The police returned clothing items to a Tanzanian designer that they had obtained during a search of the home of Sam Brinton, a disgraced former Department of Energy (DOE), official.
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police Department (MWAA) confirmed that the clothes had been returned to Asya Khmsin. She claimed Brinton wore clothing designed by her, which she said was in a bag she reported as missing from Ronald Reagan National Airport many years ago. In May, MWAA officers executed a warrant at Brinton’s Maryland home in connection with this case.
Crystal Nosal, MWAA’s spokesperson, said in a Tuesday statement that the MWAA Police Department could confirm they had returned the victim’s property. The police also retained photos of evidence to be used for prosecution. The case is still being adjudicated and we are unable to release any more information.
Brinton was arrested for grand theft of more than $1,000 worth of goods a few weeks after the search warrant had been executed. The preliminary hearing for the case filed at Arlington General District Court has been postponed until December.
Khamsin said in an interview in February that, at the time MWAA Police was learning about Brinton’s alleged theft from Ronald Reagan National Airport in February, she had seen photographs of Brinton wearing clothing with her designs in articles. Khamsin said she packed the same clothing in the bag that disappeared at the airport on 9 March 2018.
“I saw them. Khamsin said at the time that those were my custom-made designs which were lost inside this bag in 2018. “He wore stolen clothes.”
Khamsin also said that she flew to Washington, D.C., for an event at which she was invited by the organizers to display her clothes. The fact that her bag was missing prevented her from attending. After the incident, she filed reports with both the MWAA (Midwest Airline Association) and Delta Air Lines. However, the case did not go anywhere.
Khamsin then filed a police report in Houston, where she and her husband live, after viewing the photos of Brinton, and hearing that Brinton was accused of stealing other luggage off airport baggage carousels. Later, the Houston Police Department said that it had referred the case to the FBI.
After the search warrant had been executed, “The MWAA” returned various parcels of retrieved clothes to Asyakhamsin. The items were sealed in evidence bags,” Peter Hansen said on Tuesday. Hansen is a Washington D.C. attorney who represents Khamsin.
Khamsin also filed a civil lawsuit against Brinton related to the theft on Friday.
Brinton, who was in the news last year for being appointed as the DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy’s non-binary gender-fluid person to oversee nuclear waste policy, escaped jail in two separate cases involving luggage thefts in Minnesota and Nevada.
In October, police charged Brinton with stealing traveler’s luggage worth $2,325 at the luggage carousel of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport, after Brinton flew in from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Washington, D.C., in September 16.
In early December, Las Vegas prosecutors accused Brinton of grand larceny for an item worth between $1,200 to $5,000. Brinton was accused by police of stealing an estimated $3,670 suitcase on July 6, at Harry Reid International Airport. The bag contained jewelry worth $1,700, clothing valued at $850, and makeup worth $500.
Brinton was on a taxpayer-funded official trip to the Nevada National Security Site, Las Vegas, at the time of the alleged theft.
Brinton could have faced a maximum of 15 years in prison for both alleged thefts. In both cases, however, the presiding judge ruled that jail time was not necessary.
The DOE announced on December 12 that Brinton left the agency but refused to comment on the reasons for Brinton’s departure.
