A former Massachusetts infrastructure worker is accused of stealing nearly $18,000 worth of electricity to run 11 miners in a school corridor.
A former infrastructure construction worker accused of planning a secret cryptocurrency mining operation at a Massachusetts school is set to be arrested after missing a scheduled court hearing to answer the charges.
According to media reports, Nadeam Nahas will be indicted on February 23 on charges of destroying schools and defrauding the use of electricity, according to media reports. Issue orders and authorize law enforcement officers to arrest.
Nahas, who is said to have worked in the utilities department in Cohasset, Massachusetts, is accused of stealing nearly $18,000 in electricity to power his 2021 cryptocurrency mining operation between April 28 and December. 14.
Local police were reportedly alerted to the operation in December 2021 after the director of the Cohasset site noticed computers, cables and wires that seemed out of place, considering they were in a vacant lot near the school’s boiler room.
A total of 11 computers were found there, and after a three-month investigation, Nahas was identified as a suspect.
Nahas resigned from his position in Cohasset in March.
Related: The Economics of Cryptocurrency Mining: Costs, Revenues, and Market Trends
This is certainly not the first time that someone has been accused of stealing electricity to mine cryptocurrency.
In July 2021, Malaysian authorities destroyed $1.2 million worth of bitcoins
BTC
Stripe down
$24,913
The mining platform was seized from people stealing electricity to mine.
A year earlier, in August 2020, Bulgarian authorities arrested two men for allegedly diverting more than $1.5 million worth of electricity to run two cryptocurrency mining businesses.
