Crypto Mining Operation Found within Massachusetts High School Cralspace, Suspect Charged

A secret cryptocurrency mining operation was discovered recently tucked away in a crawl space within a Massachusetts high school. The alleged culprit, Nadeam Nahas, is a 39-year-old school faculty member who skipped out on his arraignment on Thursday, Feb. 23, with some severe charges and now an additional warrant on his head. 

Massachusetts police initially answered a 911 call in 2021 when Cohasset Middle/High School was found to be host to an illegal crypto mining operation amid a routine inspection. The small town's facilities director discovered a multitude of misplaced computers, electrical wires, and ductwork that led to suspicions of fraudulent behavior. 

The Cohasset Police Department's Chief, William Quigley, gave a statement on Wednesday highlighting these events. With the information brought to the town's IT director, who confirmed the equipment as being a crypto mining rig illegally leveraging the school's electricity, several; additional domestic authorities were called to safely remove and analyze the hardware, including the Cost Guard Investigative Service and the Department of Homeland Security.