Florida resident John Lucki faces a kidnapping charge for allegedly taking his 14-year-old daughter from Manville in July.
Mr. Lucki, 39, of Hallandale, has been in Florida for about 12 years, police said.
On Wednesday, Aug. 1, the Manville Police Department was notified of a missing 14-year-old resident they identified with the initials N.R. by her mother, identified by initials G.R.
They learned that on Thursday, July 26, the missing teenager was the subject of arrangements between her mother and Mr. Lucki, who was reported to be the father, to have the teen travel with a relative to the wake of Mr. Lucki’s mother in Massachusetts, with the understanding that she was to be returned to her mother in Manville after the services.
The father and daughter returned to New Jersey for additional funeral services for the girl’s grandmother, said Prosecutor Geoffrey Soriano, who added that Mr. Lucki made it clear in telephone conversations, cell phone voicemails and text messages that he had no intention of returning the teen to her mother.
On or about Aug. 2, Mr. Lucki began leaving messages for the mother, threatening to kill her and harm the teen, police said. On Aug. 3, an arrest warrant was issued for Mr. Lucki, charging him with terroristic threats in the third degree.
Detectives placed the warrant into the National Crime Information Center and worked with law enforcement in Florida and Massachusetts.
Police said Mr. Lucki’s cell phone records indicated that he was in Georgia on Aug. 3, before police were informed of him being in Illinois on Aug. 9. The Hoffman Estates (Ill.) Police Department located Mr. Lucki and the girl, who was with him. She was taken into protective custody.
Mr. Lucki was lodged at the Cook County Jail in Chicago on the warrant from Somerset County. On Aug. 10, he agreed to extradition back to Somerset County. The unharmed missing 14-year-old was reunited with her mother.
On Thursday, Aug. 23, Somerset detectives accompanied Mr. Lucki back to New Jersey and placed him in the Somerset County Jail.
Mr. Lucki has been additionally charged with first-degree kidnapping and interference with custody, second degree.
Detectives from the Manville department, the Somerset Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Squad, and the N.J. State Police Missing Person’s Unit conducted the investigation.

