The US State Department says the American government played no role in the release of an Israeli official charged with soliciting sex electronically from a minor.
Tom Artiom Alexandrovich was one of eight people charged last week following an undercover operation “targeting child sex predators,” the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police said in a statement issued last week. Alexandrovich faces a felony charge of luring or attempting to lure a child or mentally ill person to commit a sex act “with use of computer technology,” according to Nevada State records reviewed by Reuters.
Hebrew media says Alexandrovich, a senior department head in Israel’s National Cyber Directorate, was released by US authorities and is back in Israel.
The report that an Israeli official accused of a felony sex crime was allowed to return home drew a storm of speculation online.
Alexandrovich “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,” the State Department says.
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