Internal Biden administration documents reveal Sam Brinton, the disgraced former senior Department of Energy official, was traveling on a taxpayer-funded trip when he reportedly stole women’s luggage last year.
Brinton, who identified as non-binary, was charged with grand larceny of an item valued between $1,200 and $5,000 in Dec. 2022, the same month the DOE announced his departure. Police accused him of stealing a suitcase valued at $3,670 at Harry Reid International Airport on July 6, 2022.
Fox News reports this was the same day he traveled to Las Vegas for DOE business:
Brinton traveled in early July 2022 to the DOE-operated Nevada National Security Site near Las Vegas, according to internal Department of Energy (DOE) filings and expense reports obtained by watchdog group Functional Government Initiative (FGI) and shared with Fox News Digital.
Brinton flew on a United Airlines flight from Washington, D.C., to Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas on July 6, 2022, the documents showed.
Nevada National Security Site “is a preferred location for experiments supporting the National Nuclear Security Administration’s nuclear weapons Stockpile Stewardship Programs, national defense programs, and national security research, development and training programs, as well as vital programs of other federal agencies,” according to the DOE.
“It’s outrageous that tax dollars transported Brinton to and from the scene of a crime, putting the American public unwittingly at the wheel of the getaway car,” FGI spokesperson Peter McGinnis told Fox.
“The federal government obviously needs a more stringent vetting process for senior-level positions,” added McGinnis. “Senior officials committing petty crime while on the clock is a clear indication that something is dysfunctional in the personnel procedures.”
Brinton did not get jail time after pleading no contest to the charges and waiving the right to a trial. He was ordered to pay $3,670.74 to the victim in the case and $500 in fees, including a criminal fine, and the county handed him a 180-day suspended jail sentence that didn’t need to be served and ordered to “stay out of trouble,” the New York Post reports.
Brinton was arrested in May in connection to another baggage theft case that took place in 2018 at Reagan National Airport in the D.C. area.