Three days before the bag of the Secretary of National Security of the Poldia Kristi Noem was stolen while having dinner at a restaurant in Washington, another woman who ate with her own family in a near restaurant had her bag similarly, according to the records.
NBC News discovered the similarities in the two incidents after requesting robber reports in the neighborhood of the DC Metropolitan Police Department.
It is not clear if the two incidents are connected, but the victim in the first bag grip believes they are.
“I am surprised by the similarity of the crime,” he told NBC News when he described how his bag was stolen on Thursday at a restaurant at the Hotel in Central Westin.
A thief stole Noem’s bag, containing $ 3,000 in cash, on Sunday in Capital Burger, which is two blocks from Teh Westin, said a DHS spokesman and familiar sources with the matter.
The suspect was a white man with dark clothes, a dark baseball hat and a white N95 mask, according to two sources familiar with surveillance images.
That person entered the capital’s hamburger at 7:55 pm, sat near Noem’s table, approached and used his foot to slide his bag towards him, according to the surveillance images observed by the police, the sources said. In a matter of minutes, the man picked up Noem’s bag, placed it under his jacket, left the restaurant and went down the street, they said.
In the previous Thursday, the victim, who asked NBC News not to appoint her publicly, was late for Washington with her husband and son, so they went to a restaurant at a restaurant inside the Westin hotel.
She said it was not until they obtained the check around 9:20 pm that realized that her bag was gone.
A police report indicates that the suspect walked next to the woman’s table and took his bag “of the chair was hanging” at once.
The victim said she received a call after theft to inform her that her health insurance card had been found in a three -minute store at the hotel, which is just a few steps from the restaurant where the Noem bag was stolen.
The suspect in the previous robbery was also a white man, with dark clothes, a dark baseball cap and a N-95 mask, according to the victim, who said he saw the security images of the man stealing his bag.
She said that after learning about Noem’s robbery, she almost called the police because the secretary’s experience sounded very similar to her.
A detective from the Metropolitan Police Department contacted the woman on Tuesday and mentioned the case of Noem and asked him if he was also involved in politics. The woman said she is not.
“My husband said that this guy should be horrible to attack women who are not dinner with their families,” said the woman.
She said the robbery was “super stressful, and is only violating.”
The secret service is investigating the Noem case.
The Washington Metropolitan Police Department said he had no comments on Noem’s case.
There were no arrests for Tuesday afternoon in any of the incidents.
It is not clear if Noem was specifically attacked due to his position as a member of President Donald Trump’s cabinet.
Noem has secret service protection. At least two civil members in the service were at the restaurant bar, between where Noem was sitting and the front doors, according to a source that witnessed the food. That source said the restaurant was not very busy at the time the Noem’s bag was taken.
