Biden administration official Sam Brinton appeared in a mugshot following his arrest by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department after being accused of stealing multiple pieces of luggage from two airports.
The now-former Department of Energy official, who identifies as nonbinary, is being charged with felony grand larceny after being caught on camera taking another woman’s luggage at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, according to 8 News Now. The woman whose luggage was taken told police it was valued at $3,670. Brinton’s bond was set at $15,000 by Las Vegas Justice Court Judge Joe Bonaventure, who told Brinton, 35, to stay out of trouble.
SAM BRINTON NO LONGER WORKS FOR DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY AMID LUGGAGE SCANDAL
Brinton offered no comment when asked by 8 News Now reporters.
The luggage theft, which had gone unsolved since it first occurred over the summer, achieved a breakthrough when LVMPD investigators were alerted by news reports detailing similar luggage theft from who they later identified as Brinton. Police say that he had taken a selfie at the airport in the same T-shirt he was wearing in surveillance footage.
In the footage, Brinton pulled the luggage from the carousel, examined the tag, placed it back on the carousel, looked around to see if anyone was watching, then pulled it off the carousel again and walked away with it, police said.
The report added that investigators “observed several nonverbal cues, or body language anomalies, from the suspect, which caught his attention,” the Daily Mail reported.
A DOE spokesman informed the Washington Examiner on Monday that Brinton was no longer working with the agency.
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“Sam Brinton is no longer a DOE employee. By law, the Department of Energy cannot comment further on personnel matters,” they said.
