An accused drug dealer charged with killing a convicted drug dealer in the Lackawanna County Prison has waived his preliminary hearing.
Eli Calero was supposed to have a preliminary hearing last week but decided to waive his right to a hearing and head to county court for further action.
Calero is charged with a single count of criminal homicide in the beating death of Michael Jones Jr., 45, of Wilkes-Barre, on Sept. 9. Jones died of blunt head trauma, according to the county coroner.
A federal grand jury indicted Calero in April on charges of conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine and cocaine in Monroe County.
Jones was charged in 2021 with possession with intent to distribute cocaine base, fentanyl and methamphetamine, possession of a gun in furtherance of drug trafficking, illegal possession of a gun, possession of a stolen gun and running a drug house on High Street in Wilkes-Barre. In December, a federal jury convicted him of all charges. He was awaiting sentencing and faced life in prison.
Prosecutors say Calero killed Jones because of a beef over access to newspapers, according to an arrest affidavit.
Calero claimed Jones entered his cell and “made homosexual comments and he was defending himself,” the affidavit says.
County District Attorney Brian Gallagher called the killing “senseless.”
