{"id":95229,"date":"2026-01-09T22:02:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T22:02:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/95229\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T22:02:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T22:02:23","slug":"malliotakis-speaks-with-state-department-about-staten-island-resident-reportedly-detained-in-venezuela-source","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/95229\/","title":{"rendered":"Malliotakis speaks with State Department about Staten Island resident reportedly detained in Venezuela: Source"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 Rep. Nicole Malliotakis spoke with Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday regarding a Staten Island resident reportedly detained in Venezuela<\/a>, a source familiar with the matter told the Advance\/SILive.com.<\/p>\n

James Luckey-Lange, 28, has been missing since early December, according to his family. At the time of his disappearance, he was traveling in South America.<\/p>\n

The New York Times<\/a> reported Luckey-Lange was detained by security forces while meeting local musicians shortly after he crossed into southern Venezuela from Brazil in December, a source familiar with the issue told the publication.<\/p>\n

While it has been reported that Luckey-Lange is in the custody of Venezuela\u2019s military counterintelligence, the State Department was unable to provide Malliotakis, a Republican representing Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn, with information on Luckey-Lange\u2019s whereabouts due to privacy protections, the source told the Advance\/SILive.com.<\/p>\n

It was the source\u2019s belief that the department was speaking directly with the family of Luckey-Lange.<\/p>\n

As of Friday afternoon, Luckey-Lange\u2019s aunt, Abbie Luckey, has not heard from authorities on her nephew\u2019s situation.<\/p>\n

Luckey-Lange is reportedly among a handful of Americans recently detained<\/a> by Venezuelan forces.<\/p>\n

\"JamesJames Luckey-Lange, 28, a Staten Island resident, is being detained in Venezuela, according to reports.(Photo courtesy of Eva Aridjis-Fuentes)<\/p>\n

While some of the detainees face legitimate criminal charges, Luckey-Lange is one of two detainees that the U.S. government was considering designating as wrongfully detained, a U.S. official familiar with the matter told the Times.<\/p>\n

Among the arrested are three Venezuelan-American dual passport holders and two American citizens with no known ties to the country.<\/p>\n

The latest news of Luckey-Lange\u2019s whereabouts came on Monday, two days after U.S. armed forces seized Nicol\u00e1s Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, on federal drug trafficking charges. Maduro, who calls himself the president of Venezuela, is not recognized by the U.S. as the country\u2019s legitimate head of state.<\/p>\n

Traveling abroad since 2022<\/p>\n

Luckey-Lange is the son of musician Diane Luckey, who went by the stage name Q Lazzarus. Luckey was particularly known for her 1988 hit song \u201cGoodbye Horses,\u201d an iconic tune featured in the Oscar-winning film \u201cThe Silence of the Lambs.\u201d Later in life, she worked as a Staten Island bus driver. Luckey died in 2022<\/a> at the age of 60.<\/p>\n

Luckey-Lange had an interest in South America and decided to travel the continent after his mother\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wanted to see the countryside and explore,\u201d Abbie, Diane\u2019s sister, previously told the Advance\/SILive.com. \u201cHis mother, when he was a kid, had told him stories of how she loved Honduras when she went and so he decided to go and see what she was actually talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Luckey-Lange is not a citizen of any country in South America and the family does not have roots in Honduras, according to his 74-year-old aunt.<\/p>\n

Last year, during Luckey-Lange\u2019s trip, his father died.<\/p>\n

Missing since December<\/p>\n

Luckey-Lange traveled between several countries while on this trip, but still kept contact with his aunt. Every Sunday he would make sure to give her a call.<\/p>\n

Abbie, a New Jersey resident, last spoke to her nephew on Dec. 8, 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd he had told me that he was preparing to come home,\u201d said Abbie. \u201cHe was going into Caracas to get a flight out.\u201d<\/p>\n

As reported by the New York Times, it is unclear if Luckey-Lange had a visa to enter Venezuela.<\/p>\n

The plan was for Luckey-Lange to join the rest of the family for a cruise just before Christmas. The trip is an annual tradition for the family and a way for them to honor Abbie\u2019s mother, as well as Diane, whose birthday is in December.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter we returned from the cruise we were all in shock because we knew something had happened to James,\u201d Abbie explained. \u201cEither he had injured himself while he was in the Amazon [jungle] or he was detained, so we started really getting worried.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abbie did not know anything regarding her nephew\u2019s whereabouts until a New York Times reporter informed her of the possibility that he was being held in Venezuela.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very concerning to me because we don\u2019t know who is going to take over the regime or take over the power there and what his thoughts are on American citizens,\u201d Abbie told the Advance\/SILive.com following the capture of Maduro. \u201cSo it\u2019s very concerning, it\u2019s really up in the air, we don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI want them [U.S. officials] to at least acknowledge that he\u2019s there, let us know that they know that he is there and how are they proceeding in getting him home. And also, if he\u2019s safe, where he is,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 Rep. Nicole Malliotakis spoke with Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday regarding a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":95230,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-95229","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95229\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}