Illegal migrant who snatched Kristi Noems purse came within arms 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].”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.“[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 n...