By Kanishka Singh and Raphael Satter
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. State Department said Monday the American government played no role in the release of an Israeli official charged with soliciting sex electronically from a minor.
Tom Artiom Alexandrovich was one of eight people charged last week following an undercover operation “targeting child sex predators,” the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police said in a statement issued last week.
Alexandrovich faces a felony charge of luring or attempting to lure a child or mentally ill person to commit a sex act “with use of computer technology,” according to Nevada State records reviewed by Reuters.
Israeli media said Alexandrovich, who they described as a senior department head in Israel’s National Cyber Directorate, was released by U.S. authorities and is back in Israel.
Reuters could not establish why Alexandrovich was in the Las Vegas area, but at the time Las Vegas was hosting Black Hat, one of the cybersecurity industry’s most prominent conferences.
The report that an Israeli official accused of a felony sex crime was allowed to return home drew a storm of speculation online.
Alexandrovich “did not claim diplomatic immunity and was released by a state judge pending a court date. Any claims that the U.S. government intervened are false,” the State Department said Monday on the social media site X.
The court records show a $10,000 bond was posted at the Henderson Detention Center, southeast of Las Vegas, on August 7. Reuters could not immediately confirm his whereabouts and could not immediately locate contact information for Alexandrovich. The records indicate he is due back in court on August 27.
The Israeli Embassy in Washington and the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office did not immediately return messages. Israeli media quoted the office as denying that Alexandrovich was arrested, saying only that a “state employee” was “questioned by American authorities during his stay” and he had “returned to Israel as scheduled.”
Reuters could not immediately ascertain the circumstances around Alexandrovich’s arrest.
The Las Vegas police statement credited the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Henderson Police Department, the North Las Vegas Police, and the Department of Homeland Security with organizing the undercover operation.
None of those agencies immediately replied to messages seeking comment on Alexandrovich arrest or release. The Nevada District Attorney’s office referred questions back to the Henderson Police Department.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh and Raphael Satter in Washington; Editing by Stephen Coates)
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