A former Biden administration senior Department of Energy official, Sam Brinton, is slated to appear in Minnesota court Wednesday to face charges tied to an airport baggage theft in September.
The former nuclear specialist was charged in October with stealing a woman’s luggage valued at $2,325 near the baggage claim area in Minneapolis St. Paul Airport on Sept. 16. Brinton, a 35-year-old biological man who identifies as nonbinary and was the first purported nonbinary person to work as a top Energy Department official, faces up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine, according to a criminal complaint filed in Hennepin County District Court.
Wednesday will mark Brinton’s first appearance in court over the charges after the hearing was initially slated for Dec. 19. The date was pushed back at the request of Brinton’s counsel.
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But Judge Gina Brandt, who is presiding over the case, denied several requests from the defense’s lawyers, such as Brinton’s desire to hold the hearing remotely. Brinton’s counsel argued their client was in the process of handling “employment issues” and that the case had become of heightened media interest.
“The current District Policy does not allow for remote appearances to be conducted for Felony 1st Appearances on the Property Drug Calendar with the only exception given to inmates in the custody of the Department of Corrections of the State of Minnesota,” Brandt wrote to Brinton’s attorneys in December. “Therefore, I must deny your request again.”
Brinton’s attorney in the Minnesota case, Fabian Hoffner, declined a request to comment to the Washington Examiner.
After reports emerged of Brinton’s felony charge in Minnesota, police in Las Vegas reopened an unsolved case involving a July 6 theft of a bag valued at $3,670 at Harry Reid International Airport. Subsequently, Nevada investigators identified Brinton as “the suspect pertaining to this case” and charged Brinton.
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The ex-DOE official faces up to 10 years in prison for the alleged theft of the bag in Las Vegas. Brinton appeared at a court hearing in Clark County, Nevada, in December and agreed on bail in the case set at $15,000 and was later booked and released.
On Dec. 12, the DOE announced Brinton had left the agency but would not state the reason for the departure following the charges in two different states. A spokesperson for the agency at the time said it wasn’t allowed to comment on inquiries related to personnel.
