On October 3, 2023, federal authorities arrested Luke Wenke on suspicion of violating federal probation. Prosecutors accused him of repeatedly contacting victims despite being banned from doing so.
Wenke faced five violation charges, including three counts for sending letters to the family he was being detained for contacting. The other two counts were for contacting his OG victim (the Minnesota lawyer) and myself.
(Note: in saying “OG victim,” I’m referring to the man Wenke served prison time for stalking. I’m wording extremely carefully here, but let’s just say that I know Wenke’s obsessive and harassing behaviours started long before this case.)
The Madness Continues from Behind Bars
As this document shows, Wenke was accused of sending one letter to Ryan’s father and two to Ryan’s mother (including one that was almost entirely about me). He also allegedly forged my signature in letters to Ryan’s family and the Minnesota lawyer.
At the time, Ryan’s father had a no-contact order of protection against Wenke issued out of the state where the family lives. As a condition of Wenke’s probation, the judge required him to abide by all protective orders against him, including those issued by non-federal courts. Prior to his arrest for these violations, the judge had specifically banned Wenke from contacting Ryan’s family. But Wenke seemed to believe that third-party contact was allowed, as he pointed out in this letter to the judge, stating:
“I know you know very well I have been doing the ‘Only Lauren [last name]’ letter thing. It is not illegal in one way shape or another [illegible] after re-reading legal paperwork from Frank Passafiume, but I am remembering former Congress candidate Nate McMurray’s brother Todd McMurray screaming at his mother on the phone at Niagara County Jail even though she had an order of protection against him and the judge felt bad anyways.”
One Conviction, FOUR Dropped Charges.
On November 7, 2023, Luke Wenke pleaded guilty to one violation charge for contacting Ryan’s family. The judge dropped the four other charges, including the violations for contacting the Minnesota lawyer and myself, making it easy to understand why Wenke thinks he’s above the law. (Prior to this batch of charges, he had been found guilty of one previous violation for contacting a victim just weeks after his prison release, bringing the grand total of violation convictions to two out of six charges.)
Wenke remained at the Cattaraugus County Jail for another month before the judge released him on an ankle monitor while awaiting sentencing. He landed back in custody just six days later, with a docket entry from December 14 stating:
After hearing argument from the parties and probation, Court finds that there are no longer any conditions or combination of conditions that will reasonably assure the safety of the community and orders the defendant detained pending sentencing.
From my understanding, plans for Wenke’s court-mandated mental health treatment fell through. Wenke’s online behaviour wa also likely a factor, as evidenced by some emails that were exchanged among those tasked with monitoring Wenke’s social media posts..
Wenke’s Jail Records
The records below show that Wenke sent 37 letters from the Cattaraugus County Jail over a roughly two-month period. He sent five letters to his public defenders, while four went to the judge overseeing his case. Another letter was addressed to “Andrew, Krystie, Matt, David.” Andrew and Krystie are the names of the two FBI agents who led the original investigation into Wenke’s activities, and I’m guessing Matt and David are also government employees.
Wenke sent the remaining 27 letters to civilians, including three to the female stalking victim I mentioned earlier in this article, some relatives, a public official (who Wenke has obsessively Tweeted about in the past), and someone who very openly dislikes Wenke.
The recipients also include one of the only non-relatives (if not the only relative) who remained loyal to Wenke in recent years. The man passed away last year, further reducing the ever-dwindling number of people who remain close with Luke.
Wenke’s mail log shows a large volume of outgoing letters while incoming mail trickled in at best. He received just six pieces of mail, including four letters from his public defenders and two from his godmother.
Other Stuff
The records below include Wenke’s booking sheet, which lists his height as 5’8″. I’ve seen other records listing his height as 5’8″, but last I checked, I was 5’8″ and several inches taller than Wenke. The sheet lists Wenke’s religion as Baptist, which strikes me as odd for several reasons. I only recall Wenke practising a seemingly half-made-up, concocted brand of Catholicism crossed with his interpretation of witchcraft.
The records also consist of information about why Wenke was in jail (federal remand without bail), a disclaimer about his rights under PREA (the Prison Rape Elimination Act), and a list of jail-issued items he received upon being booked into custody.
