{"id":23691,"date":"2026-04-25T20:43:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T20:43:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2026\/04\/25\/hammer-falls-on-illegal-immigrant-who-stole-from-kristi-noem\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T20:43:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T20:43:22","slug":"hammer-falls-on-illegal-immigrant-who-stole-from-kristi-noem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2026\/04\/25\/hammer-falls-on-illegal-immigrant-who-stole-from-kristi-noem\/","title":{"rendered":"Hammer Falls On Illegal Immigrant Who Stole From Kristi Noem"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The illegal immigrant who purse snatched then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem received a three-year prison sentence this week.<\/p>\n

Chilean national Mario Bustamante Leiva, 50, stole Noem\u2019s Gucci bag, which had $3,000 cash, her passport, wallet, and government ID inside last April while she was having Easter dinner with family at the Capital Burger in Northwest Washington, D.C., authorities said.<\/p>\n

After he serves his time, Bustamante Leiva will be subject to deportation, according<\/a> to the Department of Justice.<\/p>\n

It was his fourth theft in eight days, the Justice Department said. Before that, he was arrested in Utah in 2021 for shoplifting and in London in 2015 for a months-long theft spree, according to the New York Post.<\/p>\n

He was also let go by authorities in New York City last March after allegedly stealing a fanny pack from a food cart. The victim of that crime, who was a legal immigrant, previously told<\/a> the New York Post that the suspect racked up $1,200 in credit card charges in just 20 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s insane. I don\u2019t know how he was let out after that without any reason,\u201d the man said at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, putting in so much effort and then coming to the States and experiencing something like that intrigued my frightened side,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

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Bustamante Leiva pleaded guilty Nov. 21, 2025, to three counts of wire fraud and one count of first-degree theft for his role in Noem\u2019s purse-snatching.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cBustamante Leiva came to Washington illegally to prey on citizens of the District. He methodically targeted women at restaurants, stealing their purses, and monetizing the stolen cards within minutes,\u201d U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said in a statement Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis pattern of theft ends here. He will serve his prison term and be deported,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

After the theft, Bustamante Leiva went to a nearby restaurant, where surveillance cameras captured him holding Noem\u2019s purse, wallet, and at least four of her credit cards, which he used to make a purchase, according to the Justice Department.<\/p>\n

Police arrested the illegal immigrant on April 26, 2025, at a D.C. motel, where they found Noem\u2019s purse and wallet, along with a gift card he had purchased with a stolen card and more than $3,000 in cash.<\/p>\n

Bustamante Leiva entered the United States at the Orlando International Airport in August 2021. At the time, he was granted a visa waiver that allowed him to stay in the country until Nov. 13, 2021.<\/p>\n

The Chilean national never left and overstayed his permission to remain in the country, making him an illegal immigrant.<\/p>\n

Bustamante Leiva\u2019s co-defendant Cristian Rodrigo Montecino-Sanzana\u00a0was sentenced on March 13, 2026, to 13 months behind bars and three years of supervised release for his role in one of Bustamante Leiva\u2019s thefts. He is also expected to face deportation after serving his sentence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The illegal immigrant who purse snatched then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem received a three-year prison sentence this week. Chilean national Mario Bustamante Leiva, 50, stole Noem\u2019s Gucci bag, which had $3,000 cash, her passport, wallet, and government ID inside last April while she was having Easter dinner with family at the Capital Burger in Northwest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23692,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-23691","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-current-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}