In September, Sam Brinton, a senior Energy Department (DOE) official, was accused of stealing a traveler’s bags in the Minneapolis airport, just before taking a quiet leave of absence.
Brinton, the DOE’s deputy assistant secretary for spent fuel and waste disposition, allegedly stole a $2,325 Vera Bradley suitcase from the luggage carousel at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) on Sept. 16, according to a criminal complaint filed in Minnesota state court on Oct. 26 and obtained by Fox News Digital. Brinton had driven from Washington, D.C. to Minneapolis that day.
According to the court pleadings, after the suitcase’s owner informed police, detectives reviewed video footage of the carousel and identified Brinton taking the luggage before removing the tag identifying the owner. Brinton was seen using the bags on at least two subsequent visits to Washington, D.C., on Sept. 18 and Oct. 9.
Brinton then denied stealing anything when a police officer called to discuss the incident on Oct. 9. Brinton confirmed that he still has the suitcase.
“If I had taken the wrong bag, I am happy to return it, but I don’t have any clothes for another individual,” Brinton told the cop on the phone. “That was my clothes when I opened the bag.”
Brinton contacted the officer again two hours later and apologized for not being “fully honest.” Brinton, on the other hand, claimed it was an error and blamed being weary for picking the wrong bag at the carousel.
VISIT OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL“DEFENDANT said when they opened the bag at the hotel, they realized it was not theirs,” according to court records. “DEFENDANT got nervous people would think they stole the bag and did not know what to do. DEFENDANT stated they left the clothes from the bag inside the drawers in the hotel room.”
Brinton was eventually charged with felony theft of movable property without agreement, which carries a five-year prison sentence, a $10,000 fine, or both.
The charges against Brinton were originally published by the Minnesota-based Alpha News on Monday.
Brinton was placed on leave about a month ago, and an interim replacement was selected early this month, according to the Exchange Monitor, which analyzes government appointments. The DOE did not initially explain why Brinton took leave at the time.
“Sam Brinton is on leave from DOE, and Dr. Kim Petry is performing the duties of Deputy Assistant Secretary of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition,” a DOE official said in a statement.
Brinton made waves in June when she was appointed to the DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy as one of the government’s first non-binary officials.
“There’s been a lot of people who are quite upset that don’t think that I am quite as qualified as others,” Brinton said to E&E News back in October. “I respond with multiple graduate degrees from MIT, a decade of working in nuclear policy and the strongest enthusiasm for working in nuclear waste out of anybody.”
But you’re still an unstable non-binary lunatic.
