Caitlin Clark was forced to alter her appearance in public after disturbing messages from an online stalker left her fearing for her safety, according to reports.
A man from Denton, Texas was arrested over the weekend for stalking the WNBA star after relocating to Indianapolis – the city in which she plies her trade with the Indiana Fever – and bombarding her with sexually explicit messages.
Michael Lewis, 55, has been charged with Stalking – a Level 5 Felony – after targeting Clark, 22, with a series of disturbing posts on X over the past month.
She is said to have come forward and helped report Lewis to the authorities, with Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears praising her for ‘setting an example for all women’. After his arrest, police released an image of Lewis’s mugshot on Monday.
And according to The Guardian, Clark told officers that the messages had left her so terrified that she even changed her public appearance.
It is unclear how exactly she switched up her look, though the women’s basketball sensation has not been seen with any significant or more-permanent changes to her appearance of late.
Caitlin Clark was forced to alter her public appearances after being targeted by a stalker
Michael Lewis, 55, has been charged after targeting Clark, 22, with a series of disturbing posts
Fox59 News anchor Angela Ganote reported Monday that Indianapolis officers first talked with Lewis on January 8 after discovering the messages were coming from IP addresses in the city while he was staying at a hotel on N. Market Street.
He is said to have told cops that he was in an ‘imaginary relationship’ with the women’s basketball sensation before continuing to send her sexually threatening messages, leading to his eventual arrest over the weekend.
Lewis’s X account indicates that he began writing to Clark on December 16, with his initial posts appearing a lot more innocent despite making little sense.
He then posted on December 27: ‘this fantasy caitlin relationship is changing me for the better. . And about an hour ago i felt strong caitlin feelings. .like sensual. .wow’.
One day later he seemed to imply that he was already facing a stalking charge by saying to Clark in another bizarre message: ‘i already have one foot on a banana peel and the other on a stalking charge. . So i wont be able to wear ur hoodie. .wont look good in court’.
‘@CaitlinClark22 im gonna touch myself,’ said a separate post on December 31. ‘Not if but just when baby’.
On January 3, five days before police were initially alerted to his behavior on social media, Lewis also wrote to Clark: ‘u think I could get your wifi password? Its got me locked out’.
Lewis sent a number of concerning and sexually threatening messages to her on X
The women’s basketball sensation came forward and helped report him to the authorities
Clark, pictured with boyfriend Connor McCaffery, has been praised for her bravery in coming forward by Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears
He also added: ‘may i come up and get some sugar? . . . . Sugar’.
The following day Lewis appeared to suggest that he had relocated from Texas to Indianapolis to be closer to Clark, who joined the Indiana Fever last year.
He posted: ‘i had absolutely no plans of ever coming back here. . But i sent u a post saying i want to be with you everywhere. .and then my Father says what are you doing here then?
‘[T]hen came the decision of all decisions. .i finally had to choose 1. . . Fla or indy. . omg not easy. .at all. . I had a ton invested. as i surveyed the landscape, my mind kept coming back to you. . There simply is nobody better for me. .its not even close’.
A few days later he then shared this chilling message: ‘this is 911 what is your emergency? . . caitlin fell in the snow and we cant find her anywhere. Its like she disappeared. . . . Brass monkey, that funky monkey, brass monkey junkee, that funky monkey’.
Lewis’s messages became more and more sexually threatening over the next week, with the last coming on January 12.
He said in one of the posts to Clark: ‘i am ur slave. so work me out’.
Another asked the Fever player, ‘u wanna make out wit me?’ after a different post had read: ‘urp*****needsarealgoodpounding’.
College basketball star Paige Bueckers (right) was also stalked and harassed last year by Robert Cole Parmalee, 40, (left) who pleaded guilty to a Stalking charge
Parmalee posted shots of an engagement ring he apparently intended to give Bueckers
‘@CaitlinClark22 ur not into sex are u?’ said another, ‘just video games and sports’.
Prosecutor Mears commended Clark for her bravery in coming forward after she helped police arrest and charge Lewis over the weekend.
‘No matter how prominent a figure you are, this case shows that online harassment can quickly escalate to actual threats of physical violence,’ he said. ‘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.’
Clark, who has been in a relationship with boyfriend Connor McCaffery for close to two years, is not the only high-profile women’s basketball player to be targeted by a stalker in recent months, nevertheless.
A 40-year-old man who stalked and harassed Connecticut star Paige Bueckers pleaded guilty to a stalking charge last month after declaring on social media he intended to marry her.
Robert Cole Parmalee, who had an engagement ring and lingerie with him when he was first arrested in August, received a one-year suspended sentence and three years’ probation, a court clerk said.
He had originally faced charges of stalking, breach of peace and harassment, but those were substituted for a single count of second-degree stalking.
