The founding father of a Texas megachurch who resigned final yr after a girl in Oklahoma accused the pastor of sexually abusing her within the Nineteen Eighties pleaded responsible Thursday to 5 counts of lewd and indecent acts with a baby, authorities stated.
Robert Preston Morris, 64, entered the pleas earlier than a decide in Oklahoma’s Osage County as a part of a plea settlement, in response to the state legal professional common’s workplace.
The abuse started in 1982 when the sufferer was 12 and Morris was a touring evangelist staying in Hominy, Oklahoma, along with her household, in response to the assertion by Oklahoma Lawyer Basic Gentner Drummond.
The abuse continued over the following 4 years, the assertion stated.
Morris was the senior pastor of Gateway Church within the Dallas-Fort Price suburb of Southlake, the place he led one of many nation’s largest megachurches till his resignation. He was indicted earlier this yr by an Oklahoma grand jury.
Below the plea settlement, Morris obtained a 10-year suspended sentence with the primary six months to be served within the Osage County Jail.
Morris was handcuffed and sporting a swimsuit as he was escorted out of court docket on Thursday by two sheriff’s deputies.
The sufferer, Cindy Clemishire, who’s now 55, stated in an announcement that “justice has lastly been served, and the person who manipulated, groomed and abused me as a 12-year-old harmless woman is lastly going to be behind bars.”
The Related Press usually doesn’t identify individuals who say they’ve been sexually assaulted except they arrive ahead publicly, as Clemishire has executed.
“My hope is that many victims hear my story, and it could actually assist carry their disgrace and permit them to talk up,” she stated.
“I hope that legal guidelines proceed to alter and new ones are written so kids and victims’ rights are higher protected. I hope that individuals perceive the one option to cease baby sexual abuse is to talk up when it occurs or is suspected.”
Morris should register as a intercourse offender and will probably be supervised by Texas authorities by way of interstate compact. He additionally was ordered to pay his prices of incarceration, together with any medical bills, and restitution to the sufferer.
One among Morris’ attorneys, Invoice Mateja, stated Morris wished to simply accept duty for his conduct, and wished to carry the authorized matter to an finish for the sake of him and his household and Clemishire and her household.
“Whereas he believes that he lengthy since accepted duty within the eyes of God and that Gateway Church was a manifestation of that acceptance, he readily accepted duty within the eyes of the regulation,” Mateja stated.
Mateja stated Morris wished to apologize to Clemishire and her household for his conduct and requested for forgiveness.
When requested concerning the allegations final yr by The Christian Put up, Morris stated in an announcement to the publication that when he was in his early 20s he was “concerned in inappropriate sexual conduct with a younger girl in a house the place I used to be staying.”
He stated it was “kissing and petting, not intercourse, however it was flawed.”
Gateway Church was based by Morris in 2000. He has been politically lively and previously served on President Donald Trump’s evangelical advisory board.
The church hosted Trump on its Dallas campus in 2020 for a dialogue on race relations and the economic system.
Gateway Church declined to remark Thursday.
The pleas had been entered earlier than Osage County District Particular Choose Cindy Pickerill.
“There could be no tolerance for individuals who sexually prey on kids,” Drummond stated. “This case is all of the extra despicable as a result of the perpetrator was a pastor who exploited his place of belief and authority. The sufferer on this case has waited far too a few years for today.”
