Bag Allegedly Stolen by Sam Brinton Contained $1,700 of Jewelry
Biden Energy Department official accused of stealing a suitcase, valued at over $3,600, from the Las Vegas airport back in July.
The suitcase that Sam Brinton, the nonbinary Biden Energy Department official accused of stealing luggage from two separate airports, allegedly took from the baggage carousel at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas reportedly contained thousands of dollars’ worth of jewelry, according to an arrest warrant.
A felony arrest warrant was issued for Brinton on grand larceny charges last week related to a luggage theft reported by a traveler whose bag went missing from the Las Vegas airport on July 6.
The woman alerted authorities that a gray Away-brand suitcase was missing from the luggage carousel at the airport. The hard case bag and its contents were estimated to be worth $3,670.74, according to the warrant, which was first reported on by Business Insider. The bag reportedly contained more than $1,700 worth of jewelry, $850 worth of clothing, and $500 worth of makeup.
Airport security officials obtained surveillance footage of the carousel, and saw a person wearing a white T-shirt with a “large rainbow-colored atomic nuclear symbol design on the front” take the Away bag from the luggage carousel and examine the tag before placing it back on the carousel. The suspect then began exhibiting “abnormal” behavior, including “looking in all directions for anyone who might be watching, or might approach” before grabbing the luggage from the carousel a second time and exiting the airport with it.
Police closed the case, being unable to identify the person in the surveillance footage. But on Nov. 29, they reopened the case following reports of accusations that Brinton allegedly stole a Vera Bradley roller bag suitcase valued at $2,325 from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport from a luggage carousel on Sept. 16. They were subsequently seen on surveillance footage traveling with the bag two more times.
When contacted by police about the Minneapolis incident, Brinton allegedly denied taking the suitcase before amending their story to say they had mistakenly taken the luggage from the carousel, believing it to be theirs.
Upon realizing the bag wasn’t theirs, Brinton claimed to have emptied the suitcase’s contents, including the owner’s clothes, inside the drawers in the hotel room where Brinton was staying, reasoning that it would have been “weirder” to leave the bag than the clothes. Hotel staff reported that no clothing was recovered from the drawers of the hotel room.
Brinton faces a charge of felony theft of a movable property without consent, which could result in a five-year jail sentence, a $10,000 fine, or both, if convicted. They are next scheduled to appear in Hennepin County’s 4th Judicial District Court for a preliminary hearing on Dec. 19.
Based on photos of Brinton that began circulating after the Minneapolis theft accusations began swirling on social media, Las Vegas authorities reopened the case and recognized Brinton as fitting the description of the suspect in the July 6 theft.
After searching Brinton’s name an officer investigating the case found a selfie on Brinton’s Instagram page showing them wearing the “same exact white T-shirt with a large rainbow-colored atomic nuclear symbol design on the front as seen on video at Harry Reid International Airport,” according to the arrest warrant.
The warrant also noted Brinton’s unusual behavior at the luggage carousel were similar to “cues suspects typically give off when committing luggage theft,” and noted that Brinton, who had only checked one bag, had already picked up their own luggage prior to absconding with the Away suitcase.
Brinton, the first out nonbinary official to serve in the U.S. government, who was named the deputy assistant secretary for spent fuel and waste disposition at the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy earlier this year, was placed on administrative leave following the Minneapolis airport incident.
The spokesperson told Insider in a statement that the department is limited in terms of what it can say on personnel matters, but added: “Generally, as the Department has previously stated, if a DOE clearance holder is charged with a crime, the case would be immediately considered by DOE personnel security officials, and depending on the circumstances, that review could result in suspension or revocation of the clearance.”
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said in a tweet on Friday that Brinton was “clearly unfit for a high-level national security role,” and accused the Biden administration of hiring Brinton because it “prioritizes wokeness over competence.”
Other right-wing social media accounts attacked Brinton for wearing women’s clothing despite being assigned male at birth, for pursuing BDSM and kink interests, including “puppy play,” and for claiming to have been affiliated with a local D.C.-area drag queen troupe.
A group of more than a dozen House Republican lawmakers previously issued a letter to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm demanding that Brinton be forced to resign, and criticized the Biden administration of appointing Brinton only to satisfy political correctness. Those lawmaker demanded that the Energy Department “set aside petty politics and appoint only the most qualified and dedicated individuals to influence America’s energy sector.”
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