“Sam Brinton is no longer an employee of DOE,” a Department of Energy spokesperson told The Daily Beast on Monday night. “By law, the Department of Energy cannot comment further on personnel matters.” Brinton, who gained attention as one of the first non-binary federal government officials, was first charged last month for grabbing a woman’s suitcase from the baggage carousel at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in September. They initially denied taking the bag – which is said to be worth more than $2,500 – but later said they accidentally grabbed it. Brinton checked luggage on at least two other flights after the alleged theft, including a Sept. 18 return flight to Washington, D.C., and an Oct. 9 trip to Europe, according to The Star Tribune. The newspaper also reported that Brinton admitted to officers that he dumped the contents of the bag in a St. Louis hotel room. Paul after they realized their mistake, hoping the situation would go away. Then last week, a second set of charges were filed in Las Vegas against Brinton — with police sharing surveillance footage showing them leaving Harry Reid International Airport with another woman’s bag — this one worth an estimated $3,670 , according to court documents. The Las Vegas case was apparently closed due to a lack of suspects — but officials there were able to match the surveillance photo with news stories about Brinton’s charges in Minneapolis. It helped that they were wearing a distinctive individual rainbow T-shirt that investigators were able to match to a post on Brindon’s Instagram account from the same day. According to 8 News Now, the unidentified woman reported to police days later that her purse was missing, filled with “jewelry, makeup, contact lenses and clothes.” Court documents said a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officer saw video showing the Briton looking around suspiciously – placing the bag back on the baggage turnstile before grabbing it a second time on his way out. A White House spokesman did not respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment. Brinton could not be successfully reached.
