A cross-dressing, gender non-conforming top official in the Biden administration is facing a felony theft charge that carries a five-year prison sentence for stealing a woman's suitcase containing clothes worth well over $2,000 at a major Minnesota airport in September, after lying about the incident to law enforcement and confessing to the crime, according to court records Townhall has viewed.
It’s official. As of June 19th, I now serve my nation as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition in the Office of Nuclear Energy in the Department of Energy. pic.twitter.com/zLq3Bf97X2
— Sam Brinton (@sbrinton) June 29, 2022
35-year-old Samuel Otis Brinton, who uses "they/them/theirs" pronouns, is the Biden administration's "gender-fluid" deputy assistant secretary for spent fuel and waste disposition in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Office of Nuclear Energy.
Brinton is charged with one felony count of theft punishable by up to five years in prison, a $10,000 fine, or both, if convicted of the offense, according to a criminal complaint requesting that Brinton be ordered to appear in court for the theft charge.
Oct. 27 criminal complaint | Hennepin County, Minnesota Judicial Branch
Law enforcement officers at the Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) International Airport were alerted on Sept. 16 to a missing suitcase in the baggage-claim area, according to Hennepin County court documents obtained by Townhall. The female victim, who flew into MSP Airport on a Delta flight from New Orleans, went to claim her navy blue hard-sided Vera Bradley 26-inch roller bag, but the woman's luggage containing her clothing, which was scanned as arriving at 4:40 p.m. local time, was missing from Carousel 7.
Five minutes later, video surveillance captured a suspect—identified as Brinton—retrieving an identical bag from the carousel's rear, removing the luggage tag, and placing it in a handbag, a probable cause statement says, adding that the defendant left the scene quickly after flying in on a separate American Airlines flight at 4:27 p.m. from Washington, D.C. American Airlines records confirmed that the non-binary DOE official did not check a bag and, thus, didn't have a valid reason to be at baggage claim.
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Brinton was observed leaving MSP airport in a rideshare vehicle en route to stay at the upscale InterContinental St. Paul Riverfront where footage from the luxury hotel showed the defendant checking in with the blue bag. Two days go by, and Brinton was filmed on security camera returning to MSP Airport to check the blue bag for a departing flight back to the nation's capital.
Oct. 27 probable cause statement, Pt. 1 | Hennepin County, Minnesota Judicial Branch
The next month, Brinton was videoed traveling again on Oct. 9 at the Washington Dulles (IAD) International Airport in Virginia on a return trip from Europe carrying the blue bag. MSP Airport police took a close-up digital photograph of the bag in Brinton's possession and the victim verified it was hers. The total estimated value of the stolen bag and its contents equaled $2,325.
At first, Brinton refuted taking anything that didn't belong to "them," as the criminal complaint identifies the defendant, telling a police officer via phone call, "Not that I know of." Brinton then admitted to taking the blue bag but denied that the clothes inside were someone else's. "If I had taken the wrong bag, I am happy to return it, but I don't have any clothes for another individual. That was my clothes when I opened the bag," Brinton told authorities, acknowledging still having the blue bag in question.
About two hours later, Brinton called the cop, apologized for not being "completely honest," and admitted to taking the blue bag, but asserted that "they were tired and took the suitcase thinking it was theirs," the complaint continues. Brinton maintained that the realization only occurred upon opening the bag at the hotel. At that point, Brinton "got nervous people would think they stole the bag and did not know what to do," the complaint reads. Brinton claimed to have placed the clothes from the bag inside the hotel room's drawers and departed without the garments, although no clothing was ever recovered from Brinton's hotel room.
Per police, Brinton confessed to bringing the bag to the airport on Sept. 18 and checking it for departure. The officer questioned why Brinton left with the luggage, and the defendant reasoned it was "weirder" to leave a bag behind rather than the clothes.
The cop instructed Brinton on how to turn in the blue bag to Delta Air Lines at Dulles Airport to ensure its return to the victim. But as of Oct. 27, the date that the criminal complaint was filed, the victim has not yet received the stolen bag back from Brinton.
Oct. 27 probable cause statement, Pt. 2 | Hennepin County, Minnesota Judicial Branch
Brinton, who resides in Rockville, Maryland, is summoned to appear at a hearing in the Hennepin County District Court's public safety facility next month before Judge Gina M. Brandt on the afternoon of Dec. 19. If the defendant fails to make the first courtroom appearance in the State of Minnesota vs. Samuel Otis Brinton case, a warrant for Brinton's arrest will be issued.
