THE MAN WHO FLEW HOME

How a senior Israeli cyber official accused of child predation in Las Vegas boarded a plane instead of facing justice.

In early August, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department ran a joint operation with federal agents targeting online predators. It was routine work—decoys, chat logs, handcuffs, court dates. But one name on the arrest sheet wasn’t routine.

Tom Artiom Alexandrovich, age 38, wasn’t a tourist, a drifter, or a local pervert trolling chat rooms. He was a division head at Israel’s National Cyber Directorate, in town for the Black Hat cybersecurity conference. According to police, he believed he was meeting a 15-year-old girl for “sexual contact,” brought a condom, and planned to take her to Cirque du Soleil.

He was arrested on August 6, booked in Henderson, Nevada, and charged with luring a child with a computer for a sex act—a felony punishable by up to ten years.

Then something extraordinary happened: he walked free within hours.

TEN GRAND AND A BOARDING PASS

Court documents show Alexandrovich posted a $10,000 bond—the “standard” amount on Nevada’s bail schedule—and was released with no restrictions, no passport surrender, and no GPS monitoring.

According to the arrest report, he told officers it was “very important” to make his flight to New York, then on to Israel. That comment alone should have triggered a red flag and a travel hold. It didn’t.

By Friday, he was gone.

THE STATE DEPARTMENT SHRUG

When news broke that a foreign government official accused of child solicitation had fled the country, the U.S. State Department scrambled to deny involvement:

“Any claims that the U.S. government intervened are false.”

That was it. No follow-up. No outrage.

Behind the scenes, prosecutors in Clark County said the bail conditions were “standard.” Acting U.S. Attorney Sigal Chattah called the release “a failure by the local court” but stopped short of promising extradition. The Justice Department, now under Trump, disavowed responsibility. Everyone pointed elsewhere.

THE NETANYAHU DODGE

Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, Benjamin Netanyahu’s office played semantic gymnastics worthy of a law-school farce. Israeli media quoted his spokesperson saying:

“A state employee who traveled to the U.S. for professional matters was questioned by American authorities during his stay … he was not arrested and returned to Israel as scheduled.”

That statement was false. He was arrested—photographed, fingerprinted, booked, and released under his own recognizance. Within days, the Israel National Cyber Directorate quietly placed him on leave. The Directorate’s website purged his name. His LinkedIn account disappeared.

THE MISSED HEARING

On August 27, Alexandrovich missed his first arraignment in Henderson.

His lawyers claimed they’d worked out a deal with the local prosecutor to skip an in-person appearance. The judge disagreed and ordered him to appear by Zoom the following week.

It was a grotesque symbol of modern justice: an accused child predator appearing in virtual court from halfway across the world, safe in a country that denies he was ever arrested.

THE GRAND JURY

By October 2, a Clark County grand jury indicted Alexandrovich on the original charge of luring a child. That indictment now exists in a bureaucratic vacuum—valid, enforceable, and completely useless without extradition.

Israel and the United States have an extradition treaty. Whether anyone has the courage to invoke it remains to be seen.

THE QUIET COLLAPSE OF ACCOUNTABILITY

Eight men were caught in the sting. Seven stayed in Nevada. One boarded a plane.

The rest of the world kept spinning—news cycles moved on, political scandals eclipsed the outrage, and the idea of equal justice became another casualty of convenience.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department did its job.

The court system did not.

When justice has a price tag, a passport, and a press secretary, it stops being justice.

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EPILOGUE: THE MAN WHO FLEW HOME

Alexandrovich’s next hearing remains “pending.” The indictment sits in a Nevada file, gathering dust. And somewhere in Tel Aviv, a man once charged with trying to meet a child for sex is still at liberty, perhaps writing code for the same government that pretends he never existed.

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