Police have charged a person who allegedly despatched a number of threats and sexually express messages to WNBA star Caitlin Clark over social media with stalking.
The person, 55-year-old Michael Lewis from Texas, was arrested on Sunday at a resort in Indianapolis, the town the place Clark’s group Indiana Fever relies.
Legislation enforcement officers recognized messages despatched to Clark from Mr Lewis on X that allegedly contained threatening and sexually express messages, police mentioned.
Mr Lewis is scheduled to seem in court docket on Tuesday morning and, if convicted, may resist six years in jail and a $10,000 (£ 8,211) positive.
In accordance with court docket paperwork, one of many messages allegedly despatched to Clark learn: “@CaitlinClark22 been driving round your home 3x a day..however do not name the legislation simply but, the publc is allowed to drive by gainbridge..aka Caitlin’s Fieldhouse.”
“I am getting tickets. I am sitting behind the bench,” one other message learn.
Messages had been despatched between 16 December and a pair of January, in accordance with court docket paperwork.
Clark, the 2024 Ladies’s Nationwide Basketball Affiliation rookie of the yr, had reported the messages to police and mentioned she feared for her security.
In accordance with sports activities community ESPN, the 22-year-old athlete made police conscious of the them earlier than Mr Lewis arrived in Indianapolis. She had taken to altering her look in public because of security issues.
The social media posts “triggered Caitlin Clark to really feel terrorized, frightened, intimidated, or threatened”, prosecutors mentioned in court docket paperwork.
Mr Lewis was discovered by FBI after they tracked the IP addresses of the messages to a resort in downtown Indianapolis, Marion County prosecutor Ryan Mears mentioned.
The person informed police his messages had been “an creativeness, fantasy sort factor and it is a joke, and it is nothing to do with threatening”, in accordance with court docket paperwork.
In a press launch on Monday, Mr Mears mentioned “it takes loads of braveness for ladies to return ahead in these circumstances, which is why many do not”.
“In doing so, the sufferer is setting an instance for all girls who should stay and work in Indy with out the specter of sexual violence.”
The incident occurred simply weeks after a person from Oregon was arrested and charged with stalking and harassment of girls’s school basketball star Paige Bueckers.