Police have charged a man who allegedly sent multiple threats and sexually explicit messages to WNBA star Caitlin Clark via social media with stalking.
The man, 55-year-old Michael Lewis of Texas, was arrested Sunday at a hotel in Indianapolis, home to Clark’s Indiana Fever team.
Law enforcement officials identified messages Mr. Lewis sent to Clark on X that allegedly contained threatening and sexually explicit messages, the police said.
Mr Lewis is due to appear in court on Tuesday morning and, if found guilty, could face up to six years in prison and a $10,000 (£8,211) fine.
According to court documents, one of the messages allegedly sent to Clark read: “@CaitlinClark22 drives around your house 3x a day..but don’t call the law yet, the public is allowed to drive on Gainbridge..aka Caitlin’s Fieldhouse.”
“I’m getting tickets. I’m sitting behind the bench,” read another message.
The messages were sent between Dec. 16 and Jan. 2, according to court documents.
Clark, the 2024 National Women’s Basketball Association Rookie of the Year, reported the messages to police and said she feared for her safety.
According to the sports network ESPN, the 22-year-old athlete informed the police about them before Mr. Lewis arrived in Indianapolis. She decided to change her appearance in public for security reasons.
The social media posts “caused Caitlin Clark to feel terrorized, frightened, intimidated or threatened,” prosecutors said in court documents.
Mr. Lewis was found by the FBI after they traced the IP addresses of the messages to a hotel in downtown Indianapolis, Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears said.
The man told police his messages were “fantasy and a joke, and had nothing to do with threats,” according to court documents.
In a press release on Monday, Mr Mears said “it takes a lot of courage for women to come forward in cases like this, which is why many don’t”.
“In doing so, the victim sets an example for all women who deserve to live and work in Indy without the threat of sexual violence.”
The incident comes just weeks after an Oregon man was arrested and charged with stalking and harassing women’s basketball star Paige Bueckers.
