspect as the 51-year-old Chilean national, Cristian Rodrigo Montecino-Sanzana.

Some investigators think the arrest might be connected to an organized East Coast robbery ring – a network of career criminals exploiting the United States’ immigration failures while targeting rich and high-profile individuals.

The two nationals are also thought to be part of the same network accused of terrorizing people who dine at upscale restaurants, hotels, and coffee shops from New York to Florida.

In an X post made on Sunday, Noem thanked the Secret Service and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as well as their “law enforcement partners” for locating and arresting Bustamante-Leiva.

“This individual is a career criminal who has been in our country illegally for years,” she added.

“Unfortunately, so many families in this country have been made victims by crime, and that’s why President [Donald Trump] is working every single day to make America safe and get these criminal aliens off of our streets,” she then declared.