The Luke Wenke Files

In late January of 2022, the FBI arrested Luke Wenke in Olean, New York on suspicion of cyberstalking and making interstate threats. The criminal complaint near the bottom of this page contains specific details about his alleged crimes.

Luke Wenke’s “Ryan Obsession”

According to the FBI’s criminal complaint, Luke Wenke developed a “possibly-romantic obsession” with a man (referred to on this website interchangeably as “Benjamin” and/or “Ryan”) who was arrested on federal terrorism charges in 2020. Benjamin/Ryan was accused (and later convicted) of providing material support to an undercover agent posing as a member of Hamas during the protests that took place in Minneapolis following the murder of George Floyd.

Following Benjamin/Ryan’s arrest in September 2020, Wenke made multiple unsuccessful attempts to contact him while he was in pretrial detention. In the meantime, Wenke began emailing Benjamin/Ryan’s defense attorney (referred to in court documents and on this website as “Victim 1″/R.G.), who asked for no further contact, citing attorney-client privilege.

Ignoring Victim 1’s repeated requests for no contact, Wenke continued to contact Victim 1 against his wishes over a 14-month period. Wenke’s communications grew increasingly hostile over time as he became convinced that Victim 1 was not adequately representing Ryan/Benjamin. It also seemed apparent that Wenke blamed Victim 1 for his inability to get in touch with Ryan/Benjamin.

On several occasions, Luke Wenke allegedly threatened to continue harassing Victim 1 until Ryan/Benjamin’s legal situation was fixed to Wenke’s liking. Wenke was also accused of threatening to drive from Olean, NY to Victim 1’s Minneapolis office and “scare the shit” out of him, and on one occasion he attempted to visit Victim 1 at his business but was turned away by security. Additionally, Wenke allegedly threatened to take a steel chair to Victim 1’s face while targeting him with an antisemitic slur and calling him other derogatory names.

The complaint also states that Wenke threatened to “tank” Victim 1’s business ratings by submitting false negative reviews online, while further alleging that Wenke purchased equipment from a gun parts dealer in the months leading up to his arrest in a suspected attempt to convert a firearm into an assault rifle.

Luke Wenke’s Arrest

As the complaint below states, Luke Wenke continued to harass Victim 1 even after an FBI agent called him on the phone and told him to stop and that he was scaring people. The unwanted correspondence continued, and in late January of 2022, FBI agents arrested Luke Wenke in Olean, New York on suspicion of federal cyberstalking and interstate threats charges.

Following his arrest, Wenke was remanded without bail to the Niagara County Jail in Lockport, New York, where he remained until late summer of that year, when he was transferred to FCI Allenwood in Pennsylvania to begin serving an 18-month prison sentence. The punishment came following Wenke’s guilty plea in April 2022 to cyberstalking in exchange for the dismissal of the interstate threats charge.

The PDF viewer below contains the FBI’s criminal complaint against Luke Wenke (Doc. #1), followed by a speedy trial order (Doc. #3) and a judge’s order detaining Wenke without bail (Doc. #5). In the detention order (Doc. #5), U.S. Magistrate Judge H. Kenneth Schroeder, Jr. stated that he was denying bail after determining that “there are no reasonable terms and conditions that I could impose that would reasonably assure the safety of the community or the safety of individuals in the community.”

USA v. Luke Wenke | 1:22-cr-00035
January 2022

CASE #1:22-cr-00035, DOCS. #1, 3, & 5