Three days before Department of 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 requesting reports of thefts in the neighborhood from the DC Metropolitan Police Department.
It’s not clear if 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 teh Westin, a DHS spokesperson and sources familiar with the matter said.
The suspect was a white male wearing dark clothing, a dark-colored baseball hat and a white N95 mask, according to two sources familiar with the surveillance footage.
That 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 surveillance footage viewed by law enforcement, sources said. Within minutes, the man picked up Noem’s purse, placed it under his jacket, 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 publicly, arrived late in Washington with her husband and son so they went to diner 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 states that the suspect 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 suspect in the earlier theft was also a white male, wearing dark clothing, a dark-colored baseball cap and an N-95 mask, according to the victim, who said she viewed the security footage of the man stealing her purse.
She said that after hearing about Noem’s theft, she almost called police because the secretary’s experience sounded so similar to her own.
A Metropolitan Police Department detective contacted the woman on Tuesday and mentioned the Noem case and asked her if she was also involved in politics. The woman said she is not.
“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’s Metropolitan Police Department said it 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 U.S. Secret Service protection. At least two on-duty plainclothes members were at the restaurant’s bar, in between where Noem was seated and the front doors, according to a source who witnessed the meal. That source said that the restaurant wasn’t very busy at the time Noem’s purse was taken.