The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) Police Department confirmed that the designer clothing stolen by Sam Brinton has been returned to its owner after a search warrant was issued for the former Department of Energy (DOE) official's home.
MWAA spokeswoman Crystal Nosal told Fox: "The MWAA Police Department can confirm we returned the victim’s property and police retained photos of the evidence for prosecution. ... The case is still under adjudication and we cannot release more detailed information."
The clothing was returned to Asya Khamsin, a fashion designer originally from Tanzania who is currently living in Houston.
Brinton's theft
Brinton served as DOE's deputy assistant secretary for Spent Fuel and Waste Disposal. He was first accused of Khamsin's luggage in 2018. The fashion designer reported the disappearance of her personalized designs and directly accused the former DOE official of stealing them. The designer also alleged that Brinton publicly wore the clothes that had disappeared at Ronald Reagan National Airport. The case was investigated by the FBI.
The former official faced two additional grand theft charges after stealing a backpack at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas and a suitcase at Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport in Minnesota. The luggage and the items it contained were worth more than $2,000 each.
Following the trials, Brinton was arrested in Rockville, Md., and later released on bail. Brinton no longer works for the DOE. However, his case continues to be widely publicized in the media.
Theft on official trips
Internal documents revealed a few months ago that the former official, known for stealing thousands of dollars in luggage from airports, was on a taxpayer-funded official trip at the time he committed one of the thefts.
Watchdog group Functional Government Initiative (FGI) shared a DOE report to Fox News showing that the gender non-binary official flew in July 2022 from Washington to Nevada for a secret meeting at the state's Office of Homeland Security near Las Vegas.
