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The mask-wearing thief who stole Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem’s purse on Easter, which contained her DHS badge, passport, driver’s license, mobile phone, and $3,000 in cash, has been arrested. The New York Post first reported the information exclusively:
Noem, 53, was on an Easter outing with her family at The Capital Burger in Washington, DC, when the hooded thief stole the luxury shoulder bag, which also contained her driver’s license, passport, DHS badge and apartment keys on April 20.
Local Washington, D.C., NBC4 News picked up the story, and alluded to a second suspect being sought:
[…]
The suspect was a white male wearing dark clothing, a dark-colored baseball hat and a white N95 mask, according to two sources familiar with the surveillance footage.
That person entered Capital Burger at 7:55 p.m., sat near Noem’s table, scooted closer and used his foot to slide her purse toward him, according to surveillance footage viewed by law enforcement, sources said. Within minutes, the man picked up Noem’s purse, placed it under his jacket, walked out of the restaurant and down the street, they said.
While some reports alleged that Noem may have been targeted because she is the DHS Secretary, according to NBC News, D.C. Metro police records indicated that another woman was targeted at a nearby eatery three days prior to the theft of Noem’s purse, with a similar MO:.
It’s not clear if the two incidents are connected, but the victim in the first purse snatching believes they are.
“I’m shocked at the similarity of the crime,” she told NBC News when she described how her purse was stolen Thursday at a restaurant in the downtown Westin Hotel.
My colleague Brandon Morse pondered how the Secret Service could have dropped the ball on this, to allow a suspect to get close enough to steal the purse. Noem herself told podcast host Vince Coglianese soon after the incident that the job was “professionally done”:
“I thought it was my grandkids kicking me in the legs, but it was very professionally done,” she added on the “Vince” podcast. “It tells me that this happens all the time to people, and that they live in communities where this is a danger and it reaffirms why I’m here.”
NBC News received information from a source at the restaurant that Noem had two, plain-clothes Secret Service members watching Noem and her family from the nearby bar in the restaurant.
The Secret Service is handling the investigation. As of this writing, the name of the suspect in custody has not been released, and no charges have been filed.