Crime & Safety
Seattle Pair Pleads Guilty to Breaking Into Kirkland Businesses
The two Seattle men broke into emergency key boxes, then stole computers and other electronics. They will be sentenced Feb. 3, and federal hacking charges are pending.
Two Seattle men who broke into emergency key boxes and then stole electronics from several Kirkland and other Eastside businesses pleaded guilty Tuesday to six counts each of second-degree burglary.
Brad E. Lowe, 36, and Joshuah A. Witt, 35, each face a sentence range of 51 to 68 months in prison after pleading guilty in King County Superior Court in Seattle to the 2010 burglaries. They will be sentenced Feb. 3 before Judge Mary Yu.
Federal charges of hacking into computer systems of local companies, allegedly to steal personal and business information, are pending.
Prosecutors say Lowe and Witt stole servers, computers and electronics equipment from nine businesses in Woodinville, Redmond, Kirkland and Bellevue. Businesses lost more than $750,000 in the break-ins, which date back at least to early 2010, charging documents say.
Prosecutors say they hit in Kirkland:
- , 5808 Lake Washington Blvd., March 2010. A replacement key box with new keys was stolen in December.
- WB Games Inc., 12131 113th Ave. N.E., Nov. 17.
- , 733 Kirkland Ave. N.E., Dec. 4.
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Information from the King County Prosecutor's Office and Kirkland Patch files.
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