The former Biden administration nuclear official who was fired late last year after being caught in a string of luggage thefts was arrested at home this week, authorities said. Sam Brinton was arrested at his Maryland home on Wednesday night and transported to the Montgomery County Detention Center, where they remained overnight and Thursday morning.
Brinton is facing a grand larceny charge stemming from allegations of theft of expensive clothing by an African designer, according to the attorney for the alleged victim. He might spend up to a month in jail before being extradited to Washington, D.C. The charges are connected to Asya Khamsin's lost suitcase, according to a later statement from her attorney.
Finally Arrested
Brinton, 35, was arrested at their Rockville, Maryland, home around 10 pm on Wednesday, the Montgomery County Police Department said on Thursday. The charges are in connection to an allegedly stolen baggage that took place at Reagan National Airport and was reported to authorities in February.
This follows Brinton's arrest in Minnesota and Nevada on similar charges.
It's unclear exactly when the theft at Reagan Airport took place or whether it did so following Brinton's detention in December.
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority is now leveling grand larceny charges.
According to the New York Post, the charges are related to designer Asya Khamsin's lost suitcase, a lawyer for the Tanzanian fashion designer later said.
Brinton, who is non-binary and uses they pronouns, was arrested on the 700 block of College Parkway as a fugitive from justice, according to arrest documents.
"They are being held at the Montgomery County Central Processing Unit on a no-bond status as they await an extradition hearing," an MCPD spokesperson said.
According to a New York Post report, in February, Tanzanian fashion designer Asya Khamsin shared images of Brinton wearing clothes she had made, which she reported stolen from Reagan National Airport in 2018.
Khamzin's attorney, Peter Hansen, told the outlet on Thursday that his client "provided information on the clothing that was searched for" at Brinton's home this week.
"[Khamsin] contacted authorities...she did file a report," Hansen explained.
He said the investigation into Khamsin's stolen clothing has been ongoing since the spring and that the celebrity designer recently "provided images of [Brinton] in the [her] designs and pictures of those designs on models or on Asya Khamsin herself to show they were the same articles."
Khamsin recounted in an interview with the outlet in February being "confused" about how Brinton acquired the vividly colored, one-of-a-kind dresses she had created for her yearly fashion show in Tanzania
Celebrity Kleptomaniac
Khamsin had brought the clothing to Washington, D.C., to display them at another event when her suitcase vanished from the airport nearly five years ago. Khamsin, who divides her time between Houston and Tanzania, also mentioned that she reported the theft to the FBI at first.
Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police [MWAA] said that they first became aware of the "allegations of stolen property" in February 2023, when Khamsin's missing clothing first came to the public's attention.
According to a source claiming to be a neighbor of Brinton and Reike, "four unmarked police showed up" at their home on Wednesday night and led Brinton away in handcuffs an hour later, the Daily Wire reported.
From June through December 2022, Brinton, 35, worked as the Biden administration's deputy assistant secretary for spent fuel and waste disposition. However, they were fired after being identified as the perpetrators of two egregious suitcase thefts in Minnesota and Las Vegas, which have since been settled.
Brinton, however, pleaded no contest to charges related to the theft of the woman's luggage from the Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas in July 2022.
Days later, Brinton consented to participate in an adult diversion program that included a mental health evaluation as part of charges linked to a theft that occurred at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in September 2022.
Brinton may have to spend the next 26 days in the male part of the Montgomery County prison if there are no non-binary inmate accommodations available. Brinton might also be freed sooner if they hire a lawyer and submit a successful request for bail.
