Amber Alert subject from Burlington County found

An 8-year-old boy who was the subject of an Amber Alert in Burlington County was located by police almost a day after he disappeared with his father.

The boy, Terry Dusseault III, was unharmed. His father, Terry Dusseault Jr., who fled on Tuesday before authorities could arrest him on sexual-assault charges in Burlington County, was taken into custody. The charges did not involve his son.

About 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, a motorist saw the 2001 black Hyundai Santa Fe that was being sought under the alert on Route 70 and called 911. A Medford Township patrol unit stopped the car in a ShopRite parking lot, about seven miles from where Dusseault and his brother and son lived in Lumberton.

"Oh, Lord, I was tickled to death," said Stella Minshew, 60, Terry's great-aunt, who lives in La Grange, N.C.

In North Carolina, Dusseault, 38, had been convicted of possession of child pornography in 2007, and was a registered sex offender. He was given three months' probation, records show.

His probation was transferred to New Jersey and he was being supervised by a probation officer here, said Keith Acree, spokesman for North Carolina's Department of Correction.

Dusseault was required to register as a sex offender with law enforcement in New Jersey, and did so, officials said.

Burlington County officials notified state officials when Dusseault moved to Lumberton. Sgt. Steven Jones, spokesman for the New Jersey State Police, said the North Carolina charges did not meet New Jersey's requirements to list him as a registered sex offender on the state's Internet registry.

Dusseault completed his probation in June, Acree said.

On Tuesday, state police put out the electronic alert around 2:30 p.m. after Dusseault fled with his son, authorities said.

Dusseault's relatives were concerned about his mental status and worried about his safety and the son's, the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office said.

Neighbor Amy L. White, whose son plays with Terry, said Dusseault had kept her Hyundai without permission. She said she let Dusseault take her car to get his son's hair cut.

"I was trying to be a good person and allow him to run an errand," she said. "I allowed him to take him one mile up the road to the haircut place."

Dusseault called White's phone around the time that authorities were at his home on Tuesday, and told a detective he was coming back, said White, who did not know about the new charges or prior conviction.

Dusseault had sole custody of Terry, known as "TJ," after his wife, Schanoie, died of kidney failure in 2002, said Minshew, her aunt.

"He was a great dad. He raised that boy by himself," Minshew said.

The couple met when they worked at a carpet store in Goldsboro, N.C., and married in 2000, Minshew said.

Minshew said Dusseault told some North Carolina family members that the charges from 2005 were dismissed. "None of us knew about the conviction," she said.

Dusseault told Minshew that "it was an ex-girlfriend causing him trouble," she recalled. "I believed him."

Dusseault moved to New Jersey in 2007 to live with his mother, Minshew said. Neighbors in Lumberton said he had lived at his home on Canal Circle for at least a year.

Dusseault works in the kitchen of a Mount Laurel restaurant, said a neighbor.

Dusseault is accused of sexually assaulting three juvenile females within the last 18 months, authorities said. The relationship between Dusseault and the Burlington County juveniles is unclear.

Authorities including the Prosecutor's Office and Pemberton Township Police started to investigate the allegations this summer, said Joel Bewley, the Prosecutor's Office spokesman.

Charges filed Tuesday include aggravated sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child. Dusseault was held in the Burlington County Jail on $500,000 bail.

Terry, who is scheduled to enter third grade in a few weeks, is in the custody of the state Division of Youth and Family Services, and relatives have said they want to raise him, Bewley said.