Israeli official charged in Las Vegas child sex sting allowed to leave the US
Las Vegas, Nevada - US prosecutors denied any cover-up Tuesday as controversy swirled over the case of an Israeli government official who was arrested in a child sex sting operation and then allowed to leave the country.
Tom Artiom Alexandrovich, the executive director of the Israel Cyber Directorate, was taken into custody in Las Vegas this month when he arrived for what he thought was a date with a 15-year-old girl, the local 8NewsNow reported.
Alexandrovich allegedly brought a condom with him to the rendezvous, which he believed would include a visit to see Cirque du Soleil on the Las Vegas Strip, the outlet said, citing police documents.
The 38-year-old, who was in Las Vegas for the Black Hat USA 2025 cybersecurity gathering, in fact met an undercover officer.
He was charged with soliciting a minor for sex, and released on $10,000 bail, after being ordered to appear in court on August 27.
He returned to Israel shortly after posting bail.
Marjorie Taylor Greene rails at Israeli official's departure
Online criticism swelled over the decision to allow a person facing potentially 10 years in prison to leave the country.
Notably leading the charge was Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a staunch ally of President Donald Trump but who has recently joined a growing chorus of prominent individuals and institutions accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza.
"Would it be antisemitic to drag (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu's Cyber Executive Director back and prosecute (him) to the full extent of the law," she wrote on X.
"How did America become so subservient to Israel that we immediately release a CHILD SEX PREDATOR after arrest, with a 100% locked up case with evidence, and let him off to fly back home to Israel?? Would we do that with a Mexican child sex predator?"
The State Department denied that the federal government had played any part in helping the official.
"The Department of State is aware that Tom Artiom Alexandrovich, an Israeli citizen, was arrested in Las Vegas and given a court date for charges related to soliciting sex electronically from a minor," a social media posting said.
"He did not claim diplomatic immunity and was released by a state judge pending a court date. Any claims that the US government intervened are false."
On Tuesday, Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson, who oversees prosecutions in Las Vegas and the surrounding area, insisted there had been nothing out of the ordinary about Alexandrovich's release.
"The standard bail for this charge was $10,000, so anybody, upon being booked on that charge, can post that bail and get released with no conditions, and that's what happened in this case," he told the Las Vegas Review Journal.
Cover photo: 123RF/kasia2003