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Police have charged a man who allegedly sent multiple threats and sexually explicit messages to WNBA star Caitlin Clark over social media with stalking.<\/p>\n
The man, 55-year-old Michael Lewis from Texas, was arrested on Sunday at a hotel in Indianapolis, the city where Clark’s team Indiana Fever is based. <\/p>\n
Law enforcement officials identified messages sent to Clark from Mr Lewis on X that allegedly contained threatening and sexually explicit messages, police said. <\/p>\n
Mr Lewis is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday morning and, if convicted, could face up to six years in prison and a $10,000 (\u00a3 8,211) fine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
According to court documents, one of the messages allegedly sent to Clark read: “@CaitlinClark22 been driving around your house 3x a day..but don’t call the law just yet, the publc is allowed to drive by gainbridge..aka Caitlin’s Fieldhouse.”<\/p>\n
“I’m getting tickets. I’m sitting behind the bench,” another message read.<\/p>\n
Messages were sent between 16 December and 2 January, according to court documents. <\/p>\n
Clark, the 2024 Women’s National Basketball Association rookie of the year, had reported the messages to police and said she feared for her safety. <\/p>\n
According to sports network ESPN, the 22-year-old athlete made police aware of the them before Mr Lewis arrived in Indianapolis. She had taken to altering her appearance in public due to safety concerns. <\/p>\n
The social media posts “caused Caitlin Clark to feel terrorized, frightened, intimidated, or threatened”, prosecutors said in court documents.<\/p>\n
Mr Lewis was found by FBI after they tracked the IP addresses of the messages to a hotel in downtown Indianapolis, Marion County prosecutor Ryan Mears said. <\/p>\n
The man told police his messages were “an imagination, fantasy type thing and it’s a joke, and it’s nothing to do with threatening”, according to court documents.<\/p>\n
In a press release on Monday, Mr Mears said “it takes a lot of courage for women to come forward in these cases, which is why many don’t”. <\/p>\n
“In doing so, the victim is setting an example for all women who deserve to live and work in Indy without the threat of sexual violence.”<\/p>\n
The incident occurred just weeks after a man from Oregon was arrested and charged with stalking and harassment of women’s college basketball star Paige Bueckers. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n