Along with Catilin Clark’s meteoric rise to sports superstardom, the 22-year-old has reportedly had to contend with a stalker. Per NBC News, a Texas man has been charged with threatening and stalking the Indiana Fever player after he was arrested in Indianapolis on Sunday. According to prosecutors, 55-year-old Michael Thomas Lewis sent a “series of vulgar, sexually charged messages” to Clark on X and later traveled to Indianapolis, where Clark resides. On Saturday, Clark told authorities she’d been “very fearful since learning of the messages” and, upon hearing Lewis was in town, had “altered her public appearances and patterns of movement due to fear for her safety,” the affidavit says. Lewis, who Clark maintained was a complete stranger, is now accused of engaging in a “course of conduct involving repeated or continuing harassment of Caitlin Clark that would cause a reasonable person to feel terrorized.”
“No matter how prominent a figure you are, this case shows that online harassment can quickly escalate to actual threats of physical violence,” Marion County prosecutor Ryan Mears said in a statement. “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.”
According to the affidavit, police initially made contact with Lewis Wednesday after using his IP address to trace him to the Indianapolis Public Library downtown and, later, the Hilton Garden Hotel. There, the suspect told officers that he “was not a resident of Indiana” but of Texas, claiming he was in Indianapolis on vacation. When asked about the threatening messages Clark said she received from him, Lewis claimed he’d just been entertaining “an imaginary relationship.” He insisted the interactions were a “fantasy type thing” and a “joke,” and had “nothing to do with threatening” her. Police then asked Lewis to stop posting about Clark on X, though he continued through Sunday night, per the complaint.
Per local NBC affiliate WTHR, Lewis made his first court appearance on Tuesday, as the court entered a preliminary plea of not guilty and appointed him an attorney. Bond was set for $50,000. The court issued a no-contact order, and Lewis was ordered to stay clear of Gainbridge Fieldhouse and Hinkle Fieldhouse, where the Fever play and practice.
The Cut has reached out to Clark for comment and will update this post if we hear back.