The suspect accused of stealing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s Gucci handbag containing $3,000 in cash and other personal belongings was arrested on Saturday in Washington, D.C., according to reports.
The Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Secret Service caught the suspect, the New York Post reported. Authorities are still searching for a second suspect in connection with the incident.
The two are both in the U.S. without authorization and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is now involved in the case, Interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ed Martin told NBC 4. Martin said there is no indication Noem was targeted for her role at DHS.
The suspect in custody is scheduled to appear in court early this week, according to the New York Post.
DHS CHIEF KRISTI NOEM’S PURSE STOLEN WITH THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS IN DC RESTAURANT: SOURCES
The suspect accused of stealing DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s Gucci handbag containing $3,000 in cash was arrested on Saturday in Washington, D.C. (Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images | Fox News Digital)
The Secret Service has declined to confirm reports that the suspect was arrested on Saturday.
“For the safety of our agents and officers, we are not in a position to confirm or comment at this time,” Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi wrote on X. “Should criminal charges be filed, the Department of Homeland Security will provide public information in accordance with established procedures.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to DHS, which referred back to Guglielmi’s statement.
Noem was with her family on Easter Sunday at The Capital Burger in Washington, D.C., when the suspect nabbed her luxury bag containing the cash as well as her driver’s license, passport, medication, makeup bag, blank checks, DHS badge, apartment keys and a Louis Vuitton Clemence wallet.
DHS CHIEF KRISTI NOEM REVEALS HOW HER PURSE WAS STOLEN AT RESTAURANT: ‘PROFESSIONALLY DONE’
Authorities are still searching for a second suspect. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
The bag was on the floor at her table when it was stolen, according to a complaint filed with local police.
Security footage captured a white man in a N95 surgical mask, dark pants and a baseball cap grabbing the bag before leaving the restaurant.
The suspect glanced around the restaurant before snatching the bag, covering it with his jacket and running out of the establishment, sources who viewed the footage told the New York Post.
“It was kind of shocking, actually, because it was sitting right by my feet. I actually felt my purse, he hooked it with his foot and drug it a few steps away and dropped a coat over it and took it,” Noem told podcaster Vince Coglianese on the “VINCE Show.”
Noem was with her family on Easter Sunday at The Capital Burger in Washington, D.C., when the suspect nabbed her luxury bag. (Ken Cedeno/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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“I felt it, but I thought it was my grandkids kicking me in the legs. But it was very professionally done, and it tells that this happens all the time to people and that they live in communities where this is a danger and it reaffirms why I am here,” she added. “My job is to make sure that I do everything, every day I can to make our communities safer and President Trump recognizes that families shouldn’t have to live with any kind of violence in their lives.”
Just days before Noem’s bag was stolen, another woman eating with her own family at a nearby eatery had her purse nabbed in a similar incident.
