A Biden administration nuclear waste official, Sam Brinton, is out of a job after being accused of stealing airport luggage in two separate incidents.
“Sam Brinton is no longer a DOE employee,” a Department of Energy spokesperson told The Daily Beast on Monday evening. “By law, the Department of Energy cannot comment further on personnel matters.”
Brinton, who attracted attention as one of the federal government's first non-binary officials, was first charged last month for nabbing a woman’s suitcase from the baggage carousel at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in September. They initially denied taking the bag—which was reportedly worth more than $2,500—but later said they had grabbed it by mistake.
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Brinton checked the luggage on at least two other flights following the alleged theft, including a Sept. 18 flight back to Washington D.C. and an Oct. 9 trip to Europe, according to The Star Tribune.
The newspaper also reported that Brinton admitted to officers they dumped the bag’s contents in a St. Paul hotel room after realizing their mistake, hoping the situation would go away.
Then last week a second set of charges were filed in Las Vegas for Brinton—with police sharing surveillance footage of them leaving the Harry Reid International Airport with another woman's bag—this one worth an estimated $3,670, according to court documents.
The Las Vegas case had apparently been closed due to a lack of suspects—but officials there managed to match up the surveillance photo to news reports about Brinton’s charges in Minneapolis. It helped that they were wearing a distinctive rainbow atomic T-shirt that investigators were able to match up to a post on Brinton’s Instagram account from the same day.
According to 8 News Now, the unidentified woman reported to police days later that her bag went missing, filled with “jewelry, makeup, contact lenses, and clothing.”
The court documents said an officer with the Las Vegas Metropolitan department viewed video footage showing Briton looking around suspiciously—placing the bag back on the luggage turnstile before snagging it a second time as it came around.
A White House spokesperson didn't return The Daily Beast's request for comment. Brinton couldn't successfully be reached.
