Driver in fatal robbery of well-known Lakewood convenience store owner is sentenced
The alleged driver in the fatal robbery of a Lakewood convenience store owner was sentenced Monday.
Bonifacio Alvarez-Reynolds, 22, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in connection to the death of In Cha Choe.
Pierce County Superior Court Judge Stephanie Arend gave him 18 years, three months in prison.
Marcus Louise Williams, who stabbed Choe while robbing her McChord Mart store, was sentenced to 31 years, two months in prison earlier this year.
Alvarez-Reynolds wrote in his plea statement that he went to the store with Williams Oct. 14, 2019, and that Williams said he was “going to get some money” and went inside.
Williams stabbed Choe, came back to the car, said “let’s go,” and Alvarez-Reynolds drove away, the statement said.
“I did not know what happened in the store, only that Marcus was going to take money,” Alvarez-Reynolds wrote.
Regulars at the store knew Choe as “Mama,” and she was known for helping those in need. If a customer couldn’t pay, she’d let them do so later.
“Our mom would have welcomed you with open arms, an open mind, and the brightest smile you ever saw,” Choe’s children wrote in a letter to the court before Alvarez-Reynolds’ sentencing. “If you needed help, she would have helped … just like she did with all of her customers at McChord Mart.”
Choe’s family told the court at Williams’ sentencing that she grew up poor, immigrated to the United States from South Korea, raised three children as a single mother, and worked extremely hard at her store.
One of Choe’s siblings wrote the court she believes Choe resisted Williams during the robbery because she refused to let someone take what she’d worked so hard to accomplish.
Charging papers said Choe tried to stop Williams as he walked behind the counter and reached for the register, and that he stabbed her in the abdomen, chest and arm.
He left with the money, Choe followed with a collapsible baton, and he shoved her to the ground as they struggled at the door.
Then Williams took off and Choe closed the register and locked up the store.
She got in her car, left the parking lot for a moment, then returned and parked in front of her store.
Choe was found unconscious and pronounced dead soon after at Madigan Army Medical Center.
“You didn’t only devastate her three children, you also devastated an entire community,” the letter from Choe’s children said. “We all relied on her for her bright light. We all needed her in this dark world.”
