by Madeleine Hubbard
Ex-Energy Department official Sam Brinton, believed to have been the first non-binary person to be a top-level government official, will be placed in a Maryland men’s jail while waiting to be sent to Virginia for charges related to alleged suitcase theft.
Brinton, 35, is in a “pre-placement” hold at the Montgomery County Jail and will be placed with the “general population” in the men’s jail next week, a county sheriff’s deputy told The New York Post on Tuesday.
The county Department of Correction and Rehabilitation’s policy states that “the classification of an arrestee/inmate will depend on whether the arrestee/inmate has male or female genitalia, whether they present a management or security problem, and whether their health and safety can be ensured.”
Brinton, who uses they/them pronouns and left the federal government last year, was arrested last week for being a “fugitive from justice” and is being held without bail, records show.
Brinton did not receive any jail time after he took a plea deal last month for stealing luggage from airports in Nevada and Minnesota. However, Brinton is currently facing grand larceny charges related to the alleged theft of a Tanzanian fashion designer’s suitcase from the Washington, D.C., airport in 2018.
It remains unclear whether the new charge is related to the previous ones or is related to another matter.
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Madeleine Hubbard is an international correspondent for Just the News.
