Moment Joe Biden's non-binary energy secretary 'stole' a $320 Away-brand ... trends now
Security footage caught the moment President Biden's non-binary energy secretary appeared to snatch a suitcase from the airport in Las Vegas this summer.
The pricey Away-brand suitcase was stuffed with more than $3,670 worth of jewelry, makeup, and clothing, according to an arrest warrant obtained by 8 News Now Investigators.
Sam Brinton, 35, who is non-binary and uses the pronoun 'they,' is also accused of stealing a suitcase from an airport in Minneapolis. Yet, the Department of Energy is refusing to fire them.
Brinton faces charges for the incidents at both the Las Vegas and Minneapolis airports and they are due in court in Minnesota on Dec 19.
Security footage caught the moment President Biden's non-binary energy secretary Sam Brinton, 35, appeared to snatch a suitcase from the airport in Las Vegas this summer
In the selfie, Brinton is wearing a white shirt with a rainbow atomic nuclear symbol design. It matches the shirt the suspect is wearing in the airport surveillance video, police said
According to the arrest report, a woman who had traveled from Dulles International Airport to Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas on July 6 filed a police report when she could not locate her suitcase, and after she had checked with the airline.
The stolen suitcase was described in the report as a gray, hard-shelled 'Away' brand 'Bigger Carry-On' model valued at $320.
The woman told police that her suitcase was a total value of more than $3,670, and it included jewelry, makeup, contact lenses and clothing, according to the report.
When a Las Vegas Metropolitan police officer reviewed surveillance video, the officer 'observed several nonverbal cues, or body language anomalies, from the suspect, which caught his attention,' the report stated.
'Specifically, Brinton pulled the victim's luggage from the carousel and examined the tag. Then placed it back on the carousel, looking in all directions for anyone who might be watching, or might approach. Pulling it back off the carousel and demonstrating the same behavior by looking around before walking away with it quickly.'
A suspect was not identified until a police officer saw a news article in November naming Sam Brinton as a suspect in luggage theft at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport in September, 8 News Now reported.
The criminal complaint from the incident in Minneapolis describes how Brinton traveled from Washington DC to Minneapolis without a checked bag, but then retrieved one from the luggage carousel once they'd landed in Minnesota.
Surveillance footage from the airport - which is yet to be released - is said to show them removing the luggage tug from the bag and placing it in their handbag.
When cops called them the first time, they played dumb. Then, they phoned the authorities themselves and admitted to taking the bag but insisted it was a mistake, and that they were simply tired.
Photos in the news stories from Minneapolis matched the suspect in the Las Vegas luggage theft, according to the warrant filed this week.
The warrant revealed that Brinton had posted to Instagram on July 6, the same day of the theft.
'Thank you
