Federal officials said the scheme involved pharmaceutical reps, doctors, and public employees.

CAMDEN -- Federal officials announced Thursday that two men have pleaded guilty in a conspiracy that used a network of recruiters, doctors, and state and local government employees to collect millions for unnecessary compounded prescriptions.

"The defendants defrauded the state of New Jersey and other health insurers out of millions of dollars by getting reimbursed for phony prescriptions on expensive and medically unnecessary compounded medications," Acting U.S. Attorney Fitzpatrick said in a release Thursday. "This conduct, which fraudulently exploited state health benefits programs and left New Jersey taxpayers on the hook for millions in losses, is especially brazen in an era when health insurance is a constant concern for many Americans." 

Several Atlantic County shore towns have seen info about their employees' pharmaceutical plans subpoenaed in recent months as feds investigated skyrocketing pharmaceutical costs, according to reporting by the Press of Atlantic City. 

Matthew Tedesco, 42, an Atlantic County pharmaceutical sales representative, and Robert Bessey, 43, of Philadelphia, both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud in federal court in Camden Thursday, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Matt Tedesco leaves the federal courthouse in Camden after pleading guilty to leading a $28 million Rx scheme. pic.twitter.com/TEWY4wmUPf

-- Amy S. Rosenberg (@amysrosenberg) August 17, 2017

According to a statement from the office, Tedesco, of Linwood, was a leader in the conspiracy and Bessey helped recruit people to join. Tedesco was paid over $11 million dollars for his role, though he paid some of that to conspirators lower down in the scheme, officials said. Bessey received $485,540.

Between January 2015 to April 2016, Tedesco, Bessey and other conspirators convinced individuals including teachers, firefighters, local and state police and other state employees to agree to accept unnecessary prescriptions from an unnamed, out-of-state compounding pharmacy, officials said.

Drugs from compounding pharmacies cost far more than regular drugs because they are mixed for individual patients. For example, a doctor could order a prescription from a compounding pharmacy if a patient is allergic to a component of an existing medication.

Once an employee agreed to participate, the conspirators would fill out the prescription form for them and select whatever "compounded medications that paid the most and order 12 months of refills without regard to their medical necessity," the statement said.

Doctors would sign off on the prescriptions though they had never even seen the patients, federal authorities allege.

Among the pricey prescriptions being filled by the compounding pharmacy were various "libido creams" and other creams costing thousands for a months supply, as well as $10,000 in vitamins, officials said.

The compounding pharmacy would fill the prescriptions and bill the patient's insurance provider. Then a person described only as the "pharmacy benefits administrator," who oversees the state health benefits programs that cover some public workers, would pay the pharmacy and bill the state the same amount, officials said.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said that roughly half of the $50 million that the pharmacy benefits administor paid to the compounding pharmacy was for prescriptions that Tedesco and his alleged conspirators had arranged.

For each of those transactions, officials said, the pharmacy paid one of the alleged conspirators a percentage, which was then distributed down the line to other members of the conspiracy, including the doctors who signed the prescriptions.

As part of the plea agreement Tedesco and Bessey accepted, they both agreed to forfeit their profits from the scheme. In restitution, Tedesco has agreed to pay $28,773,907 while Bessey has agreed to pay $2,693,193, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Both are scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 4. They could face as much as 10 years in prison.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that three more people are expected to pleased guilty on Friday in connection with the plot, including an Atlantic City firefighter who has resigned.

Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

The solar eclipse on Monday, Aug. 21 (8/21/2017) will be affected by the weather and cloud cover. There are several eclipse maps, where the path produces the best viewing results. This map shows the projected cloud cover for the eclipse.

Click on a location on the map for more information when it's time to view the 2017 solar eclipse. This searchable solar eclipse viewing map was last updated at 6 a.m., Aug. 18.

Though residents won't get the complete solar eclipse experience that others around the country do, New Jersey is forecast to have one of the most unobstructed views of the moon-obstructed sun Monday afternoon. 

