Mayor Of Longport Speaks Out After 'Missing' Boater Turns Himself In

By Cleve Bryan

LONGPORT, NJ (CBS) – Longport Mayor Nick Russo is furious.

He was with rescuers in the middle of the night last July looking for Andrew Biddle after a pontoon boat Biddle was allegedly in crashed on the rocks behind Longport.

On Thursday, Biddle turned himself in to authorities with no explanation where he's been all these months.

"I wasn't totally shocked, but I can't help but think this was just an unconscionable act, if this is true, that this accident was actually staged," says Russo.

He points out that while all the fire and police personnel were busy looking for Biddle, they were in a bad position had there been a real emergency.

"I commend the people that worked on this, that put their lives at stake to try to rescue someone who was non-existent," says Russo.

Mayor Russo says he'll pursue charges against both Biddle and friend Justin Belz if they did conspire to stage the boating accident.