Former Biden-administration nuclear official Sam Brinton, charged with felony suitcase theft, pleaded guilty to petit larceny in a sweetheart plea deal in Virginia that results in no jail time for him.
The plea deal was unveiled during a hearing last week in Arlington General District Court, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
Brinton, who identifies as non-binary, uses they/them pronouns, and dresses in women’s clothes, worked as deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Nuclear Energy before being sacked following his luggage-theft scandal. His appointment as a nuclear-waste official in the Biden administration was widely touted as a historic accomplishment for the LGBT community.
In February 2023, he was charged with grand larceny for allegedly taking Tanzanian designer’s Asya Khamsin’s luggage from Ronald Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Va. It was the third such incident of luggage theft Brinton was allegedly associated with.
Khamsin claimed in a viral tweet in February 2023 that Brinton wore custom-made clothes that she had reported missing in 2018. After hearing the news of Brinton’s luggage-theft charges, Khamsin made a shocking discovery.
“Surprisingly, I found . . . images [of Brinton wearing my custom-made] outfits, which [were] in the lost bag,” Khamsin said.
Brinton was jailed in Virginia for about two weeks in relation to the Khamsin theft after being released on bond.
As part of the deal finalized last week, Brinton entered into an adult diversion program in which he committed to undergo a mental-health evaluation, write a letter of apology, return any stolen property, and complete 50 hours of community service assisting the elderly, according to prosecutors. The arrangement also involved downgrading Brinton’s grand-larceny felony charges to petit larceny, a misdemeanor. Brinton will avoid a prison sentence, which for grand larceny in Virginia can go up to as many as 20 years.
The agreement marks the third time Brinton has evaded jail time after being charged with stealing luggage from airport carousels.
“The resolution we came to is supported by the facts and circumstances of the case as a whole,” Jessika Thomas, a spokeswoman for Arlington County commonwealth’s attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti, said in a statement obtained by the Free Beacon. “Unfortunately, since this case remains pending, we are prohibited from commenting further.”
Brinton allegedly stole luggage from Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, Nev., on July 6, 2022, raising questions about his claim that the earlier instance of alleged theft of the designer’s belongings was a mix-up. There was a federal warrant out for Brinton’s arrest on grand-larceny charges for stealing property worth between $1,200 and $5,000. Police said Brinton was caught on surveillance footage running off with a suitcase filled with over $3,500 worth of jewelry, clothing, and make-up on July 6, 2022.
Brinton was on a taxpayer-funded government business trip when he was caught trying to steal airport luggage in Las Vegas, according to internal documents obtained by watchdog group Functional Government Initiative (FGI). Brinton was headed to the DOE’s Nevada national-security site as part of his role as deputy assistant secretary for spent fuel and waste disposition.
The Biden administration placed Brinton on leave in November 2022 after he was charged with stealing luggage from a Minneapolis airport. In that incident, Brinton allegedly grabbed a woman’s Vera Bradley suitcase, worth $2,325 with its contents, from baggage claim at the Minneapolis–St. Paul Airport. Brinton had flown from Washington, D.C., in both cases. The Department of Energy later fired Brinton in December 2022.
This week, Brinton also reached a settlement with Khamsin in a related civil case filed in Montgomery County, Md., the Free Beacon reported. A stipulated dismissal of the lawsuit will likely be filed later this week. Under the settlement, Brinton pledged to compensate Khamsin with an undisclosed amount and write the designer an apology letter.
“Mr. Brinton has apologized to Asya Khamsin, and Asya Khamsin has forgiven Mr. Brinton,” legal counsel for Khamsin said in a statement. “Asya Khamsin has decided not to publish Mr. Brinton’s letter of apology, as she considers the letter to be quite personal, sensitive, sincere, and heartfelt.”