A records management supervisor for MSP Airport's police department declined Townhall's public records request for a case report or a digital copy of the surveillance footage: "At this time, the case is open in the court system and not public information."
Brinton's criminal defense attorney Fabian Sabastian Hoffner has not returned Townhall's inquiry questioning if Brinton intends to appear in court, whether his client will be pleading guilty or not guilty, and if the defendant will be returning the stolen bag.
Townhall has reached out to Brinton for comment. An automatic email reply reads: "Sam is currently on leave and unable to access email." Brinton is on a leave of absence from the U.S. Department of Energy and another DOE official has been asked to stay on serving as acting nuclear waste chief "for the foreseeable future," a Nov. 23 article from Exchange Monitor reports.
The U.S. Department of Energy's office of public affairs replied, "Sam Brinton is on leave from DOE, and Dr. Kim Petry is performing the duties of Deputy Assistant Secretary of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition," and then directed Townhall to the Exchange Monitor report for reference. The Office of Nuclear Energy did not respond to Townhall's requests for comment.
Brinton has been on leave for at least a month. Petry, who's standing in for Brinton, wrote in an email to DOE colleagues that she will remain as Brinton's interim replacement. "I should have another update for all of you in a month or so," Petry wrote in the email, per Exchange Monitor, which notes that the timetable corresponds roughly with Brinton's scheduled Minneapolis hearing.
According to federal employee salary data from the FedsDataCenter database, Brinton is making a six-figure salary based on the annual incomes from the 2021 fiscal year of other leaders with similar supervisory positions in the Office of Nuclear Energy.
As one of if not the very first openly genderfluid individuals in federal government leadership, I was welcomed with open arms into the Department of Energy all the way up to the Secretary whom I shared the stage with in a Pride month celebration panel just today.
— Sam Brinton (@sbrinton) June 29, 2022
Brinton, a well-known activist and advocate for LGTBQ youth, is a darling of the mainstream media and has risen up the Biden administration's diversity-and-inclusion ladder. Other rungs are claimed by the White House's national monkeypox response deputy coordinator Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, a "progressive, radical gay doctor" who models BDSM-style "fetish gear," and President Joe Biden's "transgender" U.S. assistant health secretary Dr. Rachel Levine, whom Brinton pals around with.
The felony theft case, which came to light thanks to the reporting of Minnesota-based Alpha News, is the most recent controversy Brinton is embroiled in. Prior to being a high-level government employee, Brinton taught "Kink 101" workshops on college campuses, once donning a dress and high heels while standing over three kneeling men in leather-bondage dog masks.
Meet Sam Brinton. Biden’s new appointee to the Dept. Of Energy! Who Brags About ‘Puppy Play’ Gimp Kink! https://t.co/oIqh2KyqER pic.twitter.com/eNrXcBRrXm
— Steve Mudflap McGrew’s 🔨 REMASCULATE podcast (@REMASCULATE) February 11, 2022
Brinton discussed the "pup play" fetish and roleplaying as "a handler" in a 2016 Metro Weekly article. "I actually have trouble when we transition from pup play to having sex," Brinton explained. "Like, 'No, I can't have you whimper like that when we're having sex,' because I don't want to mix that world. It's interesting, because he doesn't have to come out of pup mode to have me f**k him. I personally have to bring him out of pup perception for me. But then I’m still treating him as a submissive to me."
Serving the Nation as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition in the Office of Nuclear Energy in the Department of Energy, Mr. Sam Brinton and his "pup:" pic.twitter.com/KCFGBTzLEE
— Keri Smith 🌱Deprogrammed (@RealKeriSmith) June 30, 2022
Brinton is also a ranking member of the sacrilegious drag queen society "The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence," which mocks Catholic nuns with monikers like "Sister Porn Again," "Sister Chastity Boner," and "Sister Roz Erection." Brinton goes by the drag queen alter-ego name "Sister Ray Dee O'Active" and spoke at the organization's 2021 "Lavender Mass" to pay tribute to "Daddy Fauci." The group declared Biden's chief medical advisor "a saint" and performed "a sainting" ceremony for Dr. Anthony Fauci.
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