The Guardian is reporting that "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."
Fox 5 Vegas is reporting that "Alexandrovich claimed he thought the girl he was speaking to was 18, according to the report, as that was the age listed on the Pure application.”
OK so they's talk about this. My first thought was this a whistle blower they're trying to target or was he just caught in a sting.
Apparently the sting was set up by the Nevada crimes against children task force so it sounds legit. A local pastor was caught who tried to set up a meeting with a 14 year old boy. Kind of reminiscent of Jim Baker and Jimmy Swaggart.
People say what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Vegas in known for it's prostitution. A woman I used to work with volunteered as a baseball coach for young girls. She joked and said when they went to Vegas the girls would collect stripper cards. I thought for a minute and said those aren't strippers.
Wikipedia states Pure is an online dating ap that allows users to post personal ads to find matches based on their desires, preferences, and intentions.
Cofounder of another ap said "Such a model should be in great demand among men, but for girls it is still an unusual format. If the gap between the percentage of male and female audiences continues to grow, so-called love professionals - call girls - may come to the app and use the service to find new clients."
Alexandrovich claimed the girl's profile said 18. Still freaking young. No doubt the profile had a picture to go with it. The FBI claims after contact was made the girl claimed she was only 15. At that point the conversation should have obviously ended.
The Surrey Creep Catchers did a similar sting. Ryan was a drug dealer on the Surrey strip. He had one of his prostitutes create a profile with her picture stating she was over 18. After contact was made she then told the guy she was under 18. Again that's when the conversation should have ended. Yet the picture she used was someone over 18 so they kind of lured him.
Arranging a hook up with someone that young is really messed up. Yet I would think someone on that ap would assume the stranger they're meeting is a prostitute. Usually it would take more than a three minute conversation for a guy to lure someone into sex. So is the sting saving a child from a predator or is it creating one? Is it addressing the problem?
Israel does have a real problem with pedophiles as does the Catholic church but it's not just the Catholic church, it's everywhere. So yes we should obviously try to protect children because child sex trafficking is very real in our day.
A senior official in Israel’s National Cyber Directorate, Tom Artiom Alexandrovich, who operates under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, faces felony charges of luring a child with a computer for a sex act.
— TRT World (@trtworld) August 17, 2025
He was detained and questioned by Las Vegas police during a… pic.twitter.com/Bo7l1pMWJH
The $10,000 bond thing probably means he (or the Israeli Embassy) only had to put up 10%. You know there's zero chance that guy is coming back for any further action in the case. This was a way to get him out of the country, if the Judge at the bail hearing was serious about this, he would have ordered him to surrender his passport, not that the Israeli's wouldn't have just given him another one. Obvious flight risk. I'm thinking it's probable that the judge was even specifically instructed NOT to order the passport surrendered, I'm wondering by who? Because that's normally what would happen. I'm curious as to how he left the states, commercial air or not? He will just never return to the US, and the US will not ask for him to be arrested and extradited from any country the Americans have such a treaty with. Meaning almost everyone. If they did, this guy could never leave Israel again. Bottom line he paid $1000 for bail, which will be forfeited when he doesn't show for his next court appearance. Since Vegas is a gambling town, one wonders what the over/under is on the odds of the Judge issuing a warrant for his arrest when that happens? Because that's what we would normally expect to happen. Normally.
ReplyDeleteHe's not coming back.
ReplyDeleteIf he doesn't show up for his next court date, if they even set one, he would have a warrant issued for his arrest and be the subject of a "Red Notice" by InterPol, meaning if he leaves Israel and lands in any civilized country he would be arrested there and held for extradition by the Americans. Fat chance of that, unless public outcry is enough to force it. Time will tell, it always does.
ReplyDelete