An Israeli government official was among eight suspected child sex predators who were arrested as part of a multi-agency undercover operation that took place in Nevada.
Tom Artiom Alexandrovich, 38, who works as a “division head at the Israel National Cyber Directorate,” was arrested as part of the multi-agency operation, which included the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Alexandrovich was charged with “soliciting a minor,” who he thought was 15 years old, according to the Guardian.
Per the outlet, the Department of State denied playing any role in releasing Alexandrovich, who was “able to return to Israel once he had bonded out of jail”:
Details of the arrest came as the state department denied the US government played any role in releasing the Israeli official – after Alexanderovich was able to return to Israel once he had bonded out of jail in connection with the felony charge.
“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,” the U.S. State Department — Near Eastern Affairs wrote in a post on X. “He 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.”
According to documents seen by 8NewsNow, Alexandrovich allegedly “chatted online with the decoy posing as a 15-year-old girl about meeting for ‘sexual contact.’” Police stated that the contact allegedly “included bringing a condom and taking the decoy to ‘Cirque du Soleil’”:
On Wednesday, Aug. 6, Alexandrovich chatted online with the decoy posing as a 15-year-old girl about meeting for “sexual contact,” documents said. The chatting applications included “Pure,” which describes itself as “a place where you can make (and break) your own rules and date, play and misbehave.”
“The sexual contact included bringing a condom and taking the decoy to ‘Cirque du Soleil,’” police said.
According to an arrest record from the Henderson Police Department, during a “post-arrest interview,” Alexandrovich stated that he had “never been arrested.” Alexandrovich also stated that he “believed the girl was 18 years old,” and added that “he felt the girl ‘pushed’ him to talk about bringing a condom yet could not remember how many times the girl ‘pushed’ him.”
According to the arrest record, Alexandrovich also told the police that he had “a meeting with the NSA tomorrow and had met several Bureau people and NSA people over the past week.”
Per Mediaite, a screenshot of Alexandrovich’s LinkedIn profile, which was reportedly deleted “sometime after the arrest became public,” showed that he was the “Executive Director of the Israel Cyber Directorate”:
Sometime after the arrest became public, Alexandrovich’s LinkedIn profile was deleted. According to a screenshot posted online, his LinkedIn said he is the Executive Director of the Israel Cyber Directorate, which is a government agency that operates under the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Alexandrovich was in Las Vegas to attend this year’s Black Hat Briefings, an annual gathering of cybersecurity professionals. He posted a photo of himself at the conference on his LinkedIn before the account was deleted.
Per Axios, Alexandrovich “posted a $10,000 bail without appearing before a judge and quickly fled to Israel, raising questions about why his passport was not confiscated.”
In a press release, the LVMPD revealed that detectives and agents from the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force and the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force took part in the Nevada ICAC joint operation. The operation also included the LVMPD, the North Las Vegas Police Department, the Henderson Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations, and officials from the Nevada Attorney General’s office.
Per the press release, the eight people who were arrested as part of a multi-agency operation included Alexandrovich; David Wonnacott-Yahnke, 40; Jose Alberto Perez-Torres, 35; Aniket Brajeshkumar Sadani, 23; James Ramon Reddick, 23; Ramon Manuel Parra Valenzuela, 29; Neal Harrison Creecy, 46; and John Charles Duncan, 49.
The eight individuals who were arrested are facing “felony charges of Luring a Child with Computer for Sex Act.” All the individuals, except for Duncan, were booked into the Henderson Detention Center.
As part of the operation, “undercover officers and federal agents posed online as children” responding to messages from the suspected child predators, according to 8NewsNow.
Creecy, one of the individuals who was arrested as part of the undercover sting, served as a pastor at Redemption Church:
One of the men is 46-year-old Neal Harrison Creecy, a pastor at Redemption Church. Investigators said Creecy allegedly used a computer to try and lure children for sexual misconduct, which is a felony charge.
“We would like to remind parents to discuss with their children the dangers of engaging with strangers online,” the LVMPD said in the press release. “Parents are encouraged to routinely monitor their children’s activity on social media and other online applications to prevent them from becoming victims of a child sex predator.”
Read the full article here
