The rainbow atomic symbol T-shirt should be a clue.
KLAS News reports security footage captured a sticky-fingered Biden administration nuclear official Sam Brinton leaving a Las Vegas airport on July 6 with a woman’s bag worth more than $3,670.
A surveillance snap from Harry Reid International Airport shows a grim-faced Brinton, wearing a white T-shirt with a colorful sign, a black backpack and black jeans, rolling a suitcase through the airport.
A distinctive tee — sported by Brinton in a selfie posted to Instagram the same day — led the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department to issue a warrant for Brinton’s arrest on a charge of grand larceny, according to a detective release.
Last month, Brinton, deputy assistant secretary for spent fuel and waste disposal in the Department of Atomic Energy’s office, was charged in the September theft of a woman’s suitcase from the Minneapolis airport.
Las Vegas security footage showed the luggage — which police said included $1,700 worth of jewelry, $850 worth of clothing and $500 worth of makeup — “was removed from an airport baggage carousel by a white male adult wearing a white t-shirt. A large rainbow-colored nuclear atomic symbol design,” detectives said. wrote
The man “exhibited several signs of abnormal behavior while taking the victim’s belongings, which are typical indications of a suspect in a shoplifting incident,” then grabbed the bag from the carousel and quickly walked away with it, according to the affidavit.
The victim, who filed a police report on July 10, described her missing bag as a gray, hard-shell “Away” brand “Bigger Carry-On” valued at $320.
Police were initially unable to identify the thief from the footage and closed the case. But on Nov. 29, when a Las Vegas investigator saw media reports of the Minneapolis charges against Brinton, the officer “immediately identified an Energy Department employee as a suspect in this case.”
Police found Brinton had traveled on the victim’s flight from Washington, DC’s Dulles International Airport to Las Vegas on July 6 and revealed the nuclear-rainbow selfie.
“Thank you @americannuclear for selling me such a great shirt to wear on my flight today,” Brinton wrote in the post. “My professional society is growing and learning and I’m proud of them. It’s good how we’ve changed since my service as chapter president and then on the national board of directors. #NuclearPride.”
Police found that Brinton had traveled on the victim’s flight from Washington, DC’s Dulles International Airport to Las Vegas on July 6.
Brinton spoke during The Trevor Project Trevor at Cipriani Wall Street.
Brinton, who uses the pronouns he/she, is one of the federal government’s first gender-nonbinary officials — but a group of House Republicans is clamoring for Brinton’s removal over the alleged theft.
“We demand Sam Brinton’s resignation and we implore you to put aside petty politics and appoint only the most qualified and dedicated individuals to influence America’s energy sector,” Rep. Georgia’s Andrew Clyde and 15 other Republicans wrote a letter to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on Tuesday.
Brinton, who faces up to five years in prison for the Minnesota theft and 10 years in prison for the Las Vegas theft, was placed on leave when the allegations first came to light, an Energy Department spokeswoman said.
