A Chilean national on Friday pleaded guilty to a string of thefts throughout D.C., including stealing the handbag of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem while she dined with her family at an upscale restaurant this spring.
Mario Bustamante Leiva, 50, pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud and first-degree theft — the latest addition to a lengthy criminal history that, according to federal court filings, spans three continents.
Noem, the former South Dakota governor who has a permanent Secret Service protective detail, sought to tie the arrest earlier this year to her warnings about immigrants in the U.S. illegally and suggested it was further validation of the administration’s aggressive deportation agenda.
“This individual is a career criminal who has been in our country illegally for years,” Noem previously said in a statement provided to The Washington Post through a spokeswoman. “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.”
The bag included her driver’s license, keys, checks, passport, $3,000 in cash and her Department of Homeland Security badge — Noem runs the department in charge of the nation’s security, including border control and immigration and terrorism protection. DHS and the U.S. attorney’s office for D.C. did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Bustamante Leiva acknowledged in court records that he is “removable from the United States upon the completion of the sentence imposed in this case.” He has not yet been sentenced. The administration continues to surge federal immigration enforcement in cities across the country, including Washington, and ramp up deportations.
“This plea ensures immediate accountability and a clear path to deportation. That protects public safety and spares taxpayers from the burden of long-term detention,” said Tim Lauer, a spokesperson for D.C.’s top prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, in a statement.
Bustamante Leiva’s signed plea agreement says he stole from three people, including Noem, in April.
On April 12, he and another man stole a purse from someone dining at the Nando’s across the street from the National Portrait Gallery and bought a $500 Visa gift card with one of the credit cards, according to court records. According to a police report, a woman from Spain had been eating dinner with a friend when she noticed her small black handbag and green coin purse were missing, along with her identification card, passport and 453 euros. The men spent the gift card at a Motel 6, a Quality Inn and to top up a Metro card.
Then, five days later, Bustamante Leiva stole from someone dining at the downtown Westin hotel — a woman visiting from Massachusetts, according to police records. He used one of the stolen cards to buy a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon and an American Express gift card, prosecutors detailed in court records.
Two days later, he walked into Capital Burger, a pub-style restaurant in downtown Washington, wearing a medical mask and stole Noem’s cash-stuffed Gucci bag. (DHS previously said she had withdrawn a large amount of money because her children and grandchildren were in town for the Easter holiday.)
Bustamante Leiva used one of her American Express credit cards at an Italian restaurant in Georgetown, according to prosecutors.
His crimes in D.C. cap a decades-long criminal history, according to a list of convictions included in federal court records. In 1995, he was sentenced to three years in prison in Chile for a robbery. Then in 2013, he was sentenced to 13 weeks for a theft in London, the first of at least seven convictions in the British capital, most of which were for theft.
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