Dentist pleads to dumping medical waste at Shore

CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE, N.J. - The Main Line dentist accused of dumping used hypodermic needles into an Avalon waterway and fouling beaches there in August 2008 will have to pay a $100,000 fine and be placed on probation, according to a plea agreement announced in Superior Court on this morning.

Thomas W. McFarland Jr. of Wynnewood, Pa. pleaded guilty before Judge Raymond Batten to one count of negligent discharge of a water pollutant.

The charge, a fourth-degree crime, had been downgraded from a third-degree charge that could have sent McFarland to state prison for up to five years.

A second charge of the unlawful discharge of a water pollutant was dismissed by the court, according to the plea agreement.

McFarland, who owns a house in the Avalon Manor section of Middle Township, admitted that he took his small motor boat into Townsend Inlet at the north end of Avalon on Aug. 22, 2008 and dumped a bag of waste from his dental practice.

Beginning the next day, dental waste was found along a stretch of beach at the north end of Avalon between 9th Street and 24th Street. The waste included approximately 260 "Accuject" dental-type needles, 180 cotton swabs, a number of blue and white plastic capsules used to hold dental filling material, and other items.

Sentencing is scheduled for April 30.