Sam Brinton, a non-binary senior US nuclear official in the Biden administration, has been charged with stealing a suitcase in an airport.
The official allegedly took a Vera Bradley suitcase worth $2,325 from the luggage carousel at the Minneapolis St. Paul Airport on September 16. Officers reviewed video surveillance after the suitcase's owner alerted the airport police.
Brinton was identified taking the luggage. They allegedly removed its tag identifying the owner.
Brinton Used the Suitcase
Court filings stated that law enforcement observed Brinton, who is the DOE's deputy assistant secretary for spent fuel and waste disposition, using the suitcase during at least two other trips to Washington DC on September 18 and October 9.
The complaint said Brinton took the suitcase on a trip to Europe. When the police called the drag queen and asked if they had taken anything that didn't belong to them, they replied, "Not that I know of." However, Brinton later admitted to taking the luggage, but denied that it contained the clothes of another person.
"If I had taken the wrong bag, I am happy to return it, but I don't have any clothes for another individual. That was my clothes when I opened the bag." But two hours later, Brinton called back and apologized for not being "completely honest". Briton, whose gender has been listed as "unknown", admitted to taking the bag but said they were tired and took the suitcase thinking it was theirs.
Got Nervous
Brinton said when they opened the bag at the hotel, they realized that the bag was someone else's and got nervous thinking people would say they stole the bag, and didn't know what to do. The official said they left the clothes from the bag in drawers in the hotel room. When Brinton was questioned as to why they had not just left the bag in the hotel room, they said it was "weirder" to leave a bag than the clothes.
Following the incident, the US Department of Energy (DOE) said Sam Brinton is on leave from DOE and that Dr Kim Petry has taken on the role of Deputy Assistant Secretary of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition.
Brinton had been lauded as one of if not the very first openly genderfluid individuals in federal government leadership. Now, he has been charged of theft of moveable property which carries a maximum sentence of up to five years in jail and a potential fine of up to $10,000.
