New Jersey authorities have charged a Main Line dentist with unlawfully discharging a pollutant and unlawful disposal of regulated medical waste. Each charge carries a maximum prison term of five years. The fines could total $125,000.

Thomas McFarland, 59, took his motorboat to Townsend Inlet near Avalon on Aug. 22 and dumped a bag full of some 300 dental-type needles, along with 180 cotton swabs and other materials from his Wynnewood, Pa., medical office, Attorney General Anne Milgram said at a news conference. Authorities have not revealed McFarland's motives.

Avalon beaches were closed five days as waste washed ashore between Aug. 23 and Tuesday.

Thomas McFarland owns a summer home across the bridge from Avalon. His dental practice is in his residence on the 300 block of Penn Road in the Lower Merion neighborhood.

McFarland is represented by local attorney Joseph Rodgers.

The dentist confessed to Avalon police Tuesday as an "intensive investigation" was narrowing, Milgram said. Markings on the wrapper for a dental-drill bit and the labels on the needles pointed investigators toward McFarland even before he turned himself in, Milgram said.

Milgram said McFarland’s action was an isolated incident unrelated to the syringes and debris found on beaches in seven other Shore towns, including Atlantic City, Ocean City and Brigantine.

His neighbors said McFarland is a nice man and he is known as a very good doctor in the Wynnewood area. They were shocked by the news.

"Early on, we realized this incident was unique and that this was intentional and done nearby," said Avalon police chief David Dean. Milgram initially said the medical waste in Avalon on Aug. 23 was an isolated incident.