The Great American Eclipse is just three days away and, right now, skies are forecast to be mainly clear across the Garden State. New Jersey is expected to be nestled between storm systems to the east, south and west that could hinder eclipse viewing for many along the path of totality. 

In New Jersey, the eclipse will begin at 1:22 p.m., reach is maximum obscuration (about 75 percent of the sun will be covered) at 2:45 p.m. and come to an end around 4 p.m. Nationally, the eclipse will be visible  from about 10:15 a.m. to about 4 p.m., depending on your location.

While eclipse viewing (with proper eye protection, of course) is expected to be good statewide, celestial revelers can see a slightly more complete eclipse in the southern part of the state. 

At its height, the eclipse will obscure about 71 percent of the sun in High Point in Sussex County and about 77 percent in Cape May. 

If you're traveling farther afield for the eclipse, use the map above to see how the forecast for the big day evolves. 

The mass resignations from a business panel were the right step, but the delays suggest the actions were not about repudiating white supremacy alone.

An influential local business leader apparently has the distinction of being the last member of President Donald Trump's Manufacturing Jobs Initiative to bolt before Trump himself disbanded the panel himself Wednesday, in the wake of growing resignations over the president's spin on the deadly, violent events in Charlottsville, Va.

Denise Morrison, president and CEO of Camden-based Campbell Soup Co., issued this statement Wednesday afternoon:

"Racism and murder are unequivocally reprehensible and are not morally equivalent to anything else that happened in Charlottesville. I believe the President should have been - and still needs to be - unambiguous on that point.

"Following yesterday's (Tuesday's) remarks from the President, I cannot remain on the Manufacturing Jobs Initiative. I will continue to support all efforts to spur economic growth and advocate for the values that have always made America great."

Morrison's announcement came just minutes before Trump decided to scuttle the council and an allied CEO-packed group, the Strategy & Policy Forum. News media had tallied the resignations at as many as eight since Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier started the ball rolling early this week.

Having to kill the groups was a huge defeat for Trump, although he'll never admit it. U.S. jobs are his No. 1 priority, and the pair of business roundtables provided positive photo-ops, and perhaps some good strategies on domestic job retention.

It would be a great moment indeed if this whole incident transformed the reputations of America's powerful CEOs from greedy, modern-day robber barons to one of principled corporate leaders who refuse to associate with a president who associates marching neo-Nazis and racists with "good" people as well as "bad" ones.

Alas, don't look too hard for profiles in courage in America's board rooms.

Campbell's Morrison, for one, did not bolt until continued membership on the Trump panels created a torrent of negative press and social media posts, and talk of Campbell product boycotts was gaining steam. As the highest-visibility Philadelphia-area member of the Manufacturing Jobs Initiative, local media began asking repeatedly what she planned to do.

As reported on philly.com, here is Campbell's corporate statement on Monday: 

"We believe it continues to be important for Campbell to have a voice and provide input on matters that will affect our industry, our company, and our employees in support of growth. Therefore, Ms. Morrison will remain on the president's Manufacturing Jobs Initiative." 

That was two days after Trump first stunned the world with insensitive comments suggesting anti-racism counter-demonstrators were equally at fault for Saturday's violence that left a woman dead. Asked again Tuesday about Morrison's plans, a Campbell spokesperson said there was nothing to add to Monday's statement.

It wasn't until the situation became hotter than an industrial soup kettle that Morrison announced her exit. No consumer products company wants to alienate part of its loyal customer base. It's a CEO's legal responsibility to act in the best interest of shareholders, and there's no shame in it. As pure due diligence for her company, leaving the panel was the right thing to do.

It might help CEOs' reputations if they were more frequently open about such motivation. Morrison states in her Wednesday announcement that she resigned because hate groups' "racism and murder" still needed to be unambiguously condemned by the president. How come she didn't make that decision on Monday or Tuesday?

Did the timing have anything to do with potential short-term impact on canned soup and V-8 juice sales? We are left to wonder. 

