A man from Texas has been charged with stalking WNBA star Caitlin Clark, prompting serious concerns about player safety in the league. Michael Lewis, 55, was taken into custody on Sunday at a hotel in Indianapolis, where Clark’s team, the Indiana Fever, is based. Authorities allege that Lewis sent a series of threatening and sexually explicit messages to Clark via social media platform X, which led to police intervention.
Court documents reveal that Lewis made unsettling comments about observing Clark’s residence, stating, “been driving around your house 3x a day… but don’t call the law just yet.” He also claimed he would attend her games. These messages were reportedly sent between December 16 and January 2.
Clark, the likely 2024 Women's National Basketball Association rookie of the year, notified law enforcement about Lewis's communications, expressing fear for her safety. Reports indicate that she had started altering her appearance in public because of the encounters. Prosecutors noted that Lewis's posts left Clark “terrorized, frightened, intimidated, or threatened.”
The FBI tracked the threatening messages back to an IP address linked to Lewis, leading to his arrest as he stayed at a downtown Indianapolis hotel. When questioned by police, he characterized his messages as “an imagination, fantasy type thing and it's a joke, and it’s nothing to do with threatening.”
Marion County prosecutor Ryan Mears commended Clark for her bravery in coming forward, highlighting that such actions encourage other women to report similar incidents without living in fear of sexual violence. This troubling incident closely follows another stalking case involving a women's college basketball player, Paige Bueckers, further raising alarms in the basketball community regarding athlete safety.
