Sam Brinton, a disgraced former Energy Department official, was on a taxpayer-funded business trip when he is accused of stealing luggage at an airport.
Brinton, 35, traveled to Las Vegas to the DOE-operated Nevada Homeland Security Site, according to internal department documents and expense reports.
Documents obtained by the Functional Government Initiative show that Brinton flew on a United Airlines flight from Washington, DC, to Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas on July 6, 2022.
Brinton, who uses they/them pronouns, was charged with grand theft of an item valued between $1,200 and $5,000.
Police say Brinton stole a suitcase worth $3,670 at the airport on the same date they traveled on official DOE business.
Brinton, 35, traveled to Las Vegas on the DOE-operated Nevada Homeland Security Side, according to internal department documents and expense reports.
The stolen bag contained $1,700 worth of jewelry, $850 worth of clothing, and $500 worth of makeup.
In a statement, FGI spokesman Peter McGinnis said: “It is outrageous that tax dollars transported Brinton to and from the scene of a crime, inadvertently putting the American public behind the wheel of the getaway car.”
“Obviously, the federal government needs a stricter vetting process for high-level positions.
“Senior officials committing petty crimes while on the job is a clear indication that something is wrong with personnel procedures.”
The documents revealed that he traveled to the DOE’s Nevada Homeland Security Site for an unspecified meeting and site visit.
According to the DOE, the Nevada Homeland Security Site “is a preferred location for experiments that support the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Nuclear Weapons Stockpile Management Programs, national defense programs, and research, development, and homeland security training, as well as vital programs of other federal agencies. agencies.’
Brinton also stayed at the Hilton Grand Vacations Club on the Las Vegas Strip during the trip, departing on July 9, three days later.
An expense report submitted in August 2022 shows that the total cost of the four-day trip was $1,951.50.
Brinton escaped from jail in the case after pleading no guilty and was ordered to pay $3,670.74 to the victim in the case and $500 in additional charges, including a criminal fine.
Brinton was arrested in February at his home in Maryland. Her husband Kevin (who left in February) was kept in the house while Brinton was led out in handcuffs.
The stolen bag contained $1,700 worth of jewelry, $850 worth of clothing, and $500 worth of makeup.
Clark County Judge Ann Zimmerman gave Brinton a suspended prison sentence of 180 days, a sentence that does not need to be served, and ordered Brinton to “stay out of trouble.”
In December, the DOE announced that Brinton had left the agency, but did not comment on the reason for the departure.
The former Biden adviser also escaped from jail for a separate incident in which another suitcase was stolen from a baggage carousel at the Minneapolis-St Paul airport on September 16, worth $2,325.
Brinton in an earlier mugshot. They have already been arrested three times for stealing women’s suitcases at airports
Brinton was arrested again in May in connection with another theft, from a 2018 incident at Regan National Airport.
Brinton was released from jail in June after a two-week stint, after being accused of stealing Tanzanian designer Asyakhamsin’s suitcase.
The designer and her attorney contacted police after reading about other Brinton thefts and seeing photos of them wearing their stolen items.
In the most recent case, Brinton made off with a bag containing more than “a dozen” items, according to the designer.
“Asyakhamsin’s business was seriously damaged by this loss, which remained a mystery until she was recently alerted to photos of Sam Brinton using items from her missing luggage,” said her lawyer Peter Hansen.
Certain public images of Brinton in Asyakhamsin’s designs were widely published, including on the Italian Vanity Fair website.
Tanzanian-American fashion designer Asyakhamsin (above) says she filed a police report after seeing former Energy Department official Sam Binton wearing her stolen clothing.
Sam Brinton (pictured left at Starbucks in West Hollywood in October 2019) appeared to be wearing Asyakhamsin’s unique designs.
‘Asyakhamsin is a black Muslim immigrant businesswoman and has built a distinguished career for forty years. She deserves credit for her works.
In February, a shocked Asyakhamsin went public with her allegations, saying her suitcase disappeared from Reagan National in 2018 and that she had seen photos of Brinton wearing his custom designs ever since.
The Houston-based fashion guru shared photos of herself wearing one of her outfits alongside a photo that surfaced of Brinton in what she believed to be the same garment.
Asyakhamsin’s luggage containing the outfits she accused Brinton of being photographed in disappeared at the airport when she flew to Washington, DC in 2018 for a fashion event.
The outfits were meant to be on display, but the designer said at the time that she was unable to participate in the event as she had hoped after her luggage went missing.