Send a letter to the editor of South Jersey Times at sjletters@njadvancemedia.com

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The crash occurred when a car pulled out in front of the motorcycle, police told 6abc.

WATERFORD TWP. -- A motorcyclist was killed when a car pulled out in front of him Thursday afternoon, police told 6abc.

Police identified the driver as Kevin Scott, 20, of Hammonton, the station reported.

The crash occurred in front of Town Square Plaza at 302 White Horse Pike in the Atco section of the township around 2:30 p.m.

Police told 6abc that Scott was riding his motorcycle west when he struck a car that had pulled out of a shopping center.

Police closed the busy road for hours while they reconstructed the crash, and it remains under investigation. 

It is not clear whether any charges or citations will be issued in connection with the crash. The driver of the other vehicle was also treated for minor injuries, 6abc reported.

Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

The incident occurred Thursday night on Route 42.

GLOUCESTER TWP. -- Police say a driver intentionally exited her moving vehicle as she was traveling on Route 42 Thursday night.

The 30-year-old Williamstown woman was driving a Kia Soul northbound near mile post 10.9 around 8 p.m. when she opened her door and "purposefully removed herself from the vehicle" while it was still moving, Trooper Alejandro Goez reported.

Police could not confirm media reports that she was traveling at 60 mph at the time.

The woman was found unresponsive but breathing and was transported to Cooper University Hospital with minor injuries, Goez said. She was listed in stable condition Friday.

Police are still trying to determine why she left the vehicle.

After jumping from the car, in which she was traveling alone, the Kia hit a guardrail and coasted into the median.

No other vehicles were involved.

Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattGraySJT. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook.

Three more men pleaded guilty Friday to their roles in a wide-ranging prescription fraud scheme, authorities said.

CAMDEN -- Three men, including two pharmaceutical representatives and one retired firefighter, pleaded guilty Friday to their role in a $25 million drug scheme that involved convincing public employees to seek unnecessary, expensive medications, authorities said. 

Michael Pepper, 45, of Northfield, Thomas Hodnett, 41, of Voorhees, and Steven Urbankski, 37, of Marlton, pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit health care fraud Friday in federal court in Camden, authorities said.

The charges stemmed from a scheme the three took part in between January 2015 and April 2016, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. During that time, the three recruited New Jersey residents receiving insurance under the state health benefits system and persuaded them to obtain pricey compounded medications they did not need from a pharmacy outside the state, authorities said.

The pleas come just a day after others admitted their roles in the scheme. On Thursday, 42-year-old Matthew Tedesco, an Atlantic County pharmaceutical sales representative from Linwood, and Robert Bessey, 43-year-old Philadelphia man, both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud in federal court in Camden, authorities said. 

Compounded medications are made by a pharmacist and given to patients when general, FDA-approved drugs cannot adequately treat their conditions. They are sometimes given to those who have allergies to traditional medications. 

But in this case, Pepper, Hodnett and Urbanski collectively recruited public employees to fraudulently obtain such medications, according to the US Attorney's Office. 

That involved getting doctors to sign prescriptions without ever evaluating patients, which were then filled by the unnamed compounding pharmacy. These were "compounded medications that paid the most and order 12 months of refills without regard to their medical necessity," according to federal authorities. 

The "pharmacy benefits administrator" under the state benefits program would then reimburse the claims, paying up to thousands of state dollars in each, authorities said. In total, the administrator paid more than $50 million for compounded medications sent to people in New Jersey, around half of which was used in the wide-ranging scheme, according to federal authorities.   

Of that, Pepper, a former Atlantic City firefighter, and Urbanski, a pharmaceutical sales representative, received more than $113,000 each, while Hodnett, another pharmaceutical sales representative, made nearly $270,000, authorities said. 

Tedesco, a leader in the scam, received some $11 million, authorities said. 

All of those who have pleaded guilty so far face up to 10 years in prison and fines of $250,000. Pepper, Hodnett and Urabnski will be sentenced December 5. 

