Robert Morris, the founder of a Texas megachurch with one of the nation’s largest congregations, pleaded guilty on Thursday to sexually abusing a girl in the 1980s, according to court documents.
According to prosecutors, Mr. Morris, 64, began abusing Cindy Clemishire, who was 12 years old at the time, in 1982. He used his hands and body to touch her private parts on multiple occasions, prosecutors said, and the abuse lasted until she was 14.
Ms. Clemishire told The Dallas Morning News in 2024 that he had begun abusing her when her family invited him to stay in their Oklahoma home over Christmas in 1982.
Mr. Morris resigned from his role as the senior pastor of Gateway Church, based in Dallas, last year after Ms. Clemishire publicly accused him of abuse. In the interview with The Dallas Morning News, Ms. Clemishire said that it had taken decades for her to recognize what happened as abuse and as a crime.
Mr. Morris was indicted in March on five counts of lewd or indecent acts to a child.
He pleaded guilty in Osage County Courthouse in Pawhuska, Okla. Under a plea agreement, Mr. Morris received a 10-year suspended sentence, with the first six months to be served in the Osage County Jail. According to the agreement, Mr. Morris will be supervised once released, and he will be required to register as a sex offender. He was ordered to pay Ms. Clemishire $270,000 in restitution.
According to The Dallas Morning News, Ms. Clemishire was in tears as she read a statement during Thursday’s hearing. She described how Mr. Morris’s abuse had affected her understanding of love and led her to believe her body “was not sacred.”
“I am not a victim; I am a survivor,” Ms. Clemishire said in a statement, according to The Dallas Morning News.
Mr. Morris did not look at Ms. Clemishire as she spoke, The Dallas Morning News reported. According to video footage posted by the publication, Mr. Morris was led out of court in handcuffs and flanked by court officers.
Bill Mateja, a lawyer for Mr. Morris, said in a statement that Mr. Morris “sincerely apologizes” to Ms. Clemishire and her family and “asks for their forgiveness.”
Mr. Mateja added, “While he believes that he long since accepted responsibility in the eyes of God — and that Gateway Church was a manifestation of that acceptance — he readily accepted responsibility in the eyes of the law by virtue of his guilty plea.”
Mr. Morris was a prominent figure in the American Christian community. He founded the Gateway Church in 2000, and under his leadership, its congregation grew to over 30,000 people.
He also served on a faith advisory council during President Trump’s first term, and he hosted Mr. Trump at Gateway Church in June 2020.
Jin Yu Young reports on South Korea, the Asia Pacific region and global breaking news from Seoul.
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