Former Biden administration nuclear official Sam Brinton was on a taxpayer-funded government business trip when he was caught trying to steal airport luggage, according to newly revealed Department of Energy documents.
Brinton, who identifies as “non-binary” and dresses in woman’s clothes, traveled in early July 2022 to the DOE’s Nevada national security site outside Las Vegas as part of his role as deputy assistant secretary for spent fuel and waste disposition at the office of nuclear energy, according to internal documents obtained by watchdog group Functional Government Initiative (FGI) and first reported by Fox News.
Brinton took a United Airlines flight from Washington, D.C., to Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas on July 6, 2022, the records indicate. In early December, authorities announced there was a federal warrant out for Brinton's arrest on grand larceny charges for stealing property worth between $1,200 and $5,000. Police said Brinton was captured on surveillance footage leaving the airport with a suitcase containing an estimated $3,500 value of jewelry, clothing, and makeup on July 6, 2022.
The visit to the Nevada national security Site — which conducts “experiments” related to nuclear national security, according to the DOE website — was made for an undefined purpose, according to the documents. The NNSS is located in a remote, highly secure area. The facility hosts scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and technicians who “execute a multitude of high-level experimental, research, and training activities in support of national security.”
During the four-day business trip, Brinton stayed at the Hilton Grand Vacations Club on the Las Vegas Strip and spent about $1,951.50, a DOE expense report filed in August 2022 showed.
Briton was placed on leave from his post in November after being charged with a first incident of stealing luggage from a Minneapolis airport months earlier in September. He allegedly grabbed a woman's Vera Bradley suitcase, worth $2,325 with its contents, from baggage claim.
While Brinton maintained innocence in the Minneapolis case, claiming to have mistakenly taken the other passenger's bag despite having never checked a bag before the flight, he was arrested as a "fugitive from justice” in May after the Nevada incident.
A neighbor of Brinton and Brinton's husband, Kevin Reike, told the Daily Wire that "four unmarked police showed up last night, they would not let his spouse Kevin leave. After about an hour Sam Brinton was escorted out in handcuffs."
In May, Brinton was apprehended in another suitcase nabbing that allegedly took place in 2018 at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C.
Brinton's biography on the DOE's leadership page was removed from the agency's website after the Minneapolis scandal. The DOE then fired Brinton in December following the two incidents. Brinton’s appointment was widely touted as a historic accomplishment for the LGBT community.
“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 News. “The federal government obviously needs a more stringent vetting process for senior-level positions. Senior officials committing petty crime while on the clock is a clear indication that something is dysfunctional in the personnel procedures.”
No comments: