WNBA: Man pleads guilty to stalking Caitlin Clark

(FIELD LEVEL MEDIA): A 55-year-old Texas man pleaded guilty Monday to stalking and harassing Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark.

Michael Lewis, a native of Denton, Texas, was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

The sentence includes credit for time served at the Marion County Adult Detention Center since he was arrested at an Indianapolis hotel in January and charged with felony stalking after allegedly sending repeated threats and sexually violent messages to Clark via social media.

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According to his sentence, Lewis must also stay away from Clark and from Fever or Indiana Pacers games and cannot use the internet during his sentence.

The judge also recommended mental health treatment for Lewis, who was continually disruptive at Monday’s, including saying of Clark “I want her to be safe,” and prophesizing about the end of the world, per WTHR.

Lewis was arrested in January after authorities were able to track the IP address of his threatening messages via X to a hotel in Indianapolis. He continued to send messages to Clark even after the police visited the hotel to address the previous messages, which he either denied or referred to as “an imaginary relationship.”

Clark told police she did not know Lewis and did not respond to any of the messages from Lewis.

“This resolution ensures that the defendant is held accountable for his threatening actions, the fear he instilled, and the disruption he caused,” Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears said Monday. “He will now spend the next two and a half years in the Department of Correction, and the victim will be able to have peace of mind while focusing on what matters to her.”

Clark also reportedly told police she feared for her life to the point where she altered her appearance in public.

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“I hope everyone focuses on the fact that there is a real victim here. There is a 22-year-old young person here who has been profoundly impacted by what is being said. I think, hopefully, (this case) also highlights there are consequences to what people say online,” Mears said. “You have someone who is now looking over their shoulder, because they don’t know, ‘Is this going to be the day or the time when I have to encounter this person in person?'”