FULE–Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) indicators mini basketballs for followers following in a WNBA basketball sport in opposition to the Dallas Wings in Indianapolis, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photograph/Michael Conroy)
Authorities in Indianapolis have charged a 55-year-old Texas man with felony stalking of Indiana Fever star and WNBA rookie of the yr Caitlin Clark.
Michael Thomas Lewis is accused of repeated and continued harassment of the 22-year-old Clark starting on Dec. 16, the Marion County prosecutor’s workplace wrote in a court docket submitting Saturday. Jail data present Lewis is due in court docket on Tuesday.
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Lewis posted quite a few messages on Clark’s X account, in line with an affidavit from a Marion County sheriff’s lieutenant.
READ: Caitlin Clark near-unanimous selection as WNBA Rookie of the Yr
In a single, he stated he had been driving by the Gainbridge Fieldhouse — one of many arenas the place the Fever performs house video games — thrice day, and in one other he stated he had “one foot on a banana peel and the opposite on a stalking cost.” Different messages directed at Clark had been sexually express.
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The posts “truly precipitated Caitlin Clark to really feel terrorized, frightened, intimidated, or threatened” and an implicit or express menace additionally was made “with the intent to position Caitlin Clark in cheap worry of sexual battery,” prosecutors wrote within the Marion County Superior Courtroom submitting.
The FBI discovered that the X account belonged to Lewis and that the messages had been despatched from IP addresses related to an Indianapolis resort and downtown public library.
READ; Caitlin Clark, WNBA rookies draw near-record crowds for 1st month
Indianapolis police spoke with Lewis on Jan. 8 at his resort room. He informed officers he was in Indianapolis on trip. When requested why he was making so many posts about Clark, Lewis replied: “Simply the identical motive everyone makes posts,” in line with court docket paperwork.
He informed police that he didn’t imply any hurt and that he fantasized about being in a relationship with Clark.
“It’s an creativeness, fantasy sort factor and it’s a joke, and it’s nothing to do with threatening,” he informed police, in line with the court docket paperwork.
In asking the court docket for a better than commonplace bond, the prosecutor’s workplace stated Lewis traveled from his house in Texas to Indianapolis “with the intent to be in shut proximity to the sufferer.”
The prosecutor’s workplace additionally sought a stay-away order as a particular situation if Lewis is launched from jail forward of trial. Prosecutors requested that Lewis be ordered to avoid the Gainbridge and Hinkle fieldhouses the place the Fever play house video games.
The Related Press was unable to find out Monday if Lewis has a lawyer who can touch upon his behalf.
Fever officers haven’t responded to an Related Press request for remark.
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The Related Press named Clark the Feminine Athlete of the Yr for 2024. After main Iowa to final yr’s nationwide championship sport, she was the highest decide within the WNBA draft and went on to win rookie of the yr honors within the league.