The Daily Populous Sunday August 17th, 2025 morning edition
Authored by theguardian.com and submitted by Bliggin

An Israeli government cybersecurity official was reportedly arrested recently by Las Vegas police and other authorities in Nevada who were conducting an undercover investigation aimed at online users seeking to sexually prey on children.

Tom Artiom Alexandrovich, 38, faces felony charges of luring a child with a computer for a sex act, alongside several other suspects who were apprehended during the two-week sting operation, the Las Vegas metropolitan police department said in a statement published on Friday. He has since been released from custody on $10,000 bail after an initial court appearance, records show, and returned to Israel.

As first reported by the news site Mediaite, a publicly posted screenshot of Alexandrovich’s page on the LinkedIn professional networking platform described him as the executive director of the Israel Cyber Directorate, an Israeli government agency under the purview of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office. Other information online attributes the same position to Alexandrovich.

The screenshot first reported by Mediaite also showed a post under Alexandrovich’s name alluding to his having been in Las Vegas earlier in August for the Black Hat Briefings, a yearly meeting of cybersecurity professionals.

“Two things you can’t escape at Black Hat 2025: the relentless buz of generative [artificial intelligence] and the sound of Hebrew … in every corridor,” Alexandrovich wrote in part in an accompanying post. Invoking an abbreviation for large language models and referring to one of Israel’s largest cities, the post continued: “The key takeaway? The future of cybersecurity is being written in code, and it seems a significant part of it is being authored in #TelAviv and powered by LLMs. An exciting time to be in the field!”

That LinkedIn page under Alexandrovich’s name has since been deleted.

The Israeli news outlet Ynet reported on Wednesday that the US had detained “an employee of the Israel National Cyber Directorate” for interrogation while he was representing his country at a professional conference. That employee then returned to his hotel and flew back to Israel two days later.

“Israeli officials downplayed the incident, saying it carried ‘no political implications’ and was resolved quickly,” Ynet reported, without naming Alexandrovich or mentioning he had been arrested in connection with a felony charge leveled against him by Nevada law enforcement officials. “The reasons for the questioning remain unclear but may relate to the employee’s conduct.”

Ynet reported early on Saturday evening US eastern time that Alexandrovich was on leave from the Cyber Directorate by “mutual decision”. The outlet also said that the Cyber Directorate claimed the earlier information about Alexandrovich was “accurate based” on what had been provided to the agency.

Mediaite reported that Netanyahu’s office issued a statement denying that the employee in question had even been arrested.

“A state employee who traveled to the US for professional matters was questioned by American authorities during his stay,” the prime minister’s office said. “The employee, who does not hold a diplomatic visa, was not arrested and returned to Israel as scheduled.”

Nevada’s internet crime against children taskforce helmed the operation which resulted in the arrests of Alexandrovich and seven other men in the city of Henderson, which is near Las Vegas. All of the suspects believed they were meeting minors when undercover officers instead confronted and arrested them, police said.

The arrested men were all brought to jail after being taken into custody, said the statement from the Las Vegas metropolitan police department, which participated in the operation alongside local, state and federal law enforcement officials.

Among the other suspects was Las Vegas Redemption church pastor Neal Harrison Creecy, 46, the local CBS affiliate reported. A church official told the station that Creecy resigned shortly after being released from jail on a $10,000 bond.

Under Nevada law, luring a child with a computer for a sex act can carry between one and 10 years in prison.

BigDaddyBain on August 16th, 2025 at 18:46 UTC »

They just released him out of custody, he continued his holiday for two days, and went on his way to a flight back home to Israel.

No consequences. That’s wild.

SnepButts on August 16th, 2025 at 17:50 UTC »

The pedophile protecting US government released the pedophile and allowed him to return to Israel.

yotengodormir on August 16th, 2025 at 17:42 UTC »

So they just released him to go back home? Cool, cool