The second illegal immigrant who was arrested in connection to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s Gucci bag theft has been identified as a Chilean national. Cristian Rodrigo Montecino-Sanzana was busted in Miami after he and another suspect stole Noem’s purse, which contained $3,000 in cash, her driver’s license, passport, DHS badge and apartment keys. It was stolen on April 20 when Noem was on an Easter outing with her family at The Capital Burger in Washington, D.C.
Who is Cristian Rodrigo Montecino-Sanzana?
Montecino-Sanzana was released into the United States even after being handed a notice of “expedited removal,” the New York Post reported. He was released into the US in January 2021. Border patrol had issued him a notice of expedited removal when he was caught trying to sneak across the southern border in December. He is being held on a deportation notice while charges are being finalised.
Montecino-Sanzana was taken into custody while he was entering a Walgreens at Collins Avenue and 14th Street. The US Secret Service led the operation after learning that the suspect was in South Florida, but Miami Beach Police also assisted in the arrest, CBS News reported.
During Montecino-Sanzana’s court appearance on Monday, April 28, Florida Judge Mindy Glazer informed him that he was being charged with possession of a stolen or fictitious driver’s license. Police said he was found with a fake California identification card at the time of his arrest, and later even confessed that it was not really his.
When Glazer asked Montecino-Sanzana where he lived, he replied, “I was living here in Miami.” According to his arrest report, he is homeless.
Montecino-Sanzana’s arrest came shortly after the arrest of the first suspect, Mario Bustamante Leiva, also a Chilean national. He was previously busted for a similar scheme in London, and is believed to be part of a large East Coast robbery organisation. Leiva, who was also in the US illegally, was previously arrested in 2015 for a five-month robbery spree in London after he made off with nearly 28,000 worth of phones, wallets and computers.
Leiva and Montecino-Sanzana reportedly worked together as a pair. They are believed to have been involved in similar robbery schemes across the country.
US Attorney Ed Martin said that the suspects possibly stole Noem’s bag as it was an expensive Gucci product, and did not target her because of her high-profile position. “It was frankly… a nice looking purse. This was not an amateur. This was a person, a thief, that knew how to do this. You could see how he scouted the room out,” Martin told NBC News.
“President Trump’s direction to us is we charge these folks that are here illegally and we prosecute them, as well as deport them when need be, you know, as soon as that can happen,” he further said of the suspects. “What I can tell you is he won’t be back on the streets of America.”
