A Suffolk County IT supervisor was arrested this week for allegedly running a cryptocurrency mining operation out of government offices on Long Island, officials announced Wednesday.
Christopher Naples, 42, a supervisor of information technology operations for the county clerk’s office, is accused of operating 46 cryptocurrency mining devices in a county building in Riverhead, according to the Suffolk County District’s Attorney’s Office.
At least ten of the machines have been running since February, mining Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency — and inflating the electricity bill by $6,000, the prosecutors said.
The devices were located in six different rooms inside the county building, including under removable floorboards and inside an unused electrical wall panel.
“Mining cryptocurrency requires an enormous amount of resources, and miners have to navigate how to cover all of those electricity and cooling costs,” District Attorney Sini said.
“This defendant found a way to do it; unfortunately, it was on the backs of taxpayers,” said Sini.
Investigators are working to determine if Naples profited from the scheme.
Naples was charged with public corruption, grand larceny, computer trespass and official misconduct, officials said.
He was arraigned Wednesday at Southampton Town Justice Court and released on his own recognizance.
Read More:Christopher Naples arrested for Bitcoin mining at workplace
2021-09-10 06:44:00
