Former Dallas pastor indicted for child sexual abuse charges

A grand jury in Oklahoma on Wednesday indicted Robert Morris on five counts of indecent acts with a child alleged to have occurred in the 1980s. The case involves accusations made by Cindy Clemishire who said Morris abused her multiple times from 1982-1987, with the first incident allegedly occurring when she was 12 years old. Morris was a traveling preacher when he met Clemishire and her family and began preaching at their church in Oklahoma, according to the indictment. The former pastor could face up to 20 years in prison for each of the charges, according to state law. A statute of limitations does not apply to the case because Morris was not a resident of Oklahoma, according to the state attorney general’s office.

What has Morris said? The Associated Press on Wednesday struggled to reach Morris by phone to get his reaction to being indicted. It wasn’t immediately clear if he had a lawyer, the AP reported.All defendants are presumed innocent unless and until convicted of a crime in a court of law, according to the attorney general’s office.

In a 2014 sermon, Morris described struggling with immorality starting as a teenager, and referenced affairs that occurred before his marriage.

What are officials saying about the indictment? In a statement, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said the case was particularly upsetting because Morris was a pastor who allegedly exploited his position of power. Meanwhile, Gateway Church in a statement said it was aware of the indictment and that the church was praying for Clemishire and other families affected by the situation.

Who is Morris? The 63-year-old founded Gateway Church in Dallas in 2000 after spending years as a traveling evangelist. The megachurch now has about 100,000 weekly attendees across its 10 locations. President Donald Trump in 2016 appointed Morris to his evangelical advisory committee and named him a spiritual adviser during his first presidential campaign. Morris hosted Trump at his church in 2020 but he was not involved in the president’s last reelection campaign. Morris also served as an overseer of the Church of the Highlands, the largest church in Alabama, until he resigned from the position in the wake of the allegations.

What happened when the claims were made public? Morris resigned from the church in June last year after Clemishire came forward with her allegations. After his resignation, Gateway Church hired a law firm to investigate the abuse and to recommend how the church could move forward. The law firm advised that several elders, including Morris’ son who also was a pastor, take a leave of absence. The younger Morris later decided to permanently step away from leadership at the church, according to an update to the congregation. In November, the church removed several elders from leadership after the investigation revealed they knew about the abuse allegations but remained silent. The church also underwent an internal review and decided that paid staff could no longer serve as voting elder members, Elder Tra Willbanks said.

Dig deeper: Read Christina Grube’s report about the actions the church took in response to the allegations.