FAQ About Luke Wenke

When was Luke Wenke originally arrested and why?

On January 28, 2022, Luke Wenke was arrested in Olean, New York by the FBI on suspicion of cyberstalking and making interstate threats. The victim was identified as a Minnesota-based criminal defence attorney (sometimes referred to in court documents as R.G.) who was representing a defendant (who I’ll call Ryan throughout this website) whom Wenke has been romantically obsessed with since 2020.

According to the federal government’s criminal complaint against Wenke, he was dissatisfied with R.G.’s representation of Ryan.

As someone who had a front row seat to Wenke’s side of the situation, I feel comfortable saying that he had other grievances as well, which were not detailed in court documents. Wenke blamed R.G. and Ryan’s parents for his inability to contact Ryan, who was in jail amid his own criminal proceedings. Wenke’s letters to Ryan had started getting sent back to his house, and he believed the attorney and Ryan’s family were “keeping them apart.” Additionally, Wenke was upset because he was not privy to the details of Ryan’s case.

Wenke blatantly disrespected the victim’s repeated requests for no contact, made at least one violent threat against him, posted false one-star reviews under fake names in an attempt to ruin the victim’s business rating, mailed physical letters (including one with a Google view of the man’s home and another impersonating Carl Paladino), and even drove 900+ miles to Minnesota in an attempt to visit the victim in person, despite knowing the victim wanted no contact.

What happened with the case?

In March 2022, Luke Wenke was indicted on federal charges of cyberstalking and making interstate threats. He pleaded guilty to cyberstalking the following month and the interstate threat charge was dropped. The judge sentenced Wenke to 18 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release.

Wenke served his time at the Federal Correctional Complex, Allenwood (FCC Allenwood) in White Deere, Pennsylvania. He was released on March 31, 2023.

So isn’t the case over, then?

Within six weeks of his release from federal prison, Luke Wenke was charged with violating his supervised release by indirectly contacting his cyberstalking victim (the Minnesota attorney). Meanwhile, other victims began to seek restraining orders and assistance from law enforcement. Consequently, the judge banned Wenke from contacting several people, including myself. However, Wenke continued to contact victims in violation of these bans, including myself. In October 2023, he was charged with multiple probation violations in connection with the alleged repeated unwanted contact.

In November 2023, Wenke pleaded guilty to one violation charge. Four other violation charges were dropped, and he’s been in presentencing detention ever since (minus a week on ankle bracelet in December 2023). Throughout 2024 and early 2025, Wenke underwent several psychiatric evaluations as part of the court process to determine competency, which was imposed due to mental health concerns. He was declared competent in November 2024, but the court believes he may be suffering from a mental “disease or defect” warranting inpatient psychiatric treatment. As things currently stand, the court is in the process of deciding what type of facility, if any, is most appropriate for Wenke.

Oh, so he’s locked away. What’s the problem?

Because nobody has seen Wenke in a long time, many people seem to think he’s been tossed into some medieval chamber and that the authorities have thrown away the key. That’s not the case. As stated in the previous paragraph, Wenke’s case is delayed by the notoriously long competency process. He is not facing hard prison time.

I’m not qualified to advise anyone on Wenke’s legal matters, including how the competency process works, so I highly recommend doing your own research or consulting with people involved in the case (anyone can call the court). But from my understanding, even if the court decides to put Wenke in a “facility” for mental treatment, it does not mean he will stay there indefinitely. I believe the goal would be to restore him to competency so that the case can finally proceed with sentencing – and, like I said, Wenke is not facing hard time. I therefore don’t know what the end picture looks like, especially if he’s ultimately declared unrestorable (this is a question I’ve asked qualified parties MANY times, but I haven’t gotten a straight answer).

So, what’s the problem, you ask? I believe it’s highly likely (if not definite) that Wenke will end up back in the free world at some point, possibly in the relatively near future. I do not think he will stop stalking or harassing people, no matter what rules he is required to follow.

