KIROTV.com
SEATTLE, Wash. — A repeat felon is charged with breaking into special boxes only firefighters are supposed to have access to, and using the master keys inside to burglarize apartments across the city. The crimes are expected to cost Seattle more than a half million dollars.
Norman Bottem is charged with obtaining a special “shaved key” that gave him access to “Knox boxes” in Seattle. Knox boxes, named for the company that makes them, are outside apartment complexes and are only supposed to be opened in the event of an emergency by a key the Seattle Fire Department keeps with its trucks. Inside the boxes are master keys to the apartment building that allow firefighters to get into all the common areas.
According to court documents, Bottem somehow got a “shaved key,” which can open a knox box, and used it to steal from the Neptune Apartments off Dexter Avenue, the Prescott in Wallingford, and the Tuscany Apartments off Eastlake Avenue. He’s accused of doing this while waiting to be sentenced for theft.
Full story: Burglary spree will cost taxpayers $500,000