Two in Bellevue Electronics Burglaries Plead Guilty

Two Seattle men who broke into emergency key boxes and then stole electronics from 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 in King County Superior Court in Seattle to the 2010 burglaries. They will be sentenced on 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 Bellevue, Woodinville, Redmond and Kirkland. Businesses lost more than $750,000 in the break-ins, which date back at least to early 2010, charging documents say.

Among the businesses hit in Bellevue:

•, BizXchange, Blinkx and , all located in the same Eastgate building at 3600 136th Place S.E., June 13-14. All had computer equipment stolen; BizXchange also had gift cards for various businesses stolen.

•Intava Corp. and Mind Tree, both in the same building at 2375 130th Ave. N.E., Dec. 3-5.

‘Wardriving’

Bellevue police also detailed similar break-ins at other businesses, including Sony On-line Entertainment, but the men were not charged in those thefts, according to a report in Patch in May.

However, gift cards stolen from Bellevue’s BizXchange connect the Eastside burglaries to a federal investigation into sophisticated computer hacking, identity theft and fraud.

Seattle Police detective Chris Hansen, who serves on a federal Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force, described part of the suspected operation in an affidavit to support seizing a car last month.

Hansen had been investigating a series of computer network intrusions of small and medium-sized businesses around Puget Sound. The investigation found that suspects were believed to be driving around the region using a car with mobile hacking tools to get into businesses’ wireless networks and steal data for identity theft and fraud, techniques called“wardriving” and “piggybacking.”

A 35-year-old man who knew Witt and Lowe tried to use a stolen gift card at The Local Vine in Seattle in October, according to the affidavit.

The Capitol Hill wine bar notified Bellevue and Seattle police, and they questioned the man, who at first said he bought the cards on Craigslist but then said he knew they were stolen but couldn’t talk about it.

While police were at the bar, they impounded the man’s car, a 1988 Mercedes. When they later searched it, they found a laptop, a mount to hold a laptop stand for use while driving, and other equipment that could be used for mobile computer hacking. The car’s owner has not been charged in the case. Patch does not typically name suspects until they have been charged.

In December, searches of several residences and storage lockers in Seattle turned up some of the equipment stolen in the Eastside burglaries.