Teacher charged over crypto mining discovered in school crawlspace

by Arthur · February 24, 2023

MA man charged with illegal crypto mining in high school crawl space — Here’s where the makeshift crypto mining went down.

A Massachusetts teacher has been charged after authorities say he carried out an elaborate cryptocurrency mining out of the school where he worked. Nadeam Nahas, 39, was teaching at Cohasset High School when a city inspector visited the school and found an unusual electrical setup in one room.

The excessive number of computers, electrical wiring and temporary duct work prompted Cohasset Police Detectives to be called to the school and “investigate a report of a possible Crypto Currency mining operation that was discovered in an external crawl space beneath the school,” Cohasset Police. Chief William Quigly said in a statement to Gizmodo.

Police were alerted by the city’s IT director and requested help from the US Coast Guard Investigative Service and the Department of Homeland Security to investigate the crawl space beneath the school. The teams safely removed all equipment and forensically investigated its origins over a three-month period, which led to their identification of Nahas as a person of interest.

The authorities first discovered the markchange mine setup in December 2021 which revealed that it wasn’t just that Nahas allegedly carried out an illegal operation, he was too using taxpayers’ money to work off the grid. Because Cryptos a digital currency, it can be extracted using specialized computer processors, but cannot be done efficiently in an ordinary house. The amount of electricity needed to run the processors is far more than any home can handle.

A Cohasset city inspector alerted authorities to unusual electrical equipment at a MA school — Photo: Cohasset Police Department

Larry Glazer, a crypto expert and managing partner at Mayflower Advisors in Boston, said CBS News that it “cannot be done effectively at home in New England because the cost of electricity is so prohibitively expensive.” Speaking of Nahas, Glazer added, “You had an employee who effectively stole electricity from the community from the taxpayers and from the city.”

Nahas resigned from his position in early 2022, and a criminal complaint was issued for fraudulent use of electricity and school vandalism. He was scheduled to appear in Quincy District Court for his arraignment on Thursday, but he never showed up, forcing the judge to issue a warrant for Nahas’ arrest.

Cohasset communications and community engagement specialist Justin Shrair told Gizmodo that no other information will be released at this time.