Amber Alert issued for Burlington County boy

New Jersey State Police issued an Amber Alert on Tuesday for an 8-year-old Burlington County boy who disappeared with his father shortly before the man was to be arrested on sexual-assault charges.

UPDATE:  The boy was found safe Wednesday.

The boy lived with his father, Terry Dusseault, a registered sex offender in North Carolina, and Dusseault's brother on the 300 block of Canal Circle in Lumberton, authorities said.

Authorities went to Dusseault's home Tuesday morning to arrest him on sexual-assault charges involving three Burlington County juveniles over the past year and a half, said Joel Bewley, a spokesman with the County Prosecutor's Office. But Dusseault and his son, Terry Jr., were gone before authorities arrived around 11 a.m., Bewley said.

Dusseault, 38, was driving a black 2001 Hyundai Santa Fe with New Jersey plates LXB-61U, according to officials. The alert was still on as of 10:45 p.m. Tuesday.

Authorities say they think Dusseault and his son are alone. The child's mother is dead, officials said.

His brother told authorities he was concerned about Dusseault's mental status, Bewley said. Police issued the electronic alert around 2:30 p.m., Bewley said.

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

The older Dusseault was last seen wearing a tan short-sleeve shirt and khaki shorts. He is 5-foot-10 and weighs 210 pounds, officials said. Dusseault has an "NY" tattoo on his left arm and a tattoo on his upper chest that reads "Schaney," authorities said.

North Carolina records show that in 2007, Dusseault was convicted in the state for possession of child pornography.

Dusseault is charged in Burlington County with two counts of first-degree aggravated sexual assault and five counts of endangering the welfare of a child, Bewley said. Dusseault's son was not one of the alleged victims, Bewley said. The relationship between Dusseault and the three local juveniles is unclear.

"He was investigated based on a complaint of abuse," Bewley said.

Tuesday's Amber Alert fell 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 had been allowed to consider factors such as domestic problems in deciding whether to issue an alert, some officials were unaware of that, authorities said.

The guidelines were revised in April to end confusion about alerts involving family members. State police now can issue the electronic broadcast alerts if there is reason to believe an abducted child may be harmed or killed.

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.

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.

Police ask anyone with information regarding Tuesday's Amber Alert to call 911.