A Biden administration employee has been accused of stealing designer luggage at the Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport (MSP) in September 2022.
Sam Brinton, the deputy assistant secretary for spent fuel and waste disposition at the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy, was charged with felony theft after allegedly snatching a Vera Bradley suitcase at the baggage claims area of MSP airport.
Brinton, who is one of the government’s first non-binary officials, was captured on surveillance video grabbing the luggage and removing the owner’s ID tag, according to court documents.
Brinton was then later seen carrying the luggage on at least two separate occasions while traveling to Washington DC.
The New York Post reports that Brinton denied stealing the suitcase to police officers, but later claimed they took it by mistake, confessed to not being “completely honest”, and said that they still had the luggage.
Brinton is currently on leave from the Department of Energy, and is due to appear in court to face the charges on December 19, 2022.
If convicted, Brinton could face up to five years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.