Non-binary ex-Biden nuke official Sam Brinton told ‘stay out of trouble’ by Vegas judge
The former Biden Department of Energy official charged with stealing a woman’s suitcase was told by a judge on Wednesday to “stay out of trouble” during a court appearance in Las Vegas.
Bail for Sam Brinton, who is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, was set at $15,000 on a felony grand larceny charge for allegedly swiping a $320 piece of luggage in July at Harry Reid International Airport.
Cash bond had already been posted and Brinton was not held after being processed on the charge.
Judge Joe Bonaventure told them to “stay out of trouble” as a condition of the bail, according to KLAS-TV.
Brinton also faces charges in Minnesota for allegedly stealing a woman’s Vera Bradley suitcase in September at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
That bag and its contents were valued at $2,325.
Brinton, 35, was canned on Monday from their job as the deputy assistant secretary for spent fuel and waste at the Energy Department’s Office of Nuclear Energy over the thefts.
A group of House Republicans wrote to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm last week demanding that Brinton be terminated.
Brinton, who became one of the federal government’s first gender non-binary officials when they took the job at the Department of Energy earlier this year, had been on leave since the alleged thefts were revealed.
Brinton faces up to five years in prison for the Minnesota theft and up to 10 years’ jail time for the Las Vegas heist.
