Disgraced ex-nuclear official Sam Brinton is facing a grand larceny charge stemming from the theft of an African’s designer’s clothing, according to the alleged victim’s lawyer – and may languish in jail for up to a month before being extradited to Washington D.C.
In February, Tanzanian fashion designer Asya Khamsin shared images of Brinton wearing clothing she had made which she had reported stolen from Reagan National Airport in 2018.
Khamzin’s lawyer, Peter Hansen, confirmed to The Post Thursday his client “provided information on the clothing that was searched for” at Brinton’s residence this week.
MIT grad Brinton – who is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns – was arrested as a “fugitive from justice” at their Rockville, Maryland home on Wednesday, and is currently being held without bond on pending charges of grand larceny.
“[Khamsin] contacted authorities…she did file a report,” Hansen explained.
He stated the investigation into Khamsin’s stolen items has been ongoing throughout the spring, and confirmed the award-winning designer recently “provided images of [Brinton] in the [her] designs and pictures of those designs on models or on Asya Khamsin herself to show they were the same articles.”
In an interview with The Post in February, Khamsin recalled being “confused” about how Brinton came to own the brightly-colored one-of-a-kind frocks she had designed for her annual fashion show in Tanzania.
She had brought the clothes to Washington D.C. to show them at another event when her luggage disappeared from the travel hub almost five years ago, leaving her unable to partake in the fashion show. Khamsin — who splits her time between Tanzania and Houston — also said she had initially reported the theft to the FBI.
Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police [MWAA] also said they first became aware of the “allegations of stolen property” in February 2023, when Khamsin’s missing clothes first came to the puiblic’s attention.
Brinton, 35, served as the Biden administration’s deputy assistant secretary for spent fuel and waste disposition from June through Dec. 2022, when they were axed after being caught red-handed in a pair of brazen luggage thefts in Minnesota and Las Vegas – cases which have since been resolved.
Brinton was arrested by Montgomery County Police Department working in in conjunction with MWAA Police and is currently being held at the Montgomery County Central Processing Unit to await an extradition hearing on June 14, a spokesperson for MWAA told The Post Thursday.
Brinton’s mother, Peggy Jo, told The Post she didn’t know her child had recently been arrested. She declined to comment further.
It is unclear if the Montgomery County facility has accommodations for non-binary inmates, or if Brinton will have to reside in the male section for 26 days until the extradition. Additionally, Brinton could be released earlier if they hire an attorney and file a successful bail motion.
Earlier on Thursday, a source claiming to be Brinton’s neighbor told the Daily Wire how “four unmarked police showed up” at the College Parkway residence they share with their fiancee last night and escorted Brinton away in handcuffs an hour later.
News of the new charges against Brinton come just one month after they pleaded no contest to charges stemming from the theft of a woman’s luggage at Las Vegas’ Harry Reid International Airport in July 2022.
In exchange for the plea deal, Brinton was ordered to pay $3,670.74 in restitution and given a 180-day suspended jail sentence.
Days later, they also agreed to undergo a mental health evaluation as part of an adult diversion program at a hearing stemming from similar charges related to a theft at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in September 2022.
Brinton’s husband, Kevin Rieck, did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for a comment.