Amanda Hoover can be reached at ahoover@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @amahoover. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

NJ Advance Media asked its readers to submit photos that celebrate New Jersey in honor of World Photo Day

The Maryland-based convenience store chain is building five locations in New Jersey.

MAGNOLIA -- The first five Royal Farms locations in New Jersey are currently under construction and the company is now hiring for one of them.

The Maryland-based convenience store chain has listed openings for its Magnolia store, located at 340 East Evasham Ave.

The chain's other New Jersey stores are coming to East Greenwich Township, at the site of the former Berkley Diner on West Cohawkin and Berkley roads, on Crescent Boulevard in Gloucester City, at Route 73 and Sunbird Drive in Marlton and on south Black Horse Pike in Bellmawr.

No opening dates have been announced for any of these stores.

The company is adverting for 10 position titles in Magnolia, including shift leader, fuel attendant, beverage host, food service leader and customer service associate.

All positions listed are full-time, according to the job descriptions.

Watch out Wawa! Competitor building first N.J. stores

Each New Jersey store will employee about 50 people, with about 70 percent of those being full-time positions, Royal Farms officials previously noted. This is also the first state Royal Farms has entered where they will need to hire employees to pump gas.

Each location will include full-service gas stations and all are located near existing Wawa stores. While a Royal Farms spokeswoman declined to say if the company plans to challenge Wawa's Jersey dominance, "We think there is room for healthy competition," she said earlier this year.

The company is family owned and traces its roots back nearly a century. Current president John Kemp's grandfather began with a dairy business in Baltimore in 1918 and his father opened the first store 41 years later in that city.

Royal Farms now boasts 178 locations in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Virginia, and employs about 4,500.

Their newest store opened Thursday in Cape Charles, Virginia.

Efforts to reach Royal Farms officials for more details about their New Jersey plans were unsuccessful on Friday.

Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattGraySJT. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook.

It's a place for skinheads, Neo-Nazis and other white power groups to get there music and clothing.

CHERRY HILL TWP. -- In a nice suburb of Philadelphia, there is a business that sells white supremacist music, clothing and other racist and anti-semitic gear to people all over the world.

Micetrap Distribution LLC has become one of the largest distributors of white power materials in the country, according to a former law enforcement agent who monitored it.

The business is registered to Steven Wiegand, 45. Records show he grew up in Pennsauken, started his business in Maple Shade, and now lives on a sidestreet off of Route 70 in Cherry Hill.

And he's been hawking hate since the late 1990s, says Mark Pitcavage, a senior research fellow at the Anti-Defamation League's Center on Extremism.

"This is white supremacist propaganda," he said of Micetrap and similar sites. "Whether we're talking about the music or the clothing or the accessories, this is hate in a very pure form. It's anti-Semitism, it's anti-black hate, it's anti-immigrant. It helps glue these people together."

Wiegand did not respond for requests for comment. At some point Friday -- a day after the Philadelphia Inquirer published an article about him -- he posted a note on his doorbell saying he wouldn't talk, was video recording the property and would consider knocking to be harassment.

He told Inquirer reporter Tricia L. Nadolny that he is a businessman, not a white supremacist.

He made similar statements in a 2015 Facebook post about his business being named as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

"We are merely a business that offers for sale merchandise and music, items that can be found on hundreds and thousands of other websites, including Ebay and Amazon," he wrote. "As a business, we do not advocate anything and our customers and supporters are intelligent enough to form their own opinions and ideals."

Posts on his website and Facebook page tell a different story. He rails against Israel, calls immigrants "enemies" and says white "culture" is under attack. He called "white lives matter" a "motto for survival."

The website sells items ranging from "Stop race mixing" pins, to shirts celebrating Hitler or the Atlantic City Skinheads." There are countless albums from white power bands, with song names that, among other things, refer to the Holocaust as a good thing.

21 years and counting

Pitcavage said said groups in the white power movement die out quickly, as people leave and join new groups, or members disappear in in-fighting or to prisons.

"Micetrap is ancient by white supremacist terms," he said.

