In an exclusive report by Fox News, it has been revealed that the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) Police Department has returned clothing items to Tanzanian fashion designer Asya Khamsin.
These items were previously seized during a search warrant execution at the residence of the now-disgraced former Department of Energy (DOE) official, Sam Brinton.
Khamsin had previously alleged that Brinton had publicly worn her custom-designed clothing, which she reported missing from her bag at Ronald Reagan National Airport several years ago. The MWAA police officers executed a search warrant at Brinton's Maryland residence in May in relation to this case.
"The MWAA Police Department can confirm we returned the victims property and police retained photos of the evidence for prosecution," MWAA spokesperson Crystal Nosal told Fox News Digital in a statement on Tuesday. "The case is still under adjudication and we cannot release more detailed information."
Brinton was charged with felony grand larceny of items worth more than $1,000, a few weeks after the execution of the search warrant. The preliminary hearing in the case, filed in Arlington General District Court, has been postponed until December.
Khamsin had informed Fox News Digital in an interview in February, around the same time that MWAA Police learned about Brinton's alleged theft at Ronald Reagan National Airport, that she had seen photographs in news articles where Brinton appeared to be wearing clothes with her custom designs. She had packed the same clothes in a bag that disappeared at the airport on March 9, 2018.
"I saw the images. Those were my custom designs, which were lost in that bag in 2018," Khamsin told Fox News Digital. "He wore my clothes, which was stolen."
Khamsin had flown to Washington, D.C., to attend an event where she was invited to display her clothing. However, the disappearance of her bag prevented her from participating. She subsequently filed reports with the MWAA and Delta Air Lines following the incident, but the case went cold.
After seeing photographs of Brinton and reports that Brinton had allegedly stolen other luggage from airport baggage carousels, Khamsin filed a report with police in Houston where she and her husband reside. The Houston Police Department later referred the case to the FBI.
"The MWAA returned to Asyakhamsin various parcels of retrieved clothing after the search warrant was executed. These items were returned in sealed evidence bags," Peter Hansen, a Washington, D.C.-based attorney representing Khamsin, told Fox News Digital in an email on Tuesday.
Khamsin also filed a civil suit related to the theft against Brinton on Friday.
Brinton, who made headlines last year after being appointed to the position that oversees nuclear waste policy at the DOE's Office of Nuclear Energy as a non-binary gender-fluid person, has been charged in two separate cases in Minnesota and Nevada involving luggage thefts, but managed to avoid jail time in both instances.
In October, Brinton was charged with stealing a traveler's baggage worth a total of $2,325 from the luggage carousel at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport after flying in from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 16.
In early December, Las Vegas prosecutors charged Brinton with grand larceny of an item valued between $1,200 and $5,000. Brinton was accused of stealing a suitcase with a total estimated worth of $3,670 on July 6 at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas. The bag contained jewelry valued at $1,700, clothing worth $850 and makeup valued at $500.
Brinton was on an official taxpayer-funded trip to the Nevada National Security Site in Las Vegas at the time of the alleged theft.
Despite facing up to 15 years total for the two alleged thefts, the presiding judges in both cases ruled that jail time wasn't necessary.
The DOE announced on Dec. 12 that Brinton had left the agency, but did not comment on the reason for the departure.
Login