WASHINGTON — Three days before Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem‘s handbag was stolen while she dined out at a Washington restaurant, another woman eating with her own family at a nearby eatery had her purse taken in a similar manner, records show.
NBC News discovered the similarities in the two incidents after it requested reports of thefts in the neighborhood from Washington police.
It’s not clear whether 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.
A thief stole Noem’s bag, which contained $3,000 in cash, Sunday at Capital Burger, which is two blocks from the Westin, said a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson and sources familiar with the matter.
The thief was a white male wearing dark clothing, a dark baseball hat and a white N95 mask, according to two sources familiar with security video viewed by law enforcement.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in the White House Oval Office on April 14.Al Drago for The Washington Post via Getty Images
The 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 the security video, sources said. Within minutes, the man picked up Noem’s purse, placed it under his jacket and walked out of the restaurant and down the street, they said.
In the earlier theft Thursday, the victim, who asked that NBC News not name her, arrived late in Washington with her husband and son, so they went to dinner at a restaurant inside the Westin Hotel.
She said it wasn’t until they got the check around 9:20 p.m. that she realized her purse was gone.
A police report says the thief walked by the woman’s table and took her bag “from the chair it was hanging on” in one fell swoop.
The victim said she got a call after the theft to let her know that her health insurance card had been found at a store a three-minute walk from the hotel, which is just steps from the restaurant where Noem’s bag was stolen.
The thief in the earlier robbery was also a white male, wearing dark clothing, a dark baseball cap and an N-95 mask, according to the victim, who said she viewed the security video of the man stealing her purse.
She said that after she heard about Noem’s theft, she almost called police because her experience sounded so similar.
A police detective contacted the woman Tuesday, mentioned the Noem case and asked her whether she was also involved in politics. The woman said she isn’t.
“My husband said this guy must be awful to target women who are out of to dinner with their families,” the woman said.
She said the theft was “super stressful, and it’s just violating.”
The Secret Service is investigating the Noem case.
Washington police said they had no comment on Noem’s case.
There had been no arrests by Tuesday afternoon in either incident.
It’s unclear whether Noem was specifically targeted because of her position as a member of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet.
Noem has Secret Service protection. At least two on-duty plainclothes members were at the restaurant’s bar, between where Noem was seated and the front doors, according to a source who witnessed the meal. The source said the restaurant wasn’t very busy at the time Noem’s purse was taken.
Ted Oberg, NBC Washington