As far as white power retail operations go, Pitcavage said they generally fail because there are a limited number of people who will buy that kind of music and merchandise.

So why has Micetrap survived? "It's probably mostly been sticktoitiveness as well as the collapse of some of his competition," Pitcavage said.

The Southern Poverty Law Center featured Wiegand in a 2006 article on white power music.

It said that Wiegand's first foray into white supremacy was starting the White Pride Network at www.whitepride.com in 1996.

He started Micetrap two years later and was briefly a member of the National Alliance hate group, the article said.

He eventually took over 14 Word Press, the business the published the writings of white nationalist leader David Lane. Wiegand sold the site after The Courier-Post and The Burlington County Times published articles about him, according to court documents.

After the articles were published, he was fired from the convenience store he was managing in 2002, court documents show. He sued, a judge dismissed his first amendment claims, and he settled the final remaining count, in which he alleged his boss promised not to fire him if he sold 14 Word Press and took other steps.

Wiegand has had disputes with various white power bands, music labels and groups in his 20 years in the movement, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. He's been accused of bootlegging music and hacking other white supremacist sites, and has his own site protected by anti-hacking software.

Pitcavage said it's not strange that Wiegand has remained unaffiliated with a white supremacist group for most of years in the movement.

"Like a lot of people involved in white power music, he's had kind of dalliances with different groups," he said. Most white supremacists, he said, are not affiliated with a specific group.

Creating a 'soundtrack' 

Pitcavage said white power music originated from one white supremacist subculture, racist skinheads, in Great Britain.

Some of the music is completely focused on white power or anti-Semitism, while some songs are more subtle, Pitcavage said.

Micetrap not only sells racist music that is banned from iTunes or Spotify, it also has an online "radio" where people can stream the music.

White power music stores like Micetrap "occupy a unique place in the movement because the make the goods and the soundtrack," Pitcavage said.

The music is a common interest that helps create a subculture, which is key to making the people within it feel connected to one another and part of something, he said.

9 surprising NJ ties to the Confederacy

Running the business all those years can't be easy, Pitcavage said, because many companies don't want to do business with someone selling white power products. Wiegand complains about it on Micetrap's Facebook page.

Pitcavage made a fake account on Micetrap's online store and determined Wiegand only allows previous buyers to use Paypal. He said this is a move to prevent someone like him from making an account, buying something and then sharing the Paypal account info with Paypal so that the account could be shut down in accordance with the corporation's policy.

Wiegand is likely using an account in someone else's name, he said.

'Hate spreads fear'

Pitcavage said the Anti-Defamation League has done research on Wiegand over the years, even though he has no record of violent crimes like some white supremacists. 

"White supremacists who never engage in an act of violence are still a danger," he said. "White supremacy as an ideology is so poisonous it can tear apart communities. Spreading that hate spreads fear."

Wiegand told the Inquirer that his business has been growing steadily for four years, and Pitcavage said there's no reason to doubt it.

He said it coincides with the rise of the Alt-Right movement, a term for far righters who espouse racist and anti-Semitic views, which has been on the scene and growing in since 2012.

"It brought in a fair amount of new blood," he said.

It is also possible that all the recent headlines about white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia could boost Wiegand's business more, the researcher said. That's because the publicity can cause people who are already leaning towards white supremacy to seek out information on the movement and become indoctrinated.

"It gives them a chance to expand their movement," he said.

Micetrap will be there if any new white supremacists want to wear their racist beliefs, literally, on their sleeve. 

Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

One person was taken to Cooper Hospital early Saturday morning.

CAMDEN -- A fire at an abandoned home sent one person to the hospital early Saturday morning. 

According to a 6ABC report, the Camden Fire Department was dispatched around 4:45 a.m. to an abandoned house on the 2900 block of Westfield Avenue.

