Biden Administration Official Charged With Multiple Bag Thefts, Gets Fired From DOE

A nuclear energy official of the Biden administration is reportedly no longer with the Department of Energy (DOE) after being charged in multiple baggage thefts at two separate airports.

Sam Brinton, who served as the deputy assistant secretary for spent fuel and waste disposition of the Office of Nuclear Energy, "is no longer a DOE employee," a DOE spokesperson told The Daily Beast Monday evening.

"By law, the Department of Energy cannot comment further on personnel matters," the spokesperson added.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department in Nevada issued a warrant of arrest for Brinton, according to a report from Insider.

The arrest warrant issued for the 35-year-old — who is one of the federal government's first openly "gender fluid" employees and uses they/them pronouns — stemmed from a case about a stolen suitcase at the Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas on July 6.

At the time, police couldn't identify a suspect from the airport's surveillance video. But authorities reopened the case last month and named Brinton as a suspect after one of their officers recognized them in the news after they were embroiled in a separate luggage theft case.

According to the arrest warrant, police said Brinton "can clearly be seen and identified on video stealing" a woman's gray Away luggage from a baggage carousel in the Las Vegas airport "and leaving" with it.

The suspect was captured in surveillance camera wearing a T-shirt "with a large rainbow-colored atomic nuclear symbol design on the front," according to Las Vegas police.

Police said the stolen luggage and its contents, which included jewelry, were estimated to be worth $3,670.74.

Authorities also said that Brinton "demonstrated several signs of abnormal behavior" while allegedly stealing the luggage, which they claimed was a typical cue from suspects when committing luggage theft, the warrant stated.

Brinton was also charged with a second felony theft in November for allegedly stealing a woman's Vera Bradley suitcase from the baggage carousel at Minnesota's Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport on Sept. 16.

Surveillance footage showed that Brinton removed the "bag's tag and put the bag tag in the handbag they were carrying," according to court documents.

Brinton was placed on administrative leave by the DOE last month following the charges, according to Insider.

A group of House Republicans, led by Georgia Rep. Andrew Clyde, had urged Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm to remove Brinton from the agency last week, the New York Post reported.

According to the letter sent by several House GOP lawmakers to Granholm, they said it was impossible for Brinton "to represent American values and simultaneously violate the felony laws of the land."

In June, the DOE hailed Brinton's appointment to the agency.

The department called Brinton a "well-known advocate for LGBTQ youth" after he helped secure protections against the practice of conversion therapy.