WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� A man who from then-Homeland Security Secretary while she dined at a restaurant under the protection of Secret Service agents was sentenced on Wednesday to three years in prison for a string of thefts in the nation’s capital.
Mario Bustamante Leiva did not recognize Noem when he grabbed her Gucci handbag from the floor of a restaurant where she was eating with her family in April 2025, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. Noem鈥檚 purse had credit cards and about $3,000 in cash. Police recovered it from Leiva’s motel room.
Bustamante Leiva, a 50-year-old native of Chile, is facing deportation after his sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden.
鈥淏ustamante Leiva came to Washington illegally to prey on citizens of the district,鈥� said Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, in a statement. 鈥淗is pattern of theft ends here.鈥�
Noem, who is identified only by her initials in court filings, acknowledged the incident in a statement last year that referred to Bustamante Leiva as a 鈥渁 career criminal who has been in our country illegally for years.鈥�
He pleaded guilty in November to three counts of wire fraud and one count of first-degree theft. He was charged and convicted of robbing two other people and charging fraudulent purchases to their credit cards.
Bustamante Leiva was charged along with a second suspect, Cristian Montecino-Sananza, who was sentenced in March to 13 months of incarceration for his role in one of the other thefts.
Investigators said they identified Bustamante Leiva as a suspect in the thefts after he used a stolen gift card to make a purchase.
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