Robert Morris, the 63-year-old founder of Texas megachurch Gateway Church, has been indicted by an Oklahoma grand jury on five felony counts of lewd or indecent acts to a child for alleged sexual abuse that began in 1982. The charges follow decades of silence and come nearly a year after Morris resigned from his position as senior pastor when his accuser publicly detailed years of alleged abuse.
According to the Oklahoma Attorney General’s office, the alleged sexual misconduct began on Christmas Day in 1982 and continued over the next four years. The victim, Cindy Clemishire, was 12 years old when the abuse allegedly began.
“After almost 43 years, the law has finally caught up with Robert Morris for the horrific crimes he committed against me as a child,” Clemishire said in a statement after the indictment was made public. “Now, it is time for the legal system to hold him accountable.”
Although the alleged crimes occurred decades ago, the Oklahoma Attorney General’s office stated that the statute of limitations does not apply in this case because Morris was not a resident or inhabitant of Oklahoma at any time.
“There can be no tolerance for those who sexually prey on children,” Attorney General Gentner Drummond said in a statement. “This case is all the more despicable because the alleged perpetrator was a pastor who exploited his position. The victim in this case has waited far too many years for justice to be done.”
The indictment was filed for prosecution on Thursday, March 16 in Osage County District Court in Pawhuska, Oklahoma. Morris is expected to turn himself in on Monday and surrender his passport. His bond has been set at $50,000. If convicted on all five counts, Morris could face up to 100 years in prison.
A Relationship That “Changed Forever”
Clemishire first came forward publicly in June 2024, detailing her allegations on the Wartburg Watch, a blog about sexual abuse within the church. She described how she and her family were introduced to Morris at a youth revival in Tulsa, Oklahoma, when he was 20 and she was 11. At the time, Morris was a traveling evangelist with his wife, Debbie.
According to Clemishire, Morris preached at her church on Sundays, and sometimes he, his wife, and their son would stay at her family’s home. She viewed him as “safe and friendly,” she said.
The relationship allegedly changed on Christmas in 1982 when Morris asked then-12-year-old Clemishire to “visit him in his room that night,” according to her account. She recalled thinking nothing of it at that moment, but once in his room, she said he sexually abused her and warned her: “Never tell anyone about this because it will ruin everything.”
Clemishire said the abuse continued in Oklahoma and Texas until 1987, when she was 17. She eventually told a close friend and her parents about the abuse, which reportedly led to Morris stepping down from ministry for two years.
Church’s Response and Aftermath
When Clemishire’s accusations initially came to light, Gateway Church appeared to support Morris, stating that he had been “open and forthright about a moral failure he had over 35 years ago” and that “there have been no other moral failures.”
Morris himself issued a statement saying, “This situation was brought to light, and it was confessed and repented of. I submitted myself to the Elders of Shady Grove Church and the young lady’s father. They asked me to stop out of ministry and receive counseling and freedom ministry, which I did. Since that time, I have walked in purity and accountability in this area.”
However, the Texas megachurch’s elders later released an updated statement after Morris’s resignation, saying, “We regret that we did not have the information that we now have. For the sake of the victim, we are thankful this situation has been exposed.”
Following this statement, Gateway Church extensively disassociated itself from Morris, even recommending the temporary leave of absence of the pastor’s son and daughter-in-law, James and Bridget Morris, though the church stated that James Morris “had no knowledge of the true facts of this situation.”
In November, Gateway Church announced the removal of several of its elders following an independent investigation conducted by law firm Haynes and Boone into the child sex abuse allegations against Morris. This announcement came after the departures of Morris, his son, his daughter-in-law, and executive pastor Kemtal Glasgow.
“What happened to Cindy Clemishire was heartbreaking and vile,” Tra Willbanks, an elder at Gateway Church, said during a livestreamed service. “We denounce sexual abuse in all of its forms and we feel deep sorrow for those who have been victimized by such despicable actions.”
During the investigation, the law firm collected 780 gigabytes of data, reviewed thousands of pages of documents, and interviewed dozens of individuals, except for Morris and five others who declined to be interviewed. According to Willbanks, the law firm did not learn of any other sexual assault allegations against Morris.
Willbanks also confirmed that Gateway Church was cooperating with an ongoing criminal investigation but did not share additional details at that time. He added that neither the church nor its current leadership are subjects of this investigation.
Since Morris’s resignation, Gateway Church has faced what Willbanks called a “cultural reckoning,” losing approximately a quarter of its weekly attendees. Former staff members have described the church as having had a “narcissistic” culture where criticism was silenced and staff were left with lasting trauma.
“We must be honest with ourselves and acknowledge that our culture allowed this truth to be buried for too long,” Willbanks said regarding Morris’s alleged abuse. “I think we’re going to be better, going forward, because of these lessons that we’ve learned over the last eight months. We had been ‘off’ for a while, and this was a wake-up call.”
Before the scandal, Morris had maintained a significant public presence. His television program aired in over 190 countries, and his radio program reached more than 6,800 cities. His YouTube page, which is no longer online, had 80,000 subscribers and featured videos with titles such as “Freedom Through Forgiveness” and “Did You Know You’re Made Perfect By God’s Grace?”
As Morris prepares to face the charges against him, Clemishire and her family expressed gratitude to the authorities who worked on the case. “My family and I are deeply grateful to the authorities who have worked tirelessly to make this day possible,” she said, “and remain hopeful that justice will ultimately prevail.”
Loading ...