A former senior Department of Energy (DOE) official has been arrested as a “fugitive from justice.”
Sam Brinton, who is non-binary and previously the deputy assistant secretary of the Office of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition, was arrested Wednesday night.
The Daily Wire first reported the arrest, citing police records in Montgomery County, Maryland.
Shiera Goff, a Montgomery County Police Department spokesperson, told Fox News Digital, “Montgomery County Police assisted in the arrest of Sam Brinton.”
“The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police are lead on this,” the spokesperson continued, adding, “Brinton was arrested at approximately 10 p.m. last night in their home on College Parkway.”
Finally, Goff said, “They are being held in the Montgomery County Central Processing Unit on a no-bond status as they await an extradition hearing. That’s all of the information we have on our end.”
Brinton’s stint at the DOE ended amid charges of grand larceny. Brinton served in that capacity from June to December 2022.
Brinton was slapped with two separate charges for stealing luggage.
The first incident occurred in September in the Minneapolis St. Paul Airport (MSP) and involved a $2,325 Vera Bradley suitcase.
Brinton initially denied taking luggage and told law enforcement, “If I had taken the wrong bag, I am happy to return it, but I don’t have any clothes for another individual.”
“That was my clothes when I opened the bag,” Brinton added.
However, two hours later, the then-Energy Department official called law enforcement back to apologize for not being “completely honest,” and blamed taking the luggage on being tired.
And in December, KLAS News reported on a second luggage theft incident allegedly involving Brinton, this time at the Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas.
Citing court documents, The Daily Beast notes law enforcement “viewed video footage showing Brinton looking around suspiciously— placing the bag back on the luggage turnstile before snagging it a second time as it came around.”
Officials there managed to match up the surveillance photo to news reports about Brinton’s charges in Minneapolis. It helped that they were wearing a distinctive rainbow atomic T-shirt that investigators were able to match up to a post on Brinton’s Instagram account from the same day,” it explained.
Brinton was facing up to 10 years in jail and a $10,000 fine but avoided jail time in that case. Clark County Judge Ann Zimmerman order the former DOE official to pay $3,670.74 to the victim, a $500 fine, and imposed a 180-day suspended jail sentence that did not need to be served.
Brinton’s Minnesota case is ongoing.
