GOLDEN — One year to the day that Celia Meza was shot dead in the freezer of an Arvada Burger King, the triggerman and one of his accomplices were each sentenced to life in prison plus 42 years.
Neither triggerman Anthony John Lowe, 22, nor Thomas Johns, 18, said anything Tuesday during the sentencing hearing before Jefferson County District Judge Jane Tidball.
But Arvada Police Chief Don Wick described the fear that spread through the normally peaceful and quiet residential neighborhood where Meza was slain and the unease that remains in the area, despite the arrest and conviction of the four men involved.
Wick said the slaying of Meza, who worked as a cook at the restaurant, was a tragedy.
“She went to work at the Burger King. She was trying to do what we all are trying to do — live the American dream,” said the police chief.
Meza was shot by Lowe as she tried to call 911 on her cellphone.
Lowe, then 21, was the “muscle,” and Johns, who was 17, was the mastermind, prosecutors said, of the four-man plot to rob the Burger King on July 15, 2007.
The Burger King night restaurant manager, Anthony Cole, 24, was the “inside man,” and Lindell Mark Sample Jr., 18, was the getaway driver.
Cole, who testified against the others, was sentenced to 48 years, and Sample — who has yet to be sentenced — was convicted last week of all charges.
Lowe, Johns and Sample are former Burger King employees.
Hours after Meza’s body was found, her husband, Carlos Rodriguez, drove up frantically trying to find his wife.
Prosecutors had hoped Rodriguez would be at the sentencing, but he didn’t appear.
However, Alejandra Escobedo, Meza’s sister, spoke at the sentencing.
Escobedo said her sister was a very hard worker, who cleaned houses, did ironing, worked at the Burger King and sent most of the money to Mexico to support her young daughter, Paulina.
She had not been scheduled to work the shift during which she was shot but was asked to fill in for another employee. Meza saw it as a chance to make some extra money, said Escobedo.
“She was a very smart person,” Escobedo said of Meza. “She was a very open person. She didn’t deserve it. She had a hard life. She left her home and went to work and never came back.”
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