When firefighters entered the house, they found one person on the third floor and removed them from the fire. The person had to be taken to Cooper Hospital for smoke inhalation.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Chris Franklin can be reached at cfranklin@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @cfranklinnews. Find NJ.com on Facebook

It was the game where you controlled the action, sort of. In 1948, Norman Sas of Alpine, N.J., came up with a game that most every male child (and, some girls) played -- electric football. An employee at the Sas family company, Tudor Metal Products, had tinkered with vibrating electric games in the 1940s, but Sas' brainstorm of applying...

It was the game where you controlled the action, sort of.

In 1948, Norman Sas of Alpine, N.J., came up with a game that most every male child (and, some girls) played -- electric football.

An employee at the Sas family company, Tudor Metal Products, had tinkered with vibrating electric games in the 1940s, but Sas' brainstorm of applying it to football led to the development of a toy that remained popular into the 1980s.

It was a simple but ingenious concept, requiring almost no changes from its invention through the decades of sales that followed. Players with small plastic "brushes" on their bases were lined up on a metal playing field. When everything was set up, the flick of a switch started the field vibrating, making the players move forward, at least when the game was new.

Norman Sas, far right, in 1971 with electric football fans, including Pete Rozelle, second from left.Courtesy of Earl Shores and Roddy Garcia 

The play ended when a player on the defense came in contact with the ball carrier, the "ball " being a football-shaped piece of felt that fit in his plastic arm. The game itself often ended when player figures with older, worn-out bases began moving backward or in endless circles.

Over the years, the game evolved, with quarterbacks and their spring-loaded arms able to throw the ball (pass complete if it hit an eligible receiver) and spring-loaded kickers able to attempt field goals. Attachments that replicated scoreboards, clocks and even fans were included in later versions.

By 1967, Sas had signed a deal with the National Football League to add official team colors and logos. More than 40 million versions of the game were sold over the years with perhaps just as many little felt 'footballs' lost and eventually replaced with wadded-up paper.

Sas died in 2012, and was posthumously inducted into the Miniature Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

Greg Hatala may be reached at ghatala@starledger.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregHatala. Find Greg Hatala on Facebook.

The shelves of the PATCO lost and found have seen some things.

The crash happened in Cherry Hill late Saturday night

CHERRY HILL -- A 21-year-old Florida man died Saturday in a violent head-on collision on the New Jersey Turnpike when his Jeep SUV, traveling south in a northbound lane, smashed into another SUV, a state trooper said.

Michael Jones of Port Richey, Fla. was declared dead at the scene of the accident at mile post 33.2 here, Trooper Alejandro Goez said Sunday. The accident was reported at 11:30 p.m.

Jones allegedly smashed into a 2012 Hyundai Tucson driven by a 42-year-old man from Jersey City. He and his 32-year-old passenger, also of Jersey City, were taken by ambulance to Cooper University Hospital in Camden with non-life-threatening injuries, Goez said.

It was not immediately reported how Jones ended up traveling the wrong way on the turnpike, a toll road in which vehicles must travel through toll booths to enter.

The weather conditions were dry and clear. The northbound lanes were closed for an hour after the incident, Goez said. The accident remains under investigation.

Bill Duhart may be reached at bduhart@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @bduhart. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Both shootings were in Camden this month. Watch video

CAMDEN -- Authorities are looking for two men who are suspects in two separate shootings. Both were recorded in surveillance videos near the crime scenes that authorities released Sunday.

One incident occurred just after 2:30 a.m. on Aug. 12 in the area of 305 Broadway when a male victim was shot following a dispute with the alleged suspect, police said.

The suspect can be seen on surveillance video inside a store prior to the shooting. The condition of the victim was not immediately reported. 

The other incident occurred at 9:26 p.m. on Aug. 11, at the corner of 4^th and York streets when a male victim was shot in the arm. The suspect can be seen on surveillance video in a nearby store before the shooting and then getting into a car after the shooting.

Anyone with information about either man or incident should call the Camden County Police Department tip line at 856-757-7042.

The Deptford resident was last seen Saturday night in Gloucester Township.

James W. Busk, 80, of Deptford Township, was last seen Saturday evening. (Deptford Police Department)
 

DEPTFORD TWP. -- Police are asking for the public's help in locating a missing 80-year-old township man suffering from dementia.

