Power Company Tip Leads to Bitcoin Mining Raid

[keithers]

Little by little we are losing our personal freedoms every day.  This is utterly ridiculous.  Pretty soon governments will be watching everything through their TVs (if they aren't already doing that now)...

[zorke]

I think it's close minded to think "excess" usage is automatically a grow op.

If the person had a record of growing marijuana  before it's pretty natural to jump to that conclusion, regardless of how correct that assumption is.it's  kinda like how excons got put into suspect list when related crimes occurred in  the vicinity.

A person could be doing one of several things easily. all consisting of working out of their home.
Even doing some of these things for a hobby would make a meter spin hard.
a good compressor will eat up electric (woodshop, autobody, mechanic etc etc)
a kiln will eat up electric (ceramics / glass making)
electric water heaters are notorious (chandlers and I have no idea what else) a lot of hot showers hah
obviously a bitcoin datacenter
someone could even have a real garden as well. (not the kind in the topic)
It would help to know what they consider "normal" or "excessive"

I think "excessive " would mean having a electricity usage far higher than  normal(maybe magnitudes higher than thy's neighbours).I agree any of the activity listed would trigger that alert.I'm willing to bet that even if his excessive usage were due to the other activities listed he would still be raided based on his previously record .Especially if he kept those "hobbies" outside superficial scrutiny.

He wasn't busted for growing but for possession of a 1/2 pound which is a big difference.
THerefore there wasn't probable cause that he was growing because he had possesion before.
If they caught him growing before ok but they didn't.
And really sherlock no shit "excessive" is more than "normal". Even I knew that.

What he is actually charged with has nothing to do with what probable cause the police had when the warrant was issued. There were signs that he was growing illegal drugs in his house (which turned out to be a false positive) therefore there was probable cause that he was growing drugs. The fact that the police found something unrelated to the crime they thought he was committing does not have anything to do with probable cause.

[BCwinning]

I think it's close minded to think "excess" usage is automatically a grow op.

If the person had a record of growing marijuana  before it's pretty natural to jump to that conclusion, regardless of how correct that assumption is.it's  kinda like how excons got put into suspect list when related crimes occurred in  the vicinity.

A person could be doing one of several things easily. all consisting of working out of their home.
Even doing some of these things for a hobby would make a meter spin hard.
a good compressor will eat up electric (woodshop, autobody, mechanic etc etc)
a kiln will eat up electric (ceramics / glass making)
electric water heaters are notorious (chandlers and I have no idea what else) a lot of hot showers hah
obviously a bitcoin datacenter
someone could even have a real garden as well. (not the kind in the topic)
It would help to know what they consider "normal" or "excessive"

I think "excessive " would mean having a electricity usage far higher than  normal(maybe magnitudes higher than thy's neighbours).I agree any of the activity listed would trigger that alert.I'm willing to bet that even if his excessive usage were due to the other activities listed he would still be raided based on his previously record .Especially if he kept those "hobbies" outside superficial scrutiny.

He wasn't busted for growing but for possession of a 1/2 pound which is a big difference.
THerefore there wasn't probable cause that he was growing because he had possesion before.
If they caught him growing before ok but they didn't.
And really sherlock no shit "excessive" is more than "normal". Even I knew that.

What he is actually charged with has nothing to do with what probable cause the police had when the warrant was issued. There were signs that he was growing illegal drugs in his house (which turned out to be a false positive) therefore there was probable cause that he was growing drugs. The fact that the police found something unrelated to the crime they thought he was committing does not have anything to do with probable cause.

with your logic every criminal should be investigated because their is probable cause they will do it again.
Done arguing, go work for the prosecutors office they love guys like you.

[omgbossis21]

Plenty of people get charged and convicted and clean their life up to.  I know a few people that's been down both sides of the road, good and bad.

[tspacepilot]

Wow, are those guys federal police?  They've all got assault rifles out like they're going to war or something?!  God that's fucking scary.  I'm glad I don't live in Virginia where apparantly the military is called in for marijuana suspicions!

[zorke]

I think it's close minded to think "excess" usage is automatically a grow op.

If the person had a record of growing marijuana  before it's pretty natural to jump to that conclusion, regardless of how correct that assumption is.it's  kinda like how excons got put into suspect list when related crimes occurred in  the vicinity.

