Cops: Texas Man, 55, Stalked Caitlin Clark

JANUARY 13--A Texas man has been charged with stalking Caitlin Clark via sexually explicit and threatening messages sent to the athlete's X account, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Investigators yesterday arrested Michael Thomas Lewis, 55, in connection with the messages, which were sent to the basketball star beginning in mid-December.

Charged with a felony stalking count, Lewis is locked up in the Marion County jail in lieu of $50,000 bond.

“Due to the nature of these messages,” a cop wrote, the FBI sent an “Emergency Disclosure” request to X (formerly Twitter) seeking information about Lewis’s account and from where he had been posting messages.

Records provided by X showed that the recent messages were sent from IP addresses at an Indianapolis hotel and public library. “Lewis’s presence in Indianapolis was especially concerning given that he is a Texas resident,” wrote Lieutenant Darren Stonehouse of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.

Pictured above, Lewis’s home address is listed in court records as a homeless shelter operating out of a church in Denton, a Dallas suburb.

Clark, 22, plays for the Indiana Fever of the Women's National Basketball Association. The team’s home arena is Indianapolis’s Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

When police questioned him last week about the messages to Clark, Lewis--who was staying in an Indianapolis hotel--claimed that, “it’s an imagination, fantasy type thing and it’s a joke, and it’s nothing to do with threatening.”

In a police interview Saturday, Clark said that 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.” The athlete, who said she never responded to Lewis’s posts, added that she has “become very concerned for her safety after learning that Lewis was in Indianapolis.”

A judge has ordered Lewis to have no further contact with Clark, and issued a “stay away” order covering Gainbridge Fieldhouse and a second Indianapolis arena where the Fever plays.

Lewis is scheduled for an initial court hearing tomorrow morning. If convicted of the stalking charge, he could face up to six years in prison. (2 pages)