The masked migrant who was arrested for stealing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s Gucci bag containing $3,000 in cash is a Chilean national who was previously busted for a similar scheme in London, law enforcement sources told The Post.
Mario Bustamante-Leiva, 49, of Santiago, was arrested on Saturday after he allegedly made off with the luxury shoulder bag while Noem, 53, was at an Easter outing with her family at The Capital Burger in Washington, DC, sources told The Post.
Bustamante-Leiva, who is in the US illegally, is believed to be part of a large East Coast robbery organization, with law enforcement still on the hunt for another undocumented immigrant who was his accomplice.
“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.
“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 Trump is working every single day to make America safe and get these criminal aliens off of our streets.”
US Attorney Ed Martin said it is not likely that Noem was targeted based on her high-profile position, adding that the suspects were probably attracted to the pricey Gucci bag — which also contained her driver’s license, passport, DHS badge and apartment keys.
“It was frankly… a nice looking purse. 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 told NBC News.
Security footage captured the moment the suspect in a N95 surgical mask, dark pants, a “fur-type” collar and a ball cap lifted the DHS honcho’s bag before leaving the restaurant — which is located about a mile from the White House and features a signature burger for $23.
Bustamante-Leiva was previously arrested in 2015 for a five-month robbery spree in London, where he made off with nearly 28,000 worth of phones, wallets and computers, according to a report from the Daily Mail at the time.
Martin said that Bustamante-Leiva and his accomplice will never step foot in the country again now that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement is involved in the case.
“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,” he told NBC.
“What I can tell you is he won’t be back on the streets of America.”
