By Chris Menahan – Information Liberation
Acting US Attorney for Nevada Sigal Chattah, an Israeli-born appointee of Donald Trump, on Monday announced that her office would not be prosecuting Israeli child predator suspect Tom Artiom Alexandrovich and would instead allow the local District Attorney to handle the case.
“The Israeli-born Acting US Attorney for Nevada, Sigal Chattah, has just announced she is NOT going to prosecute Israeli child sex crimes suspect Tom Alexandrovich, leaving it instead to local prosecutors where it is far less likely to be successful, given that he was allowed to leave the country,” Electronic Intifada’s Ali Abunimah reports.
“Federal prosecutors can and often do prosecute these cases, especially when federal agencies are involved in the sting, as they were here. But not in this case,” he added.
Chattah said in a statement on Justice.gov:
“Last week, Tom Artiom Alexandrovich was arrested in a Nevada Internet Crimes Against Children joint operation; and he was booked into the Henderson Detention Center. This important multi-agency operation targeted child sex predators who preyed upon the most vulnerable members of our communities. As a result of the operation, the Clark County District Attorney’s Office is handling the prosecution.”
Abunimah also shared a post highlighting Chattah’s Israel First bias:
[UPDATE: Sigal Chattah just deleted her entire personal account. The quoted post above and more are archived below.]
The State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs on Monday came out to formally deny a report claiming that the Trump administration intervened in the case to set Alexandrovich free.
“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. 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,” their statement said.
The State Department is revoking the visas of thousands of foreign students for protesting against Israel but they couldn’t seize the passport of this Israeli foreigner to keep him from fleeing prosecution?
There’s no chance Alexandrovich is going to be extradited by Israel without tremendous pressure from the US.
Ali Abunimah shared more in the case in a viral thread on X:
This is what we know for sure about “Israeli” cyber official Tom Alexandrovich, charged with a felony child sex crime in Nevada:
In Nevada, like in other states, bail is assessed based on a suspect’s flight risk, family and community ties that would keep them in the area, severity of the charges and potential punishment, and, if granted, is often conditioned on surrendering your passport, GPS monitoring, or residency restrictions. As a result of a high-profile, multi-agency sting, Alexandrovich faces a serious felony charge with up to 10 years in prison (attempting to lure a child he believed to be under 16 to engage in sexual conduct). He was an obvious flight risk and, in fact, immediately fled to a “country,” “Israel,” that is a known haven for fugitive sex offenders and does not extradite Jews. And yet he was released on just $10,000 bail, apparently with no conditions. So allowing Alexandrovich to abscond is just another example of “Israeli” impunity in action.
He continued:
“Here’s the official court record for ‘Israeli’ cyber official Tom Alexandrovich. He is charged with attempting to lure a CHILD OR MENTALLY ILL PERSON to engage in sexual conduct. Note the date of the offence is Aug. 6, but Las Vegas police only announce the arrests on Aug 15. A lot of time to tidy things up,” Abunimah added.
Read Ali Abunimah’s full report on the case at Electronic Intifada.
UPDATE II: On her official DOJ X account, Israeli-born Acting US Attorney for Nevada Sigal Chattah is now blaming “a liberal district attorney and state court judge” for allowing Israeli child predator suspect Tom Alexandrovich to flee the US.
Chattah wrote late Monday night:
“A liberal district attorney and state court judge in Nevada FAILED TO REQUIRE AN ALLEGED CHILD MOLESTER TO SURRENDER HIS PASSPORT, which allowed him to flee our country. The Attorney General @AGPamBondi just called me outraged and she also called the @FBIDirectorKash. The individual who fled our country should have had his passport seized by the state authorities. He must be returned immediately to face justice.”
Note, she doesn’t name him or name which country he fled to.
Note too how strange it is that she’s blaming this “liberal district attorney” even though just hours earlier she seemingly announced she would be handing the case over to him, rather than prosecuting it herself with the DOJ’s extensive resources.
Neither Attorney General Pam Bondi nor FBI Director Kash Patel has publicly weighed in on the case on their own accounts.