Illegal migrant who snatched Kristi Noem's purse came ‘within arm's reach' of her while Secret Service stood guard: ‘Definite lapse'
The illegal migrant who stole Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's Gucci purse got 'within an arm's reach' of the cabinet member — despite a Secret Service detail standing guard, federal documents show.
Mario Bustamante-Leiva, 49, strolled into the Capital Burger in the heart of Washington, DC, on the evening of April 20 and took a seat mere feet from Noem, 53, who was enjoying a family dinner accompanied by her Secret Service detail, according to charging documents from the US Attorney's Office of DC.
'Bustamante-Leiva entered the business at approximately 7:52 p.m. and sat down within arm's reach of [Noem],' the documents read. 'Bustamante-Leiva sat down in the chair closes to [Noem] and pushed the chair back from his table in the direction of [Noem].'
4 Mario Bustamante-Leiva was able to sit just feet from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, despite her Secret Service detail being present.
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Restaurant security footage in the documents shows the suspect sitting at a large empty table in the well-lit dining room with his back to Noem before he used his leg to snake her cash-filled bag close enough to snatch.
That means Bustamante-Leiva — an illegal migrant, homeless alcoholic and serial criminal with a laundry list of crimes going back years — was able to get within grabbing distance of the woman who has become the face of President Trump's campaign to purge the country of violent illegal migrant gangs.
It's a blunder some security experts characterized as a 'definite lapse' for the Secret Service.
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'[The agents] should have done their job better,' said Chris Ragone, the owner of Virginia-based Executive Security Concepts and a Navy veteran who has worked security for the likes of former presidential candidate Bob Dole and Saudi Arabian royalty.
'There should have been agents close enough to keep that guy from getting her purse like that,' he said, explaining that the suspect could easily have done far worse than snatch a purse.
'If I had a [client] in that environment, some member of that team would have had eyes on her that whole time to make sure nobody was close enough to do that,' Ragone said.
4 Bustamante-Leiva, 49, came 'within an arm's reach' of Noem, although he claims he had no idea who she was.
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The Secret Service has faced critical recent scrutiny ever since a gunman's bullet struck Trump in the ear while he was campaigning in Butler, Pa., in July.
Sheer luck alone seemed to have prevented the president from being killed in that incident. A series of blunders and oversights from the Secret Service had allowed the would-be assassin to get a clear shot at Trump in the midst of a huge crowd.
Just two months later, in September, another would-be assassin managed to camp out for hours with a rifle in the bushes of Trump International Golf Club in Florida waiting for Trump — and came within hundreds of yards of getting off a shot before he accidentally revealed himself.
The full extent of Noem's security detail at the restaurant remains unclear — she was only described as 'under the protection of the United States Secret Service' in Bustamante-Leiva's charging documents.
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Cabinet members generally do not have the same level of protection that the commander-in-chief, the first lady and the vice president are given.
4 Noem has become the face of Trump's crusade against illegal immigration and violent criminal gangs
Tia Dufour/DHS
Some experts think the Secret Service did all that could be asked given the circumstances.
'The short answer is no, it's not a blunder. The longer answer is it needs context,' said Donald Mihalek, a former senior special agent with the Secret Service who protected Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush when they were in office.
'She was in a public venue with her family. DC restaurants are typically close quarters. And the detail — which is pretty typical for these smaller details — is trying to give her space so she could do the family thing,' Mihalek said.
'Their mandate is to keep her safe, not worry about her pocketbook,' he said. 'If anybody tried to do something to her, I'm sure they would have been met by the detail pretty rapidly.'
The Secret Service told The Post that its 'protective operations are taken extremely seriously' but that it can't comment on the nature of its protocols around Noem on April 20 as a matter of security.
4 Bustamante-Leiva used his leg to inch Noem's bag toward him.
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'That said, security protocols were in place for the Secretary on April 20 and the Secret Service continuously reviews its methodologies to provide the best protection possible,' an agency rep said in a statement.
Bustamante-Leiva confessed to the crime after he was arrested April 26 — claiming to cops he had no idea who Noem was when shown a photo of her.
Immediately after snatching the purse, he fled across town and camped out at a restaurant bar for hours before falling asleep at a table outside, where he remained all night.
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In the days before the crime, he also snatched bags from at least three other people, according to prosecutors, and just weeks earlier had been arrested in New York City for similar crimes before being let go.
Headlines about his crimes go back as far as 2015, when he was arrested for stealing nearly $30,000 worth of phones, wallets and computers.
The Chilean national is likely to be deported.
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