A person could be doing one of several things easily. all consisting of working out of their home.
Even doing some of these things for a hobby would make a meter spin hard.
a good compressor will eat up electric (woodshop, autobody, mechanic etc etc)
a kiln will eat up electric (ceramics / glass making)
electric water heaters are notorious (chandlers and I have no idea what else) a lot of hot showers hah
obviously a bitcoin datacenter
someone could even have a real garden as well. (not the kind in the topic)
It would help to know what they consider "normal" or "excessive"

I think "excessive " would mean having a electricity usage far higher than  normal(maybe magnitudes higher than thy's neighbours).I agree any of the activity listed would trigger that alert.I'm willing to bet that even if his excessive usage were due to the other activities listed he would still be raided based on his previously record .Especially if he kept those "hobbies" outside superficial scrutiny.

He wasn't busted for growing but for possession of a 1/2 pound which is a big difference.
THerefore there wasn't probable cause that he was growing because he had possesion before.
If they caught him growing before ok but they didn't.
And really sherlock no shit "excessive" is more than "normal". Even I knew that.

What he is actually charged with has nothing to do with what probable cause the police had when the warrant was issued. There were signs that he was growing illegal drugs in his house (which turned out to be a false positive) therefore there was probable cause that he was growing drugs. The fact that the police found something unrelated to the crime they thought he was committing does not have anything to do with probable cause.

with your logic every criminal should be investigated because their is probable cause they will do it again.
Done arguing, go work for the prosecutors office they love guys like you.

I am not saying the probable cause was that the guy had grown drugs in his house before. I am saying that the probable cause was the fact that the electric usage was consistent with someone growing drugs in his house with very few other logical explanations to the high electric usage. Also you should remember that overall bitcoin adoption is well under 1% of the global population and the percentage of bitcoin users that are miners is also very small.

[Ruthful]

Wow, are those guys federal police?  They've all got assault rifles out like they're going to war or something?!  God that's fucking scary.  I'm glad I don't live in Virginia where apparantly the military is called in for marijuana suspicions!

Which picture are you're talking about? None of the ones posted on this thread so far was from the actual raid.Though I agree that the second picture reminds me of some sci-fi dystopian storm trooper getup.

[niothor]

Wow, are those guys federal police?  They've all got assault rifles out like they're going to war or something?!  God that's fucking scary.  I'm glad I don't live in Virginia where apparantly the military is called in for marijuana suspicions!

I wish they'd lock all those mariwane druggies up and throw away the keys. I don't know why they can't just drink whiskey like the rest of us. Whiskey never causes all the problems those druggie perverts have. I don't know why they didn't just shoot em' while they had the chance! They brought enough guns to solve the problem. Shoot their friggin kids too. They'll just grow up to live on welfare and take drugs anyway. Now the rest of us GOD fearin', church goin' folks are gonna have to pay to keep that worthless pervert locked up. They should just ship em' all to the state o' Mariurado so we don't have to pay for em'.


This sounds like a joke but I know people that think this way. One of them is a true drunken wife beater that is actually brave enough to show up at church on Sunday morning escorting a wife with a black eye.

I feel that way for crimes against children, violent crimes, or crimes committed with weapons of any kind if stated in an intelligent manner minus the "Skydaddy" addition.

Back on topic, you don't get much dumber than having been previously been busted for a grow operation knowing damn well your heat signature from an airborne thermal cam can be seen from 3000 meters as well as you electricity usage screaming you're at it again, even if it is something benign. Even dumber was having MJ present under those circumstances period.

This guy was stupid.

Stupidity cost him.


~BCX~

I think raiding the house with a large armed tactical squad wielding assault rifles may be over doing it a bit. That looks like the ground troops that were used on the raid of Osama bin Laden's compound. If they were afraid to knock on the door they should have just used a Pyros small tactical munition fired from a sentinel drone.

Pictures are not from this "arrest".

http://dailysurge.com/2014/05/fed-court-finds-search-seizure-guns-ok-without-warrant-evidence-crime/

http://chriswick.ca/jacksonville-police-staging-operation-operation-ceasefire/

Also , is there any other news source for this ?

[ndonnard]

Typical law-enforcement agencies...

[BBmmBB]

Wow, are those guys federal police?  They've all got assault rifles out like they're going to war or something?!  God that's fucking scary.  I'm glad I don't live in Virginia where apparantly the military is called in for marijuana suspicions!

i'm telling youes Virginia don't play ! ..sure there everyone has an uncle who smokes the weed,,,~

 ..but ohhh wait >> BITCOIN (DRUG) "MINING" MACHINES? ...wow that : MUST BE ILLEGAL!!!!    ..LMFAO!

