A career thief who targeted diners across Washington, D.C. has been handed a three-year federal prison sentence for stealing a handbag belonging to former U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem during a family meal last spring. The incident, which unfolded in April 2024 at the popular downtown Capital Burger restaurant, saw Noem place her Gucci handbag — holding $3,000 in cash alongside sensitive personal and official items including her driver’s license, passport, and DHS security access badge — under the table while she dined. As a sitting cabinet member at the time, Noem was accompanied by her assigned Secret Service detail, who launched an immediate search alongside local law enforcement after the theft was discovered.
Prosecutors confirmed that 50-year-old Mario Bustamante Leiva, a Chilean national residing in the U.S. illegally, did not know he had targeted a former governor and top cabinet official when he stole the bag, which was part of a long-running pattern of petty theft and fraud across the nation’s capital. Investigators told reporters that Bustamante Leiva used a common distraction tactic to carry out his pickpocketing schemes: he draped a coat over his forearm to hide his movements while he snatched unattended bags from restaurant patrons. Within minutes of stealing a victim’s credit or gift cards, he would make unauthorized purchases across the city, authorities said.
Law enforcement ultimately identified Bustamante Leiva as the prime suspect through tracking data tied to a purchase he made with one of Noem’s stolen credit cards on a gift card. A subsequent search of his local motel room turned up Noem’s missing handbag and most of its contents, the U.S. Department of Justice confirmed. In November 2024, Bustamante Leiva entered a guilty plea to three counts of wire fraud and one count of first-degree theft, closing out a joint investigation conducted by the Metropolitan Police Department of D.C. and the U.S. Secret Service.
In an official statement announcing the sentencing, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro emphasized that the conviction puts an end to a pattern of criminal activity that targeted ordinary residents and visitors of Washington. “Bustamante Leiva came to Washington illegally to prey on citizens of the district,” Pirro said. “His pattern of theft ends here.” Following the completion of his three-year prison term, federal officials confirmed that Bustamante Leiva will be processed for deportation back to his native Chile.