https://nypost.com/2023/04/13/ex-biden-official-sam-brinton-accepts-plea-deal-in-las-vegas-luggage-theft/
The former Biden administration official accused in two separate stolen-luggage cases in different states was ordered to pay one of their victims back — but given no jail time — Tuesday after they pleaded no contest to the bizarre theft.
Samuel Brinton, who is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, was given a 180-day suspended jail sentence for lifting a woman’s suitcase from Las Vegas‘ Harry Reid International Airport in July 2022, according to court records obtained by Fox 5.
As part of the plea deal, Brinton was charged with a misdemeanor instead of a felony.
A judge ordered them to pay $3,670.74 in restitution for the stolen luggage, which contained pricey jewelry, clothing and makeup.
The 35-year-old was caught on surveillance footage wearing a white T-shirt with a large rainbow-colored atomic nuclear symbol design — that Brinton was also caught wearing in an Instagram photo they posted later that day.
The 35-year-old was working as the deputy assistant secretary for spent fuel and waste disposition at the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy when they committed the fashion crime, but has since been fired.
Brinton still faces felony charges in a similar case that alleges they struck again two months after the incident during a trip to Minnesota from Washington, DC.