The founder of Texas Megachurch, Robert Morris, pleads guilty to charges of sexual abuse
The founder of a Mega-Church in Texas who resigned last year after a woman in Oklahoma accused the pastor of having sexually abused him in the 1980s pleaded guilty to five accusation of obscene and independent laces with a child, the authorities announced.
Robert Preston Morris, 64, entered the pleadings before a judge from the Osage County of Oklahoma as part of a advocacy agreement, according to the Office of the Attorney General of the State.
The abuses began in 1982 when the victim was 12 years old and Morris was a traveling evangelist staying in Hominy, Oklahoma, with his family, according to the declaration of the Oklahoma, gentner, Drummond. The abuses have continued over the next four years, according to the press release.
Morris was the main pastor of Gateway Church in the suburbs of Dallas-Fort Worth in Southlake, where he led one of the largest mega-churches in the country until his resignation. He was charged earlier this year by a big jury from Oklahoma. Under the advocacy agreement, Morris was sentenced to 10 years suspended with the first six months to be purged in the County of Osage.
Morris was handcuffed and carrying a costume while he was escorted outside the court Thursday by two Sheriff deputies.
The victim, Cindy Clemishire, who is now 55, said in a statement that “justice was finally rendered, and that the man who manipulated, treated and abused as a 12 -year -old innocent girl will finally be behind bars.” The Associated Press generally does not appoint people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they manifest themselves publicly, as Clemishire did.
“I hope that many victims hear my story, and it can help raise their shame and allow them to speak,” she said. “I hope that the laws continue to change and that news is written so that the rights of children and victims are better protected. I hope people understand that the only way to stop sex on children is to express themselves when it happens or is suspected. ”
Morris must register as a sex offender and will be supervised by the Texas Authorities via Interstate Compact. He was also ordered to pay his incarceration costs, including medical expenses and the victim’s return.
One of the lawyers of Morris, Bill Mateja, said that Morris wanted to accept the responsibility of his conduct and wanted to put an end to the legal matter for the good of him and his family and his family and his family.
“If he believes that he has long accepted responsibility in the eyes of God and that the Passerelle Church was a manifestation of this acceptance, he easily accepted responsibility in the eyes of the law,” said Mateja.
Mateja said Morris wanted to apologize to Clemishire and his family for his conduct and asked for forgiveness.
Asked about the allegations of last year by the Christian Post, Morris said in a statement to the publication that when he was at the beginning of the twenty, he was “involved in inappropriate sexual behavior with a young woman in a house where I stayed”. He said it was “embraces and caresses, not sex, but it was bad”.
Gateway Church was founded by Morris in 2000. He was politically active and was previously meant to the Evangelical Advisory Council of President Donald Trump. The church welcomed Trump on his Dallas campus in 2020 for a discussion on racial relations and the economy.
Gateway Church refused to comment on Thursday.
The pleadings were registered before the special judge of the District of the County of Osage, Cindy Pickerill.
“There can be no tolerance for those who sexually attack children,” said Drummond. “This affair is all the more despicable because the aggressor was a pastor who exploited his position of trust and authority. The victim in this case waited far too many years for this day.”
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This story was corrected to say that Robert Morris was charged earlier this year, not last year.
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Associated Press journalist John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, contributed to this report.
