Pa. dentist who dumped medical waste in NJ waterway pays $100,000, avoids prison

Dentist who dumped medical waste in NJ avoids jail

CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE, N.J. — A dentist who said he was distraught and suicidal over his wife’s cancer when he dumped medical waste into a New Jersey ocean inlet has avoided a prison term.

Thomas McFarland agreed to pay $100,000 in restitution to a community that had to close its beaches just before Labor Day weekend in 2008.

Under terms of a plea agreement, McFarland was sentenced Friday to four years of probation. He also paid the borough of Avalon $100,000.

The Wynnewood, Pa., resident pleaded guilty in March to unlawful discharge of water pollutants.

He told a psychiatrist that dumping the waste was “an attempt to destroy myself” brought on by severe psychiatric illness.