Serious questions are emerging after the arrest of Tom Artiom Alexandrovich, a senior Israeli cybersecurity official, in a Las Vegas child predator sting — an incident that has sparked conflicting accounts from U.S. and Israeli authorities.
On August 15, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department announced that eight men were arrested during a two-week sting targeting individuals seeking sexual encounters with children. Among them was Alexandrovich, 38, who was booked into the Henderson Detention Center and charged with using a computer to lure a child for sex, a felony in Nevada. Court records show he was released on $10,000 bail and quickly returned to Israel.
The operation also netted other high-profile arrests, including Neal Harrison Creecy, a 46-year-old Las Vegas pastor who resigned after posting bail, as well as a former Las Vegas police officer and an Indian engineering student.
Alexandrovich’s LinkedIn profile — which identified him as the executive director of Israel’s National Cyber Directorate, an agency under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office — was deleted shortly after news of his arrest broke. Screenshots showed that he had attended the Black Hat 2025 cybersecurity conference in Las Vegas just before the sting.
Initially, Israeli media downplayed the incident. Ynet reported on August 14 that a Cyber Directorate employee was only “briefly detained for questioning” and then returned home. Netanyahu’s office echoed that line, claiming no arrest had taken place. But U.S. authorities directly contradicted those statements.
The State Department’s Near Eastern Affairs Bureau confirmed that Alexandrovich had been arrested, charged, and released on bail. The U.S. Attorney for Nevada also issued a statement, clarifying that Alexandrovich was booked into jail as part of the Internet Crimes Against Children task force and that the Clark County District Attorney’s Office is prosecuting the case.
By Saturday, Ynet acknowledged that police and court documents confirmed Alexandrovich’s arrest and bail. The outlet also reported he was suspected of attempting to lure a child with mental disabilities. Israel’s Cyber Directorate walked back its earlier denials, saying its initial statement was based on “information provided to us.” Alexandrovich is now officially on leave.
Unanswered questions remain, including who posted Alexandrovich’s bail and how he was permitted to leave the U.S. despite pending charges. Under Nevada law, luring a child with a computer carries a sentence of one to ten years in prison.
