Already facing felony charges for the theft of luggage from the airport in Minneapolis, Biden administration Energy Department official Sam Brinton has been accused of stealing a woman's luggage from Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas.
Nevada authorities issued a felony warrant on grand larceny charges to Brinton, the deputy assistant secretary for spent fuel and waste disposition at the department’s Office of Nuclear Energy, 8 News Now reported on Thursday.
Brinton, wearing a rainbow atomic symbol T-shirt, was captured on security footage making off with a woman’s bag worth more than $3,670 on July 6, KLAS News reported.
It was the distinctive shirt, which Brinton was wearing in a selfie posted to Instagram the same day, that Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said led them to issue a warrant for Brinton’s arrest.
Police said the luggage contained $1,700 worth of jewelry, clothing valued at $850, and $500 of makeup. It was removed from the airport’s baggage carousel by “a white male adult wearing a white T-shirt with a large rainbow-colored atomic nuclear symbol design.”
The man “demonstrated several signs of abnormal behavior while taking the victim’s luggage which are cues suspects typically give off when committing luggage theft,” police said, adding that he then grabbed the bag off the carousel and walked away with it quickly.
The victim, who filed a police report on July 10, described her missing bag as a gray, hard-shell “Away” brand “Bigger Carry-On” valued at $320.
Police said they were initially unable to identify the thief from the footage and closed the case. But on Nov. 29, when the Las Vegas investigator in the case saw media reports of the Minneapolis accusation against Brinton, the officer “immediately recognized” the Energy Department employee “as the suspect pertaining to this case.”
In the Minnesota case, video surveillance footage from Sept. 16 showed Brinton removing a woman’s hard-sided Vera Bradley roller suitcase worth about $2,000 from the baggage claim area at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
Brinton claimed not to know about the bag but later told authorities he took it by accident.
Brinton faces up to five years in prison for the Minnesota theft and up to 10 years jail time for the Las Vegas heist.
Republicans have called for Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm to terminate Brinton’s employment with the department since the original theft allegations.
Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, the top Republican on the Senate Energy Committee, called for Brinton‘s termination, as did 16 House Republicans, led by Georgia Rep. Andrew Clyde, who demanded the resignation of Brinton and that Granholm “set aside petty politics and appoint only the most qualified and dedicated individuals to influence America’s energy sector.”
“It is in the interest of both the Department’s mission and our national security that the Deputy Assistant Secretary’s clearance be immediately revoked,” Barrasso wrote in his letter to Ms. Granholm.
Energy Committee Chairman Joseph Manchin, West Virginia Democrat, said: “Everyone’s innocent until proven guilty, but if he‘s convicted of what he‘s done, he‘s gone. Here’s the thing. It sounds to me like it’s a pretty clear-cut case and he’s in big trouble. … The bottom line is, you commit a felony and you work with top secret clearance, you’re gone.”
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