Robert Morris, the influential Texas pastor who founded Gateway Church, pleaded guilty this week to sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl in Oklahoma during the 1980s.
Morris, who is 64-years-old, admitted in an Osage County courtroom to felony charges of lewd or indecent acts with a child. Under a plea agreement, Morris was sentenced to 10 years but will serve only six months in jail, followed by probation.
He must also register as a sex offender and pay $250,000 in restitution.
The abuse took place between 1982 and 1986, when Morris was working as a traveling evangelist and living with the family of Cindy Clemishere in Hominy, Oklahoma.
Clemshere, who is now 55, confronted Morris in court, admitting that his actions have “rippled into every part of her life.”
In court, Clemishere commented that there was “no such thing as consent from a 12-year-old child.”
In a statement, Morris expressed that he had had a “moral failure” with a “young lady,” but Clemishere counters the statement.
“We were never in an ‘inappropriate relationship,’” she expressed. “I was not a ‘young lady’ but a child.”
Morris was once a prominent evangelical figure, serving as a spiritual adviser to President Donald Trump (R) and joining his evangelical advisory committee in 2016. In 2020, while speaking during a roundtable "Roundtable on Transition to Greatness," President Trump referred to Morris and another pastor as "great people with a great reputation."
After the ruling, Clemishere released a statement, affirming that “justice has finally been served, and the man who manipulated, groomed and abused me as a 12-year-old innocent girl is finally going to be behind bars.”
“My hope is that many victims hear my story, and it can help lift their shame and allow them to speak up,” Clemishere said. “I hope that laws continue to change and new ones are written so children and victims’ rights are better protected.”
