A Chilean man who admitted stealing then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s Gucci handbag as part of a string of purse thefts in Washington, D.C., last year was sentenced on Wednesday to three years in prison, the Department of Justice said.
The crook, Mario Bustamante Leiva, 50, is residing in the U.S. illegally and will be subject to deportation at the end of his sentence, the DOJ said.
Bustamante Leiva was arrested in late April 2025, less than a week after he entered the D.C. restaurant Capital Burger and snatched the purse that — unbeknownst to him — belonged to Noem, who at the time was one of President Donald Trump’s most prominent Cabinet officials.
Noem was at the restaurant dining with her family for Easter. At the time of the theft, she was under Secret Service protection.
Noem was ousted from her post last month, in what has become a growing shake-up of Trump’s Cabinet.
