Diversion for ex-Biden administration official accused of stealing woman's suitcase from MSP

Prosecutors have put on hold their felony case against a onetime Biden administration official who was charged with stealing a woman's suitcase in September from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

Samuel O. Brinton, 35, of Rockville, Md., agreed this week to enter into an adult diversion program, meaning that prosecution on a theft count is suspended while Brinton fulfills requirements that would lead to dismissal of the case.

The agreement calls on Brinton to undergo a mental health evaluation and follow its recommendations; perform 24 hours of community service or similar equivalent; write an apology letter; and return any stolen property.

Nicholas Kimball, spokesman for the Hennepin County Attorney's Office, said the agreement "is a standard disposition in a case like this when a defendant has no felony criminal record."

Kimball added that Brinton now has an opportunity "to be accountable and take responsibility for the conduct, and potentially have the case dismissed if they are successful."

Before being fired late last year, Brinton was a deputy assistant secretary of the Office of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition at the Department of Energy's Office of Nuclear Energy. In that role, Brinton helped the government locate sites to store radioactive waste from the nation's nuclear power plants. A Twitter announcement said Brinton assumed the job last June.

In early December, Brinton was charged in Nevada's Clark County District Court with grand larceny in connection with what KLAS-TV in Las Vegas reported was the theft of a piece of luggage from the Harry Reid International Airport. The estimated value of the stolen suitcase and its contents was anywhere from $1,200 to $5,000, according to court records.

Last week, Brinton reached a plea agreement in the case and was given a suspended six-month jail term and ordered to pay nearly $3,700 in restitution for the stolen clothes and suitcase.

According to the criminal complaint in Hennepin County:

On Sept. 16, airport police were alerted to a suitcase missing from the baggage claim area. The owner said she and her son arrived in the Twin Cities from New Orleans late that afternoon. Brinton arrived from Washington, D.C., on a different flight about the same time and did not have a checked bag.

Police reviewed video surveillance and saw Brinton remove the luggage from the carousel and put the bag's tag in a handbag before leaving "at a quick pace," the complaint read.

The suitcase's owner looked at an image of the suitcase pulled from the video and confirmed it was hers. She told police what was in the luggage, and the total estimated value of the contents and the bag came to $2,325.

Brinton checked into a downtown St. Paul hotel later that day and had the woman's luggage. On Sept. 18, Brinton checked the stolen luggage on a flight back to Washington, D.C. Brinton used it again Oct. 9 for a trip to Europe, according to video surveillance from Washington Dulles Airport in northern Virginia.

An MSP police officer called Brinton on the same day of the flight from Europe and asked about the theft. Brinton at first denied knowing anything about it, then acknowledged taking the suitcase but denied that any clothes for another person were inside.

Brinton called the officer back and apologized for not being honest. Brinton recounted opening the suitcase at the St. Paul hotel, getting nervous about being thought of as a thief and left the clothes in the hotel dresser.