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Authorities arrested two men in connection with the theft of a designer handbag belonging to US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.<\/p>\n
Noem’s bag was stolen on Easter Sunday while she was dining in a popular Washington DC restaurant.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, police arrested 49-year-old Mario Bustamante Leiva.<\/p>\n
And on Sunday the US Secret Service said it apprehended an alleged co-conspirator in Miami. CBS News, the BBC’s US news partner, named the suspect as 51-year-old Cristian Rodrigo Montecino-Sanzanaat.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Bustamante Leiva was charged with robbery, aggravated identity theft and wire fraud.<\/p>\n
A criminal complaint filed Monday alleged that he was involved in two other robberies, and spent the proceeds on gift cards, hotel rooms and other purchases.<\/p>\n
Noem, the former governor of South Dakota, was eating at the popular Capital Burger restaurant with her Gucci handbag sitting by her feet underneath her seat.<\/p>\n
After he allegedly was spotted on security video taking the bag, Bustamante Leiva got on a bus and was seen later that evening at an Italian restaurant. He is accused of spending $205.87 (\u00a3153.21) on food and drinks, paying with one of Noem’s credit cards.<\/p>\n
Montecino-Sanzanaat was arrested in a Miami drug store, authorities said, and Secret Service officials said he was connected to “a pattern of robberies and thefts” in Washington.<\/p>\n
Lawyers for the suspects could not be immediately identified. In 2015, Bustamante Leiva, a Chilean citizen, was jailed for three years by a court in London after a string of thefts from sandwich shops, bars and pubs.<\/p>\n
In a post on X, Noem said the suspect “is a career criminal who has been in our country illegally for years.”<\/p>\n