The authorities arrested two men in connection with the theft of a designer handbag belonging to the American internal security secretary Kristi Noem.
Noem’s bag was stolen on Easter Sunday while dining in a popular Washington DC restaurant.
Police arrested Mario Bustamante Leiva on Saturday, 49.
And on Sunday, the American secret services said they had apprehended an alleged co-conspirator in Miami. CBS News, the BBC news partner, appointed the suspect Cristian Rodrigo Montecino-Sanzanaat, 51 years old.
Bustamante Leiva was accused of theft of theft, aggravated identity theft and wire fraud.
A criminal complaint filed on Monday allegedly alleged that it was involved in two other flights and had passed the product on gift cards, hotel rooms and other purchases.
Noem, the former governor of southern Dakota, ate at the popular restaurant Capital Burger with his Gucci handbag sitting near his feet under his seat.
After being pretended to be spotted on a security video taking the bag, Bustamante Leiva went on a bus and was later seen in the evening in an Italian restaurant. He is accused of spending $ 205.87 (£ 153.21) on food and drinks, paying for one of Noem’s credit cards.
Montecino-Sanzanaat was arrested in a Miami pharmacy store, the authorities said, and the secrets of the secret services said it was linked to “a model of flights and thefts” in Washington.
Suspects’ lawyers could not be immediately identified. In 2015, Bustamante Leiva, a Chilean citizen, was imprisoned for three years by a London court after a series of flights of sandwich, bars and pubs.
In an article on X, Noem said that the suspect “is a career criminal who has been illegally in our country for years.”
Noem had $ 3,000 (£ 2,330) in cash, as well as credit cards, internal safety badge, medicines and driving license in his bag.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Internal Security said that Noem had withdrawn the money to treat his children and grandchildren for dinner, activities and vacation gifts.
Like the other officials of the firm, Noem receives a detail of protection of the secret services. The agents were in the restaurant at the time but did not immediately detect the flight.
