Samuel Brinton, a former Biden administration official who was fired last year after being charged with grand larceny for attempting to steal luggage from an airport, was arrested this week as a “fugitive from justice,” according to a new report.
Brinton, who identifies as non-binary and whose appointment as a nuclear waste official in the Biden administration was widely touted as a historic accomplishment for the LGBT community, was arrested in Maryland on Wednesday.
A neighbor to 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.”
Brinton was charged last year with stealing a woman’s luggage from Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada, in July 2022. The disgraced former Biden administration official faced grand larceny charges for stealing property worth between $1,200 and $5,000
Last month, Brinton pleaded no contest to the charges from that incident and was ordered to pay the woman back and to serve a 180-day suspended jail sentence.
Now, Brinton is set to appear for a hearing before Judge Victor Del Pino on Thursday afternoon, according to the Daily Wire.
That incident was not the first time Brinton had been accused of stealing luggage, however. Brinton was placed on leave in November after being charged with stealing luggage from Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport. In that incident, Brinton was accused of taking a woman’s Vera Bradley suitcase, worth $2,325 with its contents, from baggage claim on September 16, 2022.
Brinton maintained innocence in the Minneapolis incident, claiming to have mistakenly taken the other passenger’s bag. This despite Brinton having never checked a bag before the flight, according to court filings reviewed by the New York Post. Video recording later appeared to show Brinton removing the suitcase’s ID tag before running off with it. The former Biden administration official hid the materials of the suitcase in a dresser in a hotel room.
The Department of Energy fired Brinton in December after the two incidents came to light.
Days after pleading no contest in the Las Vegas incident, Brinton agreed to undergo a mental-health evaluation as part of an adult diversion program as part of the case related to the Minneapolis theft.
Before joining the Biden administration, Brinton worked at the Trevor Project for four years, first as the Head of Advocacy and Government Affairs and then as Vice President of Advocacy and Government Affairs.