A man from Texas been arrested for stalking Caitlin Clark after relocating to Indianapolis and bombarding the WNBA star with sexually explicit messages.
Michael Lewis, 55, was charged with Stalking – a Level 5 Felony – after targeting Clark with a series of disturbing posts on X over the past month.
According to Fox59 News anchor Angela Ganote, Indianapolis officers first talked with Lewis on January 8 after discovering that the messages were coming from IP addresses in the city while he was staying at a hotel on N. Market Street.
He is said to have told cops that he was in an ‘imaginary relationship’ with the women’s basketball sensation before continuing to send her sexually threatening messages, leading to his eventual arrest over the weekend.
Lewis’s X account indicates that he began writing to Clark on December 16, with his initial posts appearing a lot more innocent despite making little sense.
He then posted on December 27: ‘this fantasy caitlin relationship is changing me for the better. . And about an hour ago i felt strong caitlin feelings. .like sensual. .wow’.
A Texas man has been arrested for stalking Caitlin Clark after targeting the WNBA star online
One day later he seemed to imply that he was already facing a stalking charge by saying to Clark in another bizarre message: ‘i already have one foot on a banana peel and the other on a stalking charge. . So i wont be able to wear ur hoodie. .wont look good in court’.
‘@CaitlinClark22 im gonna touch myself,’ said a separate post on December 31. ‘Not if but just when baby’.
On January 3, five days before police were initially alerted to his behavior on social media, Lewis also wrote to Clark: ‘u think I could get your wifi password? Its got me locked out’.
He also added: ‘may i come up and get some sugar? . . . . Sugar’.
The following day Lewis appeared to suggest that he had relocated from Texas to Indianapolis to be closer to Clark, who joined the Indiana Fever last year.
He posted: ‘i had absolutely no plans of ever coming back here. . But i sent u a post saying i want to be with you everywhere. .and then my Father says what are you doing here then?
‘[T]hen came the decision of all decisions. .i finally had to choose 1. . . Fla or indy. . omg not easy. .at all. . I had a ton invested. as i surveyed the landscape, my mind kept coming back to you. . There simply is nobody better for me. .its not even close’.
A few days later he then shared this chilling message: ‘this is 911 what is your emergency? . . caitlin fell in the snow and we cant find her anywhere. Its like she disappeared. . . . Brass monkey, that funky monkey, brass monkey junkee, that funky monkey’.
Clark received a series of disturbing posts on X from Michael Lewis, 55, over the past month
Lewis’s messages became more and more sexually threatening over the next week, with the last coming on January 12.
He said in one of the posts to Clark: ‘i am ur slave. so work me out’.
Another asked the Fever player, ‘u wanna make out wit me?’ after a different post had read: ‘urp*****needsarealgoodpounding’.
‘@CaitlinClark22 ur not into sex are u?’ said another, ‘just video games and sports’.
Clark is believed to have come forward and helped report Lewis to the authorities herself, after Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears praised her for ‘setting an example for all women’.
‘No matter how prominent a figure you are, this case shows that online harassment can quickly escalate to actual threats of physical violence,’ Mears said. ‘It takes a lot of courage for women to come forward in these cases, which is why many don’t.
‘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.’
Clark is not the only high-profile women’s basketball player to be targeted by a stalker in recent months, nevertheless.
