Illegal Migrant Accused of Snatching Kristi Noem’s Gucci Purse Was Free After Similar Crime in NYC Last Month

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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.

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The high-profile theft was the fourth he pulled off in eight days, authorities said. He copped to stealing Noem’s bag, but said he didn’t know who she was when he snatched the pricey purse from the floor while she dined, according to court docs.

Bustamante-Leiva’s rap sheet also includes a 2021 shoplifting arrest in Utah and a headline-grabbing bust in 2015 across the pond in London, where he was arrested for a months-long theft spree and charged with palming $28,000 in phones, wallets and computers.

He landed on the NYPD’s radar on March 2 after he swiped a fanny pack from a Times Square dosa shop and racked up $1,200 in credit card charges in just 20 minutes, according to the victim, an international student from India.

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

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