A Houston-based fashion designer from Tanzania hopes to retrieve her handmade tribal garments allegedly stolen by Sam Brinton from an airport in 2018.
The former Biden administration nuclear official was taken into custody at home in Maryland on Wednesday and booked into the Montgomery County Detention Center. Brinton is currently in jail awaiting an extradition hearing.
Police executed a search warrant at the home for over an hour on Wednesday, according to Fox News.
The search warrant detailed specific garments using information provided by an attorney for fashion designer Asya Khamsin.
Khamsin accused Brinton of stealing her luggage from Ronald Reagan National Airport in 2018.
“On March 9, 2018, her luggage was stolen from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport,” attorney Peter Hansen told Fox News Digital in a statement. “In her bag were more than a dozen bespoke articles of clothing that she had designed, along with a number of other valuable items for her business.”
Hansen said the hourlong search of Brinton’s home turned up “a number of items matching the descriptions and images provided by Asya Khamsin.”
“Asya Khamsin’s business was seriously damaged by this loss, which remained a mystery until she was recently alerted to photos of Sam Brinton wearing articles from her lost luggage. She thereafter contacted the authorities,” Hansen said.
“Mr. Brinton is expected to face prosecution, and Asya Khamsin hopes to retrieve the seized items from the MWAA very shortly,” Hansen continued. “Asya Khamsin is leaving her options open for a civil suit against Mr. Brinton, but has not yet filed any civil complaint.”
According to DailyMail.com, Brinton’s arrest was at the request of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which operates Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport.
Brinton was previously arrested and charged with thefts of hard-sided luggage from airports in Minnesota and Nevada. Both incidents involved luggage stolen from women.
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“I saw the images. Those were my custom designs, which were lost in that bag in 2018,” Khamsin told Fox News Digital in an interview in February. “He wore my clothes, which was stolen.”
Khamsin posted images that show her and Brinton wearing the same dresses on separate occasions.
My name is Asyakhamsin tanzanian fashion designer based in houston Texas USA ?? I lost my bag 2018 in DCA recently I heard the news on @FoxNews about @sambrinton luggage issue surprisingly I found his images wore my custom made outfitswhich was in the lost bag on 2018 ? pic.twitter.com/lJwLHtMJlz
— asyakhamsin (@asyakhamsin1) February 20, 2023
In another tweet, she wrote: “Even this jewellery was in my lost bag dah [sic].”
Even this jewellery was in my lost bag dah ? pic.twitter.com/cXnhuoDTl3
— asyakhamsin (@asyakhamsin1) February 23, 2023
The outfits were set to be on display at a fashion event in D.C., but the event was canceled after her award-winning designs went missing from the airport.
Khamsin wanted to press charges against Brinton, but police told her the statute of limitations have run out since the theft occurred in 2018.
Brinton, who worked for Biden as deputy assistant secretary of the office of spent fuel and waste disposition, was fired on Dec. 12, 2022.