[commandrix]

Does anybody besides me think this may be a case for using some of your Bitcoin to install solar panels? You can really save money on electricity this way...

[BBmmBB]

Does anybody besides me think this may be a case for using some of your Bitcoin to install solar panels? You can really save money on electricity this way...

nuclear ! 

[johncarpe64]

Does anybody besides me think this may be a case for using some of your Bitcoin to install solar panels? You can really save money on electricity this way...

I think you have it backwards. It would be good to buy solar panels in order to mine bitcoin. The risk of what happened to the man in the OP article may somewhat make up for the fact that your miners could be seized if the electric company/law enforcement deems is suspicious that you are using so much electricity

[BBmmBB]

illegal bitcoin mining busts is prolly why we are dropping? 

[Gleb Gamow]

Little by little we are losing our personal freedoms every day.  This is utterly ridiculous.  Pretty soon governments will be watching everything through their TVs (if they aren't already doing that now)...

For shits and giggles, go ahead and plant a vegetable garden, then come harvest time put back a few seeds to use the following year to grow more plants. Guess what the penalty for that is if you get caught. Go ahead. Take a guess.

If you get away with that, trying milking a cow, then carry the milk across the street, which just so happens to be the state line, and give it to your neighbor, whereupon said neighbor gives you an apple pie. You won't believe how many laws were just broken with that simply act. Some severe.

Makes you almost wish you were an untouchable at Bear Stearns.

[BBmmBB]

Little by little we are losing our personal freedoms every day.  This is utterly ridiculous.  Pretty soon governments will be watching everything through their TVs (if they aren't already doing that now)...

For shits and giggles, go ahead and plant a vegetable garden, then come harvest time put back a few seeds to use the following year to grow more plants. Guess what the penalty for that is if you get caught. Go ahead. Take a guess.

If you get away with that, trying milking a cow, then carry the milk across the street, which just so happens to be the state line, and give it to your neighbor, whereupon said neighbor gives you an apple pie. You won't believe how many laws were just broken with that simply act. Some severe.

Makes you almost wish you were an untouchable at Bear Stearns.

mining vegetables! ~ i thought you had to get a special permit for that? lol 

[toleng]

Little by little we are losing our personal freedoms every day.  This is utterly ridiculous.  Pretty soon governments will be watching everything through their TVs (if they aren't already doing that now)...

For shits and giggles, go ahead and plant a vegetable garden, then come harvest time put back a few seeds to use the following year to grow more plants. Guess what the penalty for that is if you get caught. Go ahead. Take a guess.

If you get away with that, trying milking a cow, then carry the milk across the street, which just so happens to be the state line, and give it to your neighbor, whereupon said neighbor gives you an apple pie. You won't believe how many laws were just broken with that simply act. Some severe.

Makes you almost wish you were an untouchable at Bear Stearns.

There are regulations in place that are intended to protect consumers. Food needs to be produced and distributed in ways with safety in mind. In both of these examples you would be exposing others to risks that are unknown to them and that they assume they are not taking (because it is assumed that these regulations are followed)

[inBitweTrust]

There are regulations in place that are intended to protect consumers. Food needs to be produced and distributed in ways with safety in mind. In both of these examples you would be exposing others to risks that are unknown to them and that they assume they are not taking (because it is assumed that these regulations are followed)

Centralization exposes people to risks as well. Excess regulations forces local farmers and producers out of the market and when an E. coli outbreak happens more food has to be recalled, and more people get sick.

There are other issues more important than safety as well, and one of them being preserving ones dignity and sovereignty. Do you believe you own your own body? If so than you should be able to consume unpasteurized cheeses and milk from your local permaculture farmer.

[fryarminer]

Hold on second, they sized "a number of physical Bitcoins"?

Yeah I read that twice because I didn't get it either! What was he doing, showing them his physical bitcoins?

[notbatman]

Hold on second, they sized "a number of physical Bitcoins"?

Yeah I read that twice because I didn't get it either! What was he doing, showing them his physical bitcoins?

This reminds me of:

"We saw Bitcoin in your bag and need to check." --

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2014/03/03/why-the-tsa-hassled-a-traveler-with-bitcoin-in-his-bag/

I guess the authorities need to stay on-top of anybody who might try and smuggle Bitcoin out of the country via an airport.