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Police have arrested a former Biden Department of Energy official who identifies as “non-binary” and has a history of stealing luggage from airports.
Disgraced ex-DOE official Sam Brinton was picked up by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) Police Department after officers executed a search warrant and discovered some missing designer clothes belonging to Asya Khamsin. Fox News said the clothes were returned to her.
The warrant appears to have been issued after Brinton wore some of the allegedly stolen clothing in public after Khamsin reported one of her bags missing from Ronald Reagan National Airport some years ago. MWAA police officers executed a search warrant in connection with the case in May at Brinton’s home in Maryland.
“The MWAA Police Department can confirm we returned the victim’s property and police retained photos of the evidence for prosecution,” MWAA spokesperson Crystal Nosal told Fox News Digital Tuesday in a statement. “The case is still under adjudication and we cannot release more detailed information.”
The outlet continued:
Weeks after the search warrant was executed, Brinton was charged with felony grand larceny of items worth more than $1,000. The preliminary hearing in the case, which was filed in Arlington General District Court, has been delayed until December.
In February, around the same time that MWAA Police learned about Brinton’s alleged theft at Ronald Reagan National Airport, Khamsin told Fox News Digital in an interview that she saw photographs in news articles where Brinton appeared to be wearing clothes with her custom designs. Khamsin added she packed the same clothes in a bag that vanished at the airport on March 9, 2018.
“I saw the images. Those were my custom designs, which were lost in that bag in 2018,” she told Fox News Digital then. “He wore my clothes, which was stolen.”
“Brinton faced up to 15 years total for the two alleged thefts. However, in both cases, the presiding judges ruled jail time wasn’t necessary.” https://t.co/yPMBuBgRvq
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) September 20, 2023
Khamsin explained that she had traveled to Washington, D.C., to take part in an event where she was invited to showcase her clothing. Unfortunately, the disappearance of her bag prevented her participation. Afterward, she filed reports with both the MWAA and Delta Air Lines, but the case ultimately went unresolved.
Subsequently, after seeing photographs of Brinton and hearing reports suggesting that he had purportedly stolen luggage from airport baggage carousels, Khamsin filed a report with the police in Houston, her place of residence, along with her husband. The Houston Police Department subsequently noted that the case was referred to the FBI.
“The MWAA returned to Asyakhamsin various parcels of retrieved clothing after the search warrant was executed. These items were returned in sealed evidence bags,” Peter Hansen, an attorney in Washington, D.C., representing Khamsin, told Fox News in an email on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Brinton, who gained attention last year for an appointment to a role overseeing nuclear waste policy at the DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy as a non-binary gender-fluid individual, avoided jail time in two distinct cases in Minnesota and Nevada related to luggage theft, Fox News Digital noted.
In October, police charged Brinton with the theft of a traveler’s luggage valued at a total of $2,325. The theft occurred at the luggage carousel of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport after Brinton had arrived from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C., on September 16.
In early December, Las Vegas prosecutors filed charges against Brinton for grand larceny of an item with a value ranging from $1,200 to $5,000. Police alleged that on July 6 at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, Brinton stole a suitcase with an estimated total worth of $3,670. The stolen bag contained jewelry valued at $1,700, clothing worth $850, and makeup worth $500, Fox News Digital added.
“Brinton was on an official taxpayer-funded trip to the Nevada National Security Site in Las Vegas at the time of the alleged theft,” the report said. “Brinton faced up to 15 years total for the two alleged thefts. However, in both cases, the presiding judges ruled jail time wasn’t necessary.”
