In an institute there are many rooms where you can get lost and some hidden corners, except for the center staff, who know the entire facility perfectly. For this reason, the principal of Cohasset Middle High School (Massachusetts) was surprised to find a lot of electrical cables, temporary conduits and numerous computers that seemed out of place.
All these devices were not hidden too much, but were seen by the person in charge while doing a routine inspection of the school. The discovery made him suspect that a student had set up a racketeer. Indeed, it was a cryptocurrency farm “illegally connected” to the institute’s electrical system, according to local media reports. But no student had set it up, but a municipal worker from the center.
What was in the basement of the institute was a place set up to produce digital assets on a large scale. These centers cannot be installed anywhere. They require a large space to place all the computers, a good ventilation system and a powerful electrical network to connect all these devices, which are kept on throughout the day.
The police investigation began in December 2021. Authorities studied it as a possible cryptocurrency mining operation. The room was sealed off and examined by Cohasset forensics, with help from the US Coast Guard Investigative Service and the Department of Homeland Security, authorities said.
The school was the perfect place: the cryptocurrency farm could go unnoticed by the authorities and there was no cost to its promoter, because it was illegally connected to the school’s electrical system.
The person responsible was not a student or teacher. According to NBC Boston, after a three-month investigation, police charged Nadeam Nahas, a 39-year-old man, assistant director of facilities for the city of Cohasset. He is charged with crimes including fraudulent use of electricity and vandalism at a school, according to Cohasset Police Chief William Quigley.
After filing an indictment against Nahas, he was expected to appear in court, but the former municipal worker did not show up, reinforcing the police’s belief that he is responsible for setting up the crypto farm.
