Former Biden Energy Department official Sam Brinton, who identifies as “non-binary,” will be placed in a men’s jail in Maryland before authorities transport him to Virginia over suitcase theft charges.
The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department on Tuesday told the New York Post that authorities would hold Brinton, 35, at the county men’s jail with the general male population next week per the Montgomery County Department of Correction and Rehabilitation policy, which states that officers process and house inmates based on their biological sex.
“Although MCDOCR does not consider anatomical changes brought about by hormonal therapy to be changes that constitute a change of anatomical sex, the classification of an arrestee/inmate will depend on whether the arrestee/inmate has male or female genitalia, whether they present a management or security problem, and whether their health and safety can be ensured,” the policy reads, according to the Post. “Once an inmate is classified, they will be given a housing assignment based on that classification.”
Brinton, who President Joe Biden tapped to serve as the deputy assistant secretary of the Office of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition in the U.S. Department of Energy, was fired six months after joining the Biden administration amid allegations of stealing luggage and women’s clothing from airports.
Authorities arrested Brinton last week at a house in Rockville, Maryland, as a “fugitive from justice” for allegedly stealing luggage.
A witness neighbor told The Daily Wire that authorities escorted Brinton in handcuffs last week an hour after four unmarked police cars arrived at the house while his spouse, Kevin, was told he couldn’t leave.
Rob Yingling, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA), said airport police “executed a search warrant May 17 in Montgomery County, Maryland, in connection with allegations of stolen property in luggage from Reagan National Airport that was brought to the department’s attention in February 2023.”
“With the assistance of Montgomery County Police, Samuel Otis Brinton, age 35, of Rockville, Maryland, was taken into custody Wednesday pending charges of Grand Larceny,” Yingling added.
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Brinton appeared before a judge on May 18 via closed-circuit television from the Montgomery County Central Processing Unit, where Judge Victor Del Pino declined to release him and ordered him extradited to Virginia.
“I will deny the request to turn himself in,” Del Pino said at a public hearing. “Virginia will pick him up. Good luck in Virginia, Mr. Brinton.”
The luggage in question belonged to Tanzanian fashion designer Asya Khamsin, who appeared on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” in March, saying that her luggage had been stolen from Reagan National Airport in 2018 on the way to a fashion show, causing catastrophe because she could not show her designs.
Brinton was later pictured wearing one of her one-of-a-kind designs that had been in the suitcase, she said.
Prior to the alleged theft of Khamsin’s luggage, Brinton pleaded “no contest” to a misdemeanor theft charge last month after authorities caught him on video allegedly stealing luggage at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas.
Authorities initially charged Brinton with a felony based on the belief he stole $3,670 worth of items. However, the former Biden official agreed to pay the victim more than $3,500 in restitution and received a suspended 180-day jail sentence under the assumption Brinton would obey the law.
Brinton was charged with stealing a woman’s suitcase last year from the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, where he allegedly removed a luggage tag from a navy blue Vera Bradley suitcase bag, dropped it into his handbag, and “then left the area at a quick pace” on September 16, 2022, according to a criminal complaint.
Luke Rosiak contributed to this report.
