Two held in fatal W. Chester shooting

West Chester police yesterday announced the arrests of two men in connection with the Monday slaying of Christian M. Oliveras, a 21-year-old father scheduled to plead guilty next week to selling cocaine.

Trent Larelle Jackson, 18, of Coatesville, was taken into custody Monday evening, arraigned and remanded to Chester County Prison, police said. Efrain Molina, 28, of West Chester, was picked up in Atlantic City yesterday after a traffic accident and was awaiting extradition, police said.

Both men face charges that include murder and conspiracy.

Officers responded to the 300 block of South Adams Street in West Chester at 12:10 a.m. on Monday and found Oliveras with multiple gunshot wounds to the torso on the third floor of a rowhouse he shared with his parents, police said.

A witness identified Jackson as one of two men who entered the Oliveras home and left the residence after gunshots were heard, the criminal complaint said. Court records show that Jackson was awaiting trial for alleged marijuana possession.

Molina, whose court record includes multiple drug arrests, was identified by an informant as entering the residence about 20 minutes before the shooting, the complaint said. After the slaying, Molina told a friend that he brought two Coatesville men to meet with Oliveras - his drug supplier - because the men wanted to rob Oliveras, the complaint said. Police are still seeking at least one other suspect.

Defense lawyer Thomas A. Pitt Jr. said Oliveras, the father of an infant son and 3-year-old daughter, was scheduled to accept a plea bargain on Monday to four counts of selling cocaine. His sentence would have been five to 10 years in prison, Pitt said.

West Chester Police Chief Scott L. Bohn said that good detective work and community assistance facilitated the arrests.

"This is still a very active case," he said.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at 610-696-2700.