Amber Alert issued after Lumberton boy goes missing

The New Jersey State Police have issued an Amber Alert for an 8-year-old boy who authorities say was abducted by his father in Burlington County today.

Terry Dusseault, 38, was last seen taking his son, Terry Jr., from the 300 block of Canal Circle in Lumberton, state police said. Authorities said that Dusseault is a registered sex offender,

Terry Jr. is white, 4-foot-8 tall and weighs 80 pounds. He has brown hair and brown eyes, like his father.

Dusseault was driving a black Hyundai Santa Fe, with New Jersey plates reading LXB61U.

He was last seen wearing a tan short-sleeve shirt and khaki shorts. He is 5-feet-10 and weighs 210 pound, officials said. Dusseault has an "NY" tattoo on his left arm and a tattoo on his upper chest with the word "Schaney," authorities said.

Today's Amber Alert falls under under new guidelines in New Jersey for cases involving children believed to have been abducted by relatives. The system had generally excluded such situations to prevent misuse in custody disputes.

Though authorities were allowed to consider factors such as domestic problems in deciding to issue an alert, some officials were unaware of that caveat, authorities said.

The guidelines were revised in April to end confusion about alerts involving family members. Authorities were criticized in February when the system was not activated after an Atlantic County man snatched his 3-month-old daughter from her grandmother in East Orange, N.J.

The father, Shamsiddin Abdur-Raheem, threw the baby off a Garden State Parkway bridge into the Raritan River near Sayreville, according to police. He then fled to his parents' home in Winslow Township. The baby's body was later found. The father has been charged with kidnapping and murder.

Dial 9-1-1 to report any information regarding this today's Amber Alert.