US man charged with stalking WNBA star Caitlin Clark

Police have charged a man who allegedly sent multiple threats and sexually explicit messages to WNBA star Caitlin Clark over social media with stalking.

The man, 55-year-old Michael Lewis from Texas, was arrested on Sunday at a hotel in Indianapolis, the city where Clark's team Indiana Fever is based.

Law enforcement officials identified messages sent to Clark from Mr Lewis on X that allegedly contained threatening and sexually explicit messages, police said.

Mr Lewis is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday morning and, if convicted, could face up to six years in prison and a $10,000 (£ 8,211) fine.

According to court documents, one of the messages allegedly sent to Clark read: "@CaitlinClark22 been driving around your house 3x a day..but don't call the law just yet, the publc is allowed to drive by gainbridge..aka Caitlin's Fieldhouse."

"I'm getting tickets. I'm sitting behind the bench," another message read.

Messages were sent between 16 December and 2 January, according to court documents.

Clark, the 2024 Women's National Basketball Association rookie of the year, had reported the messages to police and said she feared for her safety.

According to sports network ESPN, the 22-year-old athlete made police aware of the them before Mr Lewis arrived in Indianapolis. She had taken to altering her appearance in public due to safety concerns.

The social media posts "caused Caitlin Clark to feel terrorized, frightened, intimidated, or threatened", prosecutors said in court documents.

Mr Lewis was found by FBI after they tracked the IP addresses of the messages to a hotel in downtown Indianapolis, Marion County prosecutor Ryan Mears said.

The man told police his messages were "an imagination, fantasy type thing and it's a joke, and it's nothing to do with threatening", according to court documents.

In a press release on Monday, Mr Mears 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."

The incident occurred just weeks after a man from Oregon was arrested and charged with stalking and harassment of women's college basketball star Paige Bueckers.