Israeli authorities official arrested in Nevada in web crimes in opposition to kids sting | Las Vegas

An Israeli authorities cybersecurity official was reportedly arrested lately by Las Vegas police and different authorities in Nevada who had been conducting an undercover investigation geared toward on-line customers searching for to sexually prey on kids.

Tom Artiom Alexandrovich, 38, faces felony expenses of luring a toddler with a pc for a intercourse act, alongside a number of different suspects who had been apprehended through the two-week sting operation, the Las Vegas metropolitan police division stated in a press release printed on Friday. He has since been launched from custody on $10,000 bail after an preliminary court docket look, data present, and returned to Israel.

As first reported by the information web site Mediaite, a publicly posted screenshot of Alexandrovich’s web page on the LinkedIn skilled networking platform described him as the chief director of the Israel Cyber Directorate, an Israeli authorities company underneath the purview of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s workplace. Different data on-line attributes the identical place to Alexandrovich.

The screenshot first reported by Mediaite additionally confirmed a publish underneath Alexandrovich’s title alluding to his having been in Las Vegas earlier in August for the Black Hat Briefings, a yearly assembly of cybersecurity professionals.

“Two issues you may’t escape at Black Hat 2025: the relentless buz of generative [artificial intelligence] and the sound of Hebrew … in each hall,” Alexandrovich wrote partly in an accompanying publish. Invoking an abbreviation for big language fashions and referring to considered one of Israel’s largest cities, the publish continued: “The important thing takeaway? The way forward for cybersecurity is being written in code, and it appears a big a part of it’s being authored in #TelAviv and powered by LLMs. An thrilling time to be within the subject!”

That LinkedIn web page underneath Alexandrovich’s title has since been deleted.

The Israeli information outlet Ynet reported on Wednesday that the US had detained “an worker of the Israel Nationwide Cyber Directorate” for interrogation whereas he was representing his nation at knowledgeable convention. That worker then returned to his lodge and flew again to Israel two days later.

“Israeli officers downplayed the incident, saying it carried ‘no political implications’ and was resolved shortly,” Ynet reported, with out naming Alexandrovich or mentioning he had been arrested in reference to a felony cost leveled in opposition to him by Nevada regulation enforcement officers. “The explanations for the questioning stay unclear however could relate to the worker’s conduct.”

Ynet reported early on Saturday night US japanese time that Alexandrovich was on go away from the Cyber Directorate by “mutual resolution”. The outlet additionally stated that the Cyber Directorate claimed the sooner details about Alexandrovich was “correct primarily based” on what had been offered to the company.

Mediaite reported that Netanyahu’s workplace issued a press release denying that the worker in query had even been arrested.

“A state worker who traveled to the US for skilled issues was questioned by American authorities throughout his keep,” the prime minister’s workplace stated. “The worker, who doesn’t maintain a diplomatic visa, was not arrested and returned to Israel as scheduled.”

Nevada’s web crime in opposition to kids taskforce helmed the operation which resulted within the arrests of Alexandrovich and 7 different males within the metropolis of Henderson, which is close to Las Vegas. The entire suspects believed they had been assembly minors when undercover officers as an alternative confronted and arrested them, police stated.

The arrested males had been all dropped at jail after being taken into custody, stated the assertion from the Las Vegas metropolitan police division, which participated within the operation alongside native, state and federal regulation enforcement officers.

Among the many different suspects was Las Vegas Redemption church pastor Neal Harrison Creecy, 46, the native CBS affiliate reported. A church official advised the station that Creecy resigned shortly after being launched from jail on a $10,000 bond.

Below Nevada regulation, luring a toddler with a pc for a intercourse act can carry between one and 10 years in jail.