A serial thief who stole a handbag from former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem has been sentenced to three years in prison.

Noem had her handbag - with $3,000 (ยฃ2,260) in cash inside - swiped while she was dining at a Washington DC restaurant with her family last April.

The Gucci bag was one of many stolen by Mario Bustamante Leiva, who did not realise he was targeting a cabinet secretary, prosecutors said.

Bustamante Leiva, a 50-year-old native of Chile, faces deportation after his sentence, said the justice department.

"Bustamante Leiva came to Washington illegally to prey on citizens of the district," Jeanine Pirro, US attorney for the District of Columbia, said in a statement. "His pattern of theft ends here."

In November, Bustamante Leiva pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud and one count of first-degree theft.

Investigators were able to identify him as a suspect in the crimes through a gift card he purchased with a stolen credit card.

Noem, who is also a former South Dakota governor, was eating at the popular Capital Burger restaurant with her handbag underneath her seat when he took it, the BBC's US partner CBS reported.

Police recovered the bag from Bustamante Leiva's motel room, the justice department said.

It contained several personal items in addition to the cash, including her driver's licence, passport and DHS access badge, law enforcement sources told CBS at the time of the theft.

According to the justice department, Bustamente Leiva often hid his pickpocketing by draping a coat over his arm. He made purchases with his victims' credit cards "within minutes" of taking them.

The Secret Service investigated the incident alongside the police.

Because she was a cabinet official at the time, Noem had Secret Service protection and officers were with her at the restaurant when her bag went missing.

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