Internal security secretary Kristi Noem said on Sunday that the secret services had caught the person who had slipped his bag from a Washington restaurant on Easter Sunday while she was dinner with her family.
“Thanks to @secretservice @ice and to our law enforcement partners for finding and stopping the criminal who stole my bag on Easter Sunday while I shared a meal with my family in a restaurant in Washington DC,” posted Noem on X.
The authorities said that a man wearing a mask had taken Noem’s bag, which contained $ 3,000, his DHS access card, his passport, his makeup bag, his apartment key and other items.
Noem said in his post that the arrested person is “a career criminal who has been in our country illegally for years”.
Internal security secretary Kristi Noem attended a meeting with the president of Salvador at the oval at the White House in Washington, on April 14, 2025.
Ken Cedeno / Epa-Efe / Shutterstock
“Unfortunately, so many families in this country have been victims of crimes, and that is why President Trump is working every day to make America safe and withdraw these criminal foreigners from our streets,” she said.
In an article on X on Saturday, the spokesperson for the secret service, Anthony Guglielmi, said: “For the security of our agents and officers, we are unable to confirm or comment at this time. If criminal accusations were deposited, the Ministry of Internal Security will provide public information in accordance with established procedures.”
In an interview Thursday, Noem said that she thought the flight was “made professionally”.
“It was a little shocking, in fact, because he was sitting right next to my feet, actually felt my handbag, he hung him with his foot and dragged him a few steps and dropped a coat and took it,” said Noem on “The Vince Show”.
Noem said that she was not sure if she was targeted because she was the secretary of the DHS. She said she felt something brushing against her leg where the bag was at her feet, but thought it was one of her grandchildren.
“I think I was a grandmother busy with four grandchildren under the age of 4, and I took care of them and I fed them food and enjoyed my family, yes, but I certainly had my handbag,” she said.
A DHS official said the secretary had money with her because his family was in town and offered them Easter festivities.
“All her family was in town, including her children and grandchildren – she used cash withdrawal to offer her family dinner, Easter activities and gifts,” said the official.
-Abc News’ Beatrice Peterson contributed to this report.
