The Luke Wenke Files

During a court hearing that took place on July 30th, 2024 at the Robert H. Jackson federal courthouse in Buffalo, New York, the Honorable John L. Sinatra, Jr. ordered cyberstalker Luke Wenke to undergo a competency evaluation. The decision was made in response to the defense’s request for the evaluation, which ultimately constituted just one of numerous court-ordered assessments that Luke Wenke underwent throughout the duration of his case.

By then, Wenke had already finished serving prison time for his cyberstalking conviction, but had landed back in custody for contacting several of his victims in violation of protective orders and court-imposed contact bans. He had pleaded guilty to one out of five violation charges in November 2023, thanks to this country’s trash plea-bargaining system, and was awaiting sentencing when his mental state landed at the center of the case.

Concerns surrounding Wenke’s mental health stemmed primarily from the dozens of rambling, seemingly half-coherent letters he sent to the court (including to judges uninvolved in his case), along with his continued unwanted correspondence toward his victims, which included letters he sent FROM JAIL to the family of his romantic obsession in violation of a state-issued protective order. Wenke also continued to contact me during that time, even though the judge had banned him from doing so, by having a fellow inmate call me from jail and by directly addressing me in some of his letters to the court, which he knew damn well were being uploaded to the publicly-accessible PACER database.

“Why won’t Luke Wenke just stop?”

It’s a question that almost anyone who’s been harassed or stalked by Luke Wenke has probably wondered. The court and the parties involved in Luke Wenke’s case also tried to figure out why he refuses his victims alone, but the only solid information I think anyone gleaned is that Wenke has zero plans to stop. In addition to overlooking a lot of things that I think Wenke should’ve been held accountable for, the judge seemed intent on reaching a treatment-based resolution to the case as an alternative to incarceration. I thought he was being irrationally optimistic, and I’d argue that my prediction has since proven correct.

Following the hearing, Wenke was flown to Chicago, courtesy of Con Air, for his competency evaluation. He spent around 45 days under observation at the MCC Chicago federal detention facility, where forensic psychologists Dr. Kaitlyn Nelson and Dr. Robin Watkins concluded that he was, in fact, competent to proceed with his case. But questions would still linger regarding his mental health, further prolonging the already painstakingly drawn-out case.