Former Gateway Church Pastor Pleads Guilty to Decades-old Child Sex-abuse Charges
Robert Preston Morris, the founder and former senior pastor of Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, pleaded guilty Thursday to five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child, resolving a criminal case that centers on conduct alleged to have begun in the early 1980s when the victim was 12 years old.
Prosecutors say the abuse began in December 1982 while Morris, then a young traveling evangelist, was staying with the girl’s family in Hominy, Oklahoma, and continued for approximately four years.
The plea was entered before an Osage County judge as part of an agreement announced by Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond’s office.
Under the terms of the deal, Morris, 64, received a 10-year sentence that is largely suspended; he will serve six months in the Osage County Jail immediately and will be subject to probation and other conditions, including registering as a sex offender and paying court-ordered restitution.
State officials said Morris must also cover incarceration costs.
The woman at the center of the case, identified in court filings as Cindy Clemishire, publicly addressed the court and described a pattern of grooming and abuse that she says began during early adolescence.
Clemishire said the guilty pleas provided some measure of accountability after decades of silence and struggle to be heard. Victim advocates and state officials praised her decision to come forward and called the resolution an important step for survivors.
Morris’s fall from high visibility has reverberated through both religious and political circles. He founded Gateway Church, which grew into one of the nation’s largest congregations, authored bestselling books and was known as an influential evangelical voice who had advised former President Donald Trump.
Morris resigned from his leadership role at Gateway in 2024 after the allegations became.
The case has also prompted renewed scrutiny of how large religious organizations respond to historic allegations of abuse. Civil litigation remains pending in some jurisdictions, where the victim has accused church leaders of concealing misconduct and failing to protect congregants. Legal experts say such civil suits, and criminal prosecutions of misconduct alleged to have occurred decades earlier, highlight the challenges survivors face in seeking redress when statutes of limitations and institutional barriers are involved.
An attorney for Morris issued a brief statement in court acknowledging the plea and indicating his client accepted the agreement.
Oklahoma’s attorney general characterized the case as a betrayal of trust and emphasized the importance of listening to survivors. The details released by law enforcement and court records will be available as part of the public record for readers and researchers seeking more information.
This development marks a significant moment in a high-profile case that has drawn national attention to alleged historic abuse within prominent faith communities. Journalists and legal analysts say the plea and its conditions may influence similar cases and ongoing conversations about accountability in religious institutions.
