A Hermitage man pleaded guilty in court Tuesday to taking a dead body out of his apartment and dumping it along Lynnwood Drive in Hermitage.

Emce Alexander Jones, 41, formerly of 1445 Parke Drive, pleaded guilty to abuse of a corpse before Mercer County Common Pleas Judge Thomas R. Dobson.

Mark A. McNulty, 40, of 547 Lafayette Ave., Sharon, died in Jones' apartment June 4 or 5 from a mixture of heroin and cocaine, police said.

Between 6 and 7 a.m. June 5, Jones traded a rock of crack cocaine for the use of a car and took McNulty's body to Lynnwood, police said.

McNulty's body was found at 11:30 a.m. June 6.

A charge of conspiracy to commit abuse of a corpse was dismissed.

A Warren, Ohio, man was charged with abuse and conspiracy, but police withdrew those charges soon after filing them.

Jones will be sentenced at 9 a.m. Dec. 3.