A Texas man who admitted to stalking WNBA Indiana Fever point guard Caitlin Clark is headed to prison after pleading guilty.
Michael Lewis, 55, from Denton, Texas, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison on Monday after admitting in January that he was “guilty as charged” of stalking the basketball star.
Lewis was arrested in January at an Indianapolis hotel on a felony stalking charge, following allegations he sent sexually violent messages to Clark, 23, via social media, according to court documents obtained by ESPN.
“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.
“He will now spend the next two and a half years in the Department of Corrections, and the victim will be able to have peace of mind while focusing on what matters to her,” Mears said.
Lewis’s sentence incorporates credit for the time he has already served at the Marion County Adult Detention Center since his arrest. He was also ordered by the judge not to contact Clark, to stay away from Fever and the Indiana Pacers games and not to use the internet during his sentence, the outlet reported.
Lewis said during Monday’s courtroom proceedings that the end of the world was coming. He was advised to seek mental health treatment.
“You can’t help yourself until you get help,” the judge said to Lewis.
According to court documents, Lewis had sent a message to Clark that read, “Been driving around your house 3x a day… but don’t call the law just yet, the public is allowed to drive by Gainbridge, aka Caitlin’s Fieldhouse.”
“I’m getting tickets. I’m sitting behind the bench,” he told her in another message.
“They said I was sending threatening texts..but the only thought on my mind was….CAITLIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNN,” read another.
Other messages were sexually violent, according to court documents.