In my opinion, Wenke has been undercharged and under-convicted for his crimes, and has been treated with far too much sympathy. He knows the difference between right and wrong, and he knowingly chooses to do wrong. He has no respect for the law or for humanity, period, on even a baseline level. I am powerless to impact the court process, so at this point I’m buckling up and telling others to do the same, because there’s no telling what the future might hold. I really don’t think this situation will end well.

Can you go into more detail about why you’re dissatisfied with Luke Wenke’s case?

This list is unfortunately getting longer as time goes on. I’ll try to limit it to the most important bullet points.

1. In my opinion, Luke Wenke’s charges (or lack thereof) do not reflect his actions. And I accept that he’ll never be charged to an extent that does reflect his actions (if you’re unfamiliar with the Topix saga, this will help you understand how long he’s been tormenting people), but I think more legal action could legitimately be taken. No, that’s not good enough.

2. Jail and prison are two different things. Luke Wenke is in jail. He is not away for a specified amount of time. He’s waiting to resolve his case, leading to indefinite delays. I have no clue when he’ll be released, so I don’t exactly sit easy while he’s in jail, especially when court rolls around, which is fairly often. Moreover, I don’t necessarily want Wenke to be thrown in a cell and locked away forever. He’s not facing hard time, so I already know that won’t happen. I want accountability, and I think it’s lacking in this case (yes, despite him being in jail).

3. Luke Wenke has never faced state-level charges for harassing or stalking me, and I think he should. Due to New York’s laws, I cannot get a state-issued order of protection against Wenke in the absence of criminal charges. Even the police have conceded that what he’s doing to me is extremely wrong and scary, but they won’t charge him (they’ve given various reasons, which I can dive into in another blog). No, that’s not good enough.

4. Luke Wenke has only been charged once for violating the judge’s ban on contacting me, despite contacting me numerous times, and that one charge was dropped. No, that’s not good enough. 

5. As previously mentioned, Luke Wenke treats Pacer as an extension of the shit-talking platforms he uses when he’s not in jail. He knowingly spreads harmful, harassing, intimidating, and slanderous statements about people through this publicly accessible database. The authorities refuse to take these letters down or to stop letting this go on. No, that’s not good enough.

6. I’ve consistently sought information on the case from the designated point of contact (especially regarding the mental health proceedings that Wenke is undergoing). I understand that the feds are busy and can’t dedicate copious amounts of time to these conversations. But they flat-out do not respond a lot of the time, which leaves me in the dark and forces me to try figuring out the legal aspects of the case on my own (despite having no legal expertise). No, that’s not good enough.

7. I’m not just a victim. I’m also a witness in Luke Wenke’s case, and I feel completely thrown to the wolves. I was slated to testify at Wenke’s trial before he took an eleventh-hour plea deal. No promises were made to me, and I didn’t expect anything major. But what they didn’t tell me is that once they got what they wanted out of me, they’d toss me to the side with zero protective measures whatsoever. For example, I thought they’d intervene if the defendant caused severe psychological damage or valid safety concerns, but the investigative agency did not seem to give a flying you-know-what.

   I did the right thing and it has only made my life worse, because it put a bigger target on me and Wenke has not been held accountable for his actions against me. No, that’s not good enough — for me or any other civilian. Because I understand now why people don’t talk, and that’s a bad look for any agency that claims to prioritise society’s safety.

   I was raised to trust law enforcement, and I still want to trust them. But that trust has been fractured, and that’s disappointing. I don’t like feeling this way.

FAQ About My Connections to Luke Wenke

Who am I/How am I connected to Luke Wenke?

I met Luke Wenke at a karate class in Olean, New York in 2011. We were close platonic friends for many years. Our friendship ended after his arrest in early 2022, and he’s [allegedly] been stalking, slandering, and harassing me ever since in an apparent attempt to destroy my life. He has also [allegedly] falsely accused me of numerous crimes on many occasions, including harassment, grand theft auto, theft, financial crimes, trespassing, burglary, and fraud.

Why did your friendship with Luke Wenke end?

