Luke Wenke Partially Regains His Freedom
In December 2023, Luke Wenke was released from the Cattaraugus County Jail on a GPS ankle monitor while awaiting sentencing for a supervised release violation conviction. The device was programmed to alert the authorities immediately if he went within a specified distance of certain victims’ homes.
In addition to the rules, restrictions, and requirements previously set forth by the court, the judge imposed additional conditions, which are detailed in the following document:
103 – Order Setting Conditions of Release
Psychiatric Evaluation
The judge ordered Luke Wenke to immediately report to Erie County Medical Center upon his release and request a psychiatric evaluation. It would later be revealed that ECMC is not equipped to provide the type of in-depth analysis that the court was seeking, and that its psychiatric unit’s primary purpose is to determine, on an emergency basis, whether a patient poses a danger to themselves or others.
In addition to the requirement to undergo a psychiatric evaluation, the judge ordered Wenke to comply with an outpatient mental health treatment plan:
Physical Mail
The judge banned Luke Wenke from sending anyone “any item via postal service or any other delivery service, with the exception of ink on paper, without the approval of the probation officer.”
Social Media
Wenke was ordered to “participate in a counseling session” with his public defender “to be educated on legal issues related to communications including social media and written correspondence.” I interpret this to mean that Wenke was instructed to have a conversation with his lawyer about what he can and can’t say and do on social media.
While it’s unclear whether this meeting actually happened, Wenke was already going bonkers on social media within hours of his release from jail. Included among his posts were thinly veiled messages to several of his stalking victims, including the man he’s romantically obsessed with, Ryan; Ryan’s family, the lawyer Wenke served prison time for stalking (Victim-1/R.G.), and a former friend who he won’t stop obsessing over despite the person’s refusal to engage in his infantile drama.
Six days after Luke Wenke was released on an ankle monitor, probation raised concerns about his online conduct.
Additionally, based on court documents, it appears as though probation encountered complications while trying to arrange for Wenke’s court-mandated outpatient mental health treatment, and that this may have played a role in the judge’s decision to revoke Wenke’s ankle monitor (although I don’t know for sure, so I may be wrong).
The posts in the document are a mere (and arguably mild) sampling of the hundreds of posts that Wenke made on social media during the six-ish days he spent on an ankle bracelet. He repeatedly targeted the man he’s romantically obsessed with, B.T., and other victims (including B.T.’s family), as well as the people overseeing his case (including the judge).
More specifically, Wenke’s ramblings from that week-long period include multiple posts begging and demanding that B.T. save him from losing all faith in holiday miracles by calling him on the phone by Christmas. And, as you’ll see, Wenke repeatedly claimed that someone had hacked into his social media accounts and was responsible for certain posts (he seems to think he’s a genius when it comes to legal loopholes and probably thought that doing this would protect him from being penalised by the court for harmful, offensive, or banned material). Additionally, he repeatedly taunted his targets about how he wasn’t violating any court-imposed rules with his content.
Wenke also mocked mental healthcare, which he does not believe he needs, and expressed rage toward a woman who had performed an emergency psychiatric evaluation on him at ECMC per the court’s orders to undergo a mental assessment immediately upon his release from jail. Based on his posts, I believe he was angry because the woman did not acknowledge his romantic obsession with Ryan as a legitimate relationship.
December 14, 2023
December 13, 2023
^ That’s actually untrue. In the following thread alone, Wenke addressed multiple stalking victims by their initials. While this may not technically count as a contact violation, his claim that he didn’t target his victims with indirect contact in his posts is inaccurate.
December 12, 2023
December 11, 2023
December 10, 2023
December 9, 2023
The above post was accompanied by the following video:
Luke Wenke Returns to Jail
During a status hearing on December 14, 2023, Wenke was remanded back to jail while the parties overseeing his case shifted their focus toward how to appropriately move forward. Per court records:
Probation advises the Court of concerns regarding defendant’s conduct since his release last week … 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.