Robert Morris, the founding father of a Texas megachurch and a former religion adviser to the Trump White Space, used to be indicted Wednesday on fees that he molested a lady over a number of years within the Eighties, the Oklahoma Legal professional Common’s Workplace stated.
Final summer season, days after Cindy Clemishire publicly accