The Secretary of National Security, Kristi Noem, said on Sunday that the secret service caught the person who slid his bag from a Washington restaurant on Easter Sunday while having dinner with his family.
“Thanks to @secretice @ice and our law members for finding and arresting the criminal who stole my bag on Easter Sunday while sharing a meal with my family at a Washington DC restaurant,” Noem published in X.
The authorities said that a man with a mask took Noem’s bag, which contained $ 3,000, his DHS access card, passport, makeup bag, apartments key and other items.
Noem said in his position that the arrested person is “a career criminal who has been in our country illegally for years.”
The Secretary of National Security, Kristi Noem, attends a meeting with the president of El Salvador at the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, on April 14, 2025.
Ken Cedeno/EPA-EFE/Shuttersock
“Unfortunately, many families in this country have been victims for crime, and that is why President Trump is working every day for the United States to be safe and take out these criminal foreigners from our streets,” he said.
Later on Sunday, the secret service said he had made two arrests in the case: one in Washington and another in Miami.
The Secret Service said that the defendant arrested in DC, whom he did not identify, is a series criminal and said that the robbery “had no protective link to Secretary Noem or his role as Secretary of National Security.” He also said that his investigation revealed an alleged potential device and credit card fraud and maintain jurisdiction on the case.
It is believed that the person arrested in Miami is a conspirator with the first person in a pattern of robberies and robberies in DC and it is believed that he is the main accused in the theft of the Noem bag, said the secret service. The person is stopped in an immigration arrest and his name will be released when the charges are finished, the secret service said.
In an interview on Thursday, Noem said he thought the robbery was “done professionally.”
“It was a bit shocking, in reality, because I was sitting right at my feet, he felt my bag, hooked him with his foot and dragged him a few steps and dropped a coat and took it,” Noem said in “The Vince Show.”
Noem said I wasn’t sure if I was attacked because she was the DHS secretary. He said he felt something brushed his leg where the bag was at his feet, but thought he was one of his grandchildren.
“I think it was a occupied grandmother with four grandchildren under 4 years, and I was taking care of them and feeding them food and enjoying my family, yes, but I certainly had my bag even touching my feet,” he said.
A DHS official said the secretary had the cash with her because her family was in the city and was treating them to Easter festivities.
“His whole family was in the city, including his children and grandchildren: he was using cash withdrawal to treat his family to dinner, Easter activities and gifts,” said the official.
-Atrice Peterson ‘ABC News contributed to this report.