I ended the friendship in March 2022 (less than two months after Wenke’s arrest) because I felt verbally abused, bossed around, and routinely disrespected. I had started feeling this way in 2019, when his anger began to escalate noticeably, but I had been scared to end the friendship. Luke Wenke kept a lot of secrets from me about the extent of his harassment toward others, but I knew enough to know that I didn’t want to become his next target.

The final straw came when Wenke advertised me as a prostitute to a fellow inmate at the Niagara County Jail and gave him my phone number and name — almost immediately after I had told Wenke NOT to give my information to detainees.

Knowing Wenke’s tendency to overshare, I had warned him in an extremely stern manner, which should have made him aware that he was risking our friendship if he violated this clearly drawn boundary. And he went ahead and did it anyway. I was done after that, especially since I felt like I had already tolerated way more disrespect than the average person would put up with from a so-called “friend.”

Please note that this is just one of many instances that contributed to my decision to end the friendship. This particular incident was essentially the “straw that broke the camel’s back.”

I admittedly should’ve walked away when I first wanted to, but I don’t think it would’ve changed what happened afterward. I would’ve still become one of Wenke’s prime targets, just as I had predicted. The only way I think Wenke’s campaign against me could have been mitigated was if I had remained uninvolved with a certain law enforcement agency that investigated him, or if I had refused to handle some of his outside affairs (namely his car) while he was in jail. But I think he would’ve likely found other reasons to come after me, so I think the current picture would’ve been the same either way.

Do you talk to Luke Wenke?

No. I mailed him a “cease and desist” letter three years ago. Since then, I have not reached out to him. The only times I responded to him were to beg him to leave me alone (mainly so I could prove to the police that he knows I want zero contact — which, of course, wasn’t good enough). I have consistently blocked all known channels of communication — including the phone numbers of his many jails — and will continue to do so moving forward.

My no-contact policy toward Wenke will never change, regardless of his custody situation. I will never, ever, ever respond to him or interact with him (either directly or through a third party), even if he is released and tries to contact this website. He will not get the kind of attention he craves from me or commandeer this platform for himself.

FAQ About This Website

Why did you make this webpage?

Multiple reasons, which are listed in order of importance:

1. Making information available/raising awareness

I’ll never know whether I would’ve still befriended Luke Wenke if I had any conception of his true colours or what was to come. But I wish I had known more than I did. I therefore think it’s right to share what I know with others. People also seem to inaccurately believe that Wenke is gone forever and not coming back, so I wanted to provide some resources regarding his case that are easier and less cumbersome to navigate than official government websites.

More specifically, nobody knows what Luke Wenke’s limits are or how far he’ll go in his efforts to ruin lives or seek retribution for perceived wrongs. He has repeatedly failed to obey court orders to leave people alone, and his behaviour has escalated dramatically over the last 12-plus years. I think people deserve to know about the situation, especially if they’re at high risk of becoming a target or likely to end up living in close proximity to him in the future. How anyone chooses to use this information (or not) is their business, but if something extreme happened and I hadn’t shared it, I’d regret not sharing it.

(Please note that I harbour strong negative opinions about Luke Wenke. You should therefore not consider this webpage to be an unbiased source unless you’re completely ignoring my writing and referring exclusively to official documents. I’ll always strive to distinguish between fact and opinion in my writings, and I’m always willing to clarify.)

2. I was tired of feeling alone.

Since the beginning of this mess (and until very recently), I stayed off every social media platform except Instagram (in a very limited capacity). I did this at the suggestion of law enforcement officials from various agencies, who told me (over and over and over and over and over and over) that Wenke’s stalking and harassment would “eventually stop” if I made myself as inaccessible as possible.

It didn’t work, and nearly three years on, I started to realise just how badly the situation affected my mental health. My silence was hurting me more than it was helping. I’m not the same person I was at the beginning of all this, and some of the damage stems from the self-imposed isolation I endured in my efforts to make Wenke’s torment stop. Simply put, it was time to try a new coping strategy.

