Police have charged a man who allegedly sent multiple threats and sexually explicit messages to WNBA star Kaitlyn Clarke via social media with stalking.
The man, 55-year-old Michael Lewis of Texas, was arrested Sunday at a hotel in Indianapolis, the city where Clarke plays, the Indiana Fever team.
Law enforcement officials identified messages sent to Clark from Mr. Lewis on X that allegedly contained threatening and sexually explicit messages, police said.
Lewis is due to appear in court on Tuesday morning and, if convicted, could face up to six years in prison and a $10,000 (£8,211) fine.
According to court documents, one message allegedly sent to Clark reads: “@CaitlinClark22 you've been driving around your house 3 times a day.. but don't call the law yet, the public is allowed to drive near Gainbridge.. aka Caitlin.” Field House.”
Another message read: “I'm getting tickets. I'm sitting behind the bench.”
The messages were sent between December 16 and January 2, according to court documents.
Clark, the 2024 National Basketball Association Women's Rookie of the Year, reported the messages to police and said she feared for her safety.
According to ESPN Sports, the 22-year-old athlete informed police of their presence before Mr. Lewis arrived in Indianapolis. She decided to change her appearance in public due to safety concerns.
The social media posts “caused Kaitlyn Clark to feel terrorized, frightened, intimidated or threatened,” prosecutors said in court documents.
Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears said the FBI found Lewis after tracking the IP addresses of the messages to a hotel in downtown Indianapolis.
The man told police his messages were “fiction, a joke, and had nothing to do with the threat,” according to court documents.
In a press release on Monday, Mears said, “It takes a lot of courage for women to come forward in these cases, which is why so many of them 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 occurred just weeks after an Oregon man was arrested and charged with stalking and harassing women's basketball star Paige Bueckers.
