STUNNING UPDATE: Illegal alien accused of snatching Noem’s purse was freed after similar crime

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From the New York Post: The illegal migrant who was busted for snatching Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s Gucci purse was picked up by cops in New York for a similar crime just a few weeks earlier — but they let him go with a desk appearance ticket and a court date.

The NYPD’s warrant squad was hunting for Chilean national Mario Bustamante-Leiva, 49 — because he never showed up to court — when he allegedly ripped off Noem during Easter dinner with her family at a Washington, DC, burger bar, law enforcement sources told The Post.

After swiping Noem’s purse — which contained $3,000 cash, her passport, wallet and government ID — he hopped a bus and sidled up to the bar at Angolo Ristorante Italiano in DC, where he boozed it up until midnight and rang up $205.87 on the DHS honcho’s American Express, according to documents released by prosecutors Monday.

The feds also released surveillance images of Bustamante-Leiva wearing a white face mask and a baseball cap before and after he allegedly stole Noem’s $4,000 luxury bag from under her feet at The Capital Burger. Another picture allegedly showed the accused serial thief at Angolo — Noem’s Gucci bag clearly in view — while chatting on the cell phone.

READ MORE from the New York Post.

Bustamante-Leiva was previously busted in London, England ten years ago, and was sentenced to three years in prison there in 2015, after a five-month crime spree, for stealing phones, wallets, purses and computers. He always wore a large overcoat, even in the summer, to hide the items he stole. He used the exact same tactic to steal Noem’s purse in D.C. last Sunday.

At some point after getting out of jail in the U.K., he made his way to the United States. In 2021 he was busted for shoplifting in Utah.

On March 2, he stole a student’s fanny pack from an eatery and racked up $1,200 in credit card charges within 20 minutes.  Thanks to “good Samaritans” pointing him out, police quickly arrested Bustamante-Leiva within 30 minutes of the theft.  However, they then gave him a desk appearance ticket on fourth-degree felony grand larceny charges and turned him loose.  Unsurprisingly, the thief didn’t show up for his court date, so NYPD officers have been looking for him.

The NY Post explains: New York’s sanctuary laws meant that the NYPD was not allowed to report him to federal immigration authorities, despite being in the country illegally.

Then Bustamante-Leiva made his way to Washington, D.C. where he started stealing more purses at restaurants, including Noem’s.  Authorities know of other recent purse thefts in DC committed by Bustamante-Leiva, one on April 12 and two on April 17.

His accomplice, who was arrested Sunday, has been identified as Cristian Rodrigo Montecino-Sanzana, also a Chilean national who came to the U.S. illegally in January 2021.

Bustamante-Leiva and Montecino-Sanzana have reportedly been working together in robberies across the U.S.  Bustamante-Leiva told authorities he remembers taking Noem’s purse, but didn’t know who she was.  He claimed he kept her purse and wallet, but dumped the other contents in the trash.

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