I knew I wasn’t the only victim, and I wanted to connect with people who can relate to my experience (both specifically and in a more general sense). But without being able to network, I was essentially cut off from the world. I figured that going public would be a quick and easy way to find supportive new friends, and it’s proven to be true.

3. I deserve to tell my story.

No one has forced Luke Wenke to shut his trap. Ever. Literally. I strongly believe he writes letters to the court knowing they’re posted on Pacer and are therefore publicly accessible. Pacer is essentially serving as an extension of the social media pages he bashes me incessantly on when he’s not in jail. And no one is stopping him from doing it, which makes his behaviour seem (in my opinion) government-sanctioned, as if he has their blessing. It’s beyond insulting.

Yet, as a victim, I feel like I’m expected to stay silent at all times in order to maintain my credibility. That if I dare show that I’m human, it’ll somehow mean that I retroactively provoked the last three years of harassment.

But why? Luke Wenke has proven that even if I’m silent, he’s not going to leave me alone or let me live in peace. Might as well get a word in edgewise and at least have the dignity that comes with standing up for myself. Moreover, why should he get away with running his victims’ names into the ground but be completely immune to having it happen to him?

I knew I would probably piss off some people involved in his case by going public, but as long as Luke Wenke gets to ramble limitlessly and without consequence (especially on a government web platform), any expectations for me to be silent would be unfair and unequal.

4. I’m taking Wenke’s ammo away from him.

Until now, I allowed Wenke (and the Foot Soldier) to intimidate me into silence. On the rare occasion I dared to vent on Instagram, they somehow found out (must’ve had a spy on my page) and blew a gasket, to the point where I got scared and deleted the post (even if I did not mention Wenke’s name in it). Meanwhile, Wenke assassinated my character and lifestyle, degraded me in sexually explicit ways, spread bullshit rumours, and tried falsely getting me in trouble to his heart’s content.

I don’t think Wenke expected me to ever grow a backbone, but there was absolutely no benefit to staying silent. He didn’t shut up about me or stop trying to ruin my life. Again, might as well at least defend myself. Plus, by openly sharing the horrific things he says about me, I’m taking away his ammo. He seems to think I’m terrified of this crap being discovered. And for a while, I was. And to tell the truth, I’d still prefer for it not to be on Pacer, because it’s humiliating and cruel, and it rewards Wenke.

But I know I’m a good person, so fuck it. Fine. Let’s put it all out there. Now, at the very very least, he can’t dangle it over my head in a threatening manner. This is also the only way I can think of to take what little agency I have in this situation and use it to show that I’m no longer going to be intimidated or mowed down.

(Interesting how he suddenly has a problem with negative talk about myself being shared now that I’m the one doing it.)

Are you sure this isn’t about revenge or to provoke Wenke?

Positive. Luke Wenke is in jail. He’s been in jail for over 14 months, and last I checked, inmates cannot freely browse the web. He is not my intended audience. This website isn’t for him. He’d enjoy that too much, and he’s not welcome here. 

I don’t have to do anything to provoke Wenke. My mere existence seems to provoke him.

As a largely tech-illiterate person, building a website was a complicated and time-consuming endeavour, and I embarked on it after losing untold amounts of time (and, therefore, money) self-advocating in other, arguably less effective ways. If I didn’t truly believe in the validity, purpose, and respectability of what I’m doing, I wouldn’t do it. Creating a website to piss someone off would not be worth the investment of effort that this type of project requires from someone with no web developing experience.

Additionally, I’m a private person. Going public with my story was a difficult and scary decision because it unavoidably requires me to sacrifice some privacy. I was incredibly hesitant, and even uncomfortable, with putting myself out there like this, which meant that the payoff had to be worth it. Again, not a price I’d pay just to taunt or one-up someone.

Luke loves attention. Don’t you think he’ll enjoy the attention he gets from this?

No. Definitely not. He isn’t controlling the narrative, and the truth is coming out. I don’t think he likes this at all. But once again, this site isn’t for him, and by focusing so heavily on his potential reaction to it, you are giving him undeserved power.