Pennsylvania dentist Thomas McFarland Jr., D.D.S., was fined $100,000 but avoided prison after pleading guilty to dumping needles and other medical waste that fouled popular New Jersey beaches in the summer of 2008, according to a story in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Dr. McFarland admitted that he took his boat out and dumped a bag full of hundreds of needles, cotton swabs, and capsules used to hold dental filling material at the north end of the beach town Avalon in August 2008. The waste washed up the next day along nearby beaches.
In his plea agreement, Dr. McFarland pleaded guilty to negligent discharge of a water pollutant, a downgrade of charges that could have sent him to state prison for up to five years.
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