Former nuclear official Sam Brinton, who identifies as non-binary and is charged with briefcase theft, will be placed in a Maryland men’s prison pending a transfer to Virginia.
The Montgomery County Department of Correction and Rehabilitation has a policy of placing inmates in prisons based on their biological sex.
Sam Brinton, 35, was arrested at their home last week on grand larceny charges in connection with the alleged theft of a suitcase belonging to Tanzanian fashion designer Asya Khamsin from Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C.
Khamsin reported the loss of her luggage, including the unique designs, in March 2018.
Brit was arrested as a fugitive from justice and is now being held without bail in Maryland awaiting transfer in the case.
Sam Brinton, a former nuclear official who identifies as non-binary, will be put in Maryland’s men’s prison before being transferred to Virginia to face charges of suitcase theft
Brinton was arrested Wednesday at their Maryland home. Their husband Kevin (abandoned in February) was kept in the house while Brinton was led into handcuffs
Brinton was seen heading to the airport earlier this year
Brinton is being held at the Montgomery County Detention Center in Maryland, which houses inmates based on biological sex
Pictures then surfaced online showing Khamsin wearing the dresses and later Brinton wearing seemingly the exact same designs.
This led to the arrest of Brinton, who previously served as deputy assistant secretary for spent fuel and waste in the Office of Nuclear Energy in the Biden administration.
Brinton was subsequently fired after similar incidents related to women’s luggage theft were reported in Minnesota and Las Vegas.
Despite avoiding jail time in those cases, Brinton now faces new charges and remains incarcerated at Montgomery County Correctional Facility without bail.
Brinton (seen in 2019 in an allegedly stolen outfit) was arrested Wednesday at home in Maryland in connection with the alleged theft of property from Reagan National Airport
Tanzanian-American fashion designer Asya Khamsin (above) says she filed a police report after seeing former Department of Energy official Sam Brinton wearing stolen clothes
They are currently in “pre-placement” custody at the county jail, but they will likely be placed with the general population of the men’s prison next week before appearing before a judge, at a hearing scheduled for June 14.
Montgomery County Department of Correction and Rehabilitation policy dictates that inmates be placed according to their biological sex at birth, regardless of any anatomical changes that may have been made.
The fashion designer involved, Khamsin, has provided authorities with relevant information about the clothes as part of the ongoing police investigation.
Khamsin initially expressed confusion after seeing photos of Brinton wearing her designs at events – especially after the high profile media coverage surrounding the earlier luggage thefts.
Brinton is seen on the left at an event on June 11, 2018 wearing an outfit that Khamsin said resembled one of the outfits that went missing along with her luggage in March 2018, similar to the design seen on the right
Sam Brinton (pictured left at a Starbucks in West Hollywood in October 2019) appeared to be wearing Khamsin’s unique designs
Attorney Peter C. Hansen told DailyMail.com on Friday that his client “has provided the MWAA with images of Mr. Brinton wearing her bespoke designs and lost jewelry, along with comparative photographs showing them on models and Asya Khamsin herself.” .
Hansen said during a search of Brinton’s home in Rockville on Wednesday, police recovered “a number of items matching the descriptions and images of Asya Khamsin.”
The lawyer noted that his client’s luggage, stolen on March 9, 2018, contained “more than a dozen custom-made garments that she had designed, along with a number of other valuable items for her business.”
“Asya Khamsin’s business was seriously damaged by this loss, which remained a mystery until she was recently alerted to photos of Sam Brinton carrying items from her lost luggage,” Hansen said.
The lawyer said Khamsin is “leaving her options open” for a civil suit against Brinton, but has not yet filed a lawsuit.
“Certain public images of Mr. Brinton in Asya Khamsin’s designs were widely published, including on Vanity Fair’s Italian website,” Hansen said, noting that his client’s designs were “shown without credit in many other publications as they were carried by Brinton.
“Asya Khamsin is a black female Muslim immigrant entrepreneur and she has built an impressive career over 40 years,” he added. “She deserves credit for her work.”
Sam Brinton was appointed by the Biden administration as deputy assistant secretary of spent fuel and waste disposal in the Office of Nuclear Energy. In December 2022, they were fired
In February, a shocked Khamsin went public with her allegations, saying her briefcase had gone missing at Reagan National in 2018 and that she had since seen photos of Brinton wearing her custom designs.
The fashion guru, based in Houston, shared side-by-side photos of herself wearing one of her outfits alongside a photo that surfaced of Brinton in what she said was the same piece of clothing.
Khamsin’s luggage containing the outfits she accused Brinton of being photographed went missing at the airport when she flew to Washington, D.C. for a fashion event in 2018.
The outfits were meant to be on display, but the designer said at the time that she was unable to participate in the event as she had hoped after her luggage went missing.