Mugshot threat raises tensions in Mercer County data center dispute, activist Diane Floyd says

A dispute over a proposed hyperscale data center in Mercer County has spilled into a more personal confrontation, according to an activist who says she received a direct message online that included a threat to publish her 2023 mugshot. Diane Floyd said she was watching her husband’s music show earlier this month when she received a Facebook message from Brian Luftman, the founder of American Farm Investors, one of the companies seeking to develop the project.

Floyd said the message arrived while she was engaged in a private family activity and that it connected her to the broader fight surrounding the data center proposal. She described the confrontation as moving from public objections to the project into a threat to publicize identifying information tied to her prior criminal case, referencing a mugshot taken in 2023.

According to Floyd, Luftman told her he would publish the image. The report describes her reaction as centered on the idea that her past legal record would be used as leverage during an ongoing dispute over the data center. The underlying project dispute, she said, has been tied to concerns from opponents and scrutiny of how such a large development could affect the county and its residents.

The message was described by Floyd as coming through a social media platform rather than through formal public channels such as hearings, letters, or documented communications. She said the timing of the outreach, coming during a family event, made the message feel especially targeted. The Kentucky Lantern report characterizes the exchange as a notable escalation in a local controversy that has attracted community attention over the scale and implications of hyperscale computing facilities.

Luftman’s company, American Farm Investors, is among the entities attempting to bring a hyperscale data center to Mercer County, according to the report. While the project’s broader issues include community impact and public decision-making that typically involves government oversight, Floyd’s account focuses on the alleged personal threat and what she views as an attempt to pressure opponents by drawing attention to a private individual’s past arrest photograph.

Floyd’s account does not, in the reporting provided, specify the details of the original 2023 case or the grounds for her mugshot, nor does it describe any criminal charges newly filed related to the alleged online threat. The report instead centers on what she says was communicated to her via Facebook and the tension it created between her and the project’s proponent.

Kentucky Lantern reported the incident as part of an ongoing data center dispute, and the matter raises questions about how public conflicts around large development projects can cross into personal intimidation. Whether any further steps are taken would depend on how Floyd pursues the allegation, including whether she seeks legal remedies related to the threatened publication or other conduct tied to the message.

The next practical step for parties on both sides of the Mercer County proposal is to keep disputes within the public process where decisions are made and records are documented. For Floyd, the allegation centers on the right to participate in civic debate without being met with threats to publicize personal identifying material, while project supporters and developers have the ability to address objections through public comment and official channels rather than private pressure, according to the account described in the reporting.