A man from Denton, Texas, has been charged after being accused of stalking WNBA star Caitlin Clark.
Michael Thomas Lewis faces a count of stalking, NBC News reported. Officials said he repeatedly harassed Clark, “that would cause a reasonable person to feel terrorized.”
Prosecutors said that Lewis, 55, sent messages to Clark via X that were vulgar and sexually charged from Dec. 16 to Jan. 2.
One of the messages allegedly sent by Lewis read, “They said I was sending threatening texts..but the only though on my mind was....CAITLIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNN,” ESPN reported.
He was arrested on Sunday in Indianapolis.
Police used an IP address showing he was at a hotel in the city the affidavit said, according to ABC News.
Lewis told police it was “just an imaginary relationship” and that the messages were “an imagination, fantasy type thing and it’s a joke, and it’s nothing to do with threatening.”
Clark, who is a guard for the Indiana Fever, in Indianapolis, said she “has been very fearful since learning of the messages and that she has altered her public appearances and patterns of movement due to fear for her safety.”
Clark told police that she became fearful when she found out Lewis was in Indianapolis and that she had not responded to the posts he allegedly sent.
Lewis told police that he was in town on vacation. Prosecutors said he was there to be near Clark.
If convicted, Lewis faces up to six years in prison and a $10,000 fine, ESPN reported.