Donovan James McDermott, 52, was sentenced Wednesday to 11 years for involuntary manslaughter, three years for tampering with evidence and one year for gross abuse of a corpse, all to be served at the same time for a total of 11 years in prison.
McDermott was also ordered to pay $819 in funeral costs.
Once released from jail, McDermott will be on parole for two to five years.
He was originally charged with murder and felonious assault in addition to the other charges, but those two charges were dismissed after he pleaded guilty to the current charges on the day he was scheduled to go to trial.
McDermott is one of two men charged after the body of 47-year-old Steven T. Johnson was found on Oct. 8, 2018.
On that day, a Browns Nursery worker found a body wrapped in plastic inside a sleeping bag, later identified as Johnson, off Arlington Road.
Johnson died due to blunt force trauma, according to the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office. Former Montgomery County Sheriff Phil Plummer previously said the death happened at a vacant house on Eichelberger Avenue, and involved a metal pipe.
A second man named David Savage was also charged in the death. Savage pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and tampering with evidence in October 2021, and was sentenced to 13 years in prison in January 2022, according to court documents.
We have reached out to McDermott’s attorney for comment and will update this story when we receive a response.
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