James W. Busk was last seen Saturday evening around 6 p.m. as he left the Favorites at Gloucester Township off-track wagering and sports bar on Blackwood-Clementon Road, police said.

He was walking toward Route 42.

His family reported him missing several hours later.

Busk is in the early stages of dementia, his family told police.

He is 6 feet 3 inches tall and walks with a "very distinct hunch," according to police.

Busk was last seen wearing a white polo short, khaki pants and black sneakers.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to contact Deptford Police at 856-845-6300. Detective Robert Jones is handling the investigation.

Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattGraySJT. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook.

The solar eclipse today -- Monday, August. 21, 2017 (8/21/2017) -- will mean different things in different parts of the country. This map shows the eclipse's projected path and a searchable cloud cover forecast. Use this map to check cloud cover along the path of the solar eclipse. Watch video

How to use this 2017 solar eclipse map and forecast: Click on any location included in the map for more information when it's time to view the solar eclipse of 2017. Our eclipse viewing map was last updated Monday morning and you can use it today when it's time to view the eclipse.

The Great American Eclipse -- or 2017 solar eclipse, if you prefer -- has clear viewing winners and losers now that we have a forecast for Monday. 

Data from the National Weather Service shows that the pacific northwest, the northeast (including New Jersey) and parts of Appalachia will likely be the prime spots to watch the complete solar eclipse on Monday, with mainly sunny skies expected to prevail. 

Things get iffy across the Great Plains and southeast, where significant cloud cover could provide an extra -- and unwanted -- layer of obstruction to the celestial show.  

Using tens of thousands of data points from the National Weather Service, NJ Advance Media compiled an interactive map (above) that shows what percent of the sky is expected to be obscured by clouds on the afternoon of Aug. 21.

The eclipse will be visible across the United States from about 10:15 a.m. to about 4 p.m., depending on your location. In New Jersey, the eclipse will begin at 1:22 p.m., reach is maximum obscuration (about 75 percent of the sun will be covered) at 2:45 p.m. and come to an end around 4 p.m.

Whether you're traveling for the eclipse or just staying home, use the map above to see how the forecast for the big day evolves.

23 great spots to watch the solar eclipse in N.J.: A statewide guide

Just some of the thousands of pets in need of adoption in New Jersey.

There's summer heat, and then there's oppressive summer heat.

While we do everything we can to keep ourselves cool, it's important to remember our pets as well.

"If it's hot to you it's just as hot for your dog or cat, and probably even worse," said John Gickling, a board certified veterinarian in emergency and critical care. "We're better equipped to handle the heat because we perspire."

Some tips on making sure your pets can deal with excessive heat:

* If you walk your dog, pick the coolest time of the day, follow a shady route and bring water for your pet.

* Older pets, overweight animals and dogs with short snouts suffer more in high heat.

* If your pet is outdoors, make sure it has a cool place to lay and that water is always available. Avoid taking your pets anywhere that has concrete or blacktop until temperatures normalize.

* Dogs may be overheating if they can't get up, aren't alert or can't stop panting. If you suspect overheating, hose your dog off but never use ice water, which worsens the situation. If this doesn't work, a visit to a veterinarian is important.

Greg Hatala may be reached at ghatala@starledger.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregHatala. Find Greg Hatala on Facebook.

Nearly 50,000 people donated to the state university over the last year.

Today is the day, New Jersey. On Monday, August 21, 2017 (8/21/17) the solar eclipse will mean different things, depending where in the country you're watching. In New Jersey, we'll get about 75 percent of the show. Here's more on how to watch, when the eclipse will happen, what to do if you don't have glasses, and the best places to see the solar show.

The Great American Solar Eclipse happens today, Monday, August 21, 2017 (8/21/17). If you're curious about how to watch the eclipse, what you'll see, what happens if you look at the eclipse without proper glasses or eye protection, or if you have any other questions, use this guide to get the answers you need.