CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE, N.J. (AP) — A Pennsylvania dentist who admitted dumping medical waste into the ocean, causing numerous beach closures in New Jersey, is due to appear in court Monday morning.

Thomas McFarland had unsuccessfully sought to enter a pre-trial intervention program that would have spared him a criminal record. Neither the state Attorney General's Office nor McFarland's lawyer would say whether he intends to enter a guilty plea in Cape May County court Monday.

McFarland has admitted dumping 260 hypodermic needles, 180 cotton swabs and numerous containers for dental filling material into an inlet in just before Labor Day weekend in 2008.

His lawyer says the dentist was distraught to the point of mental illness over his wife's lung cancer, and appeared to be acting out in "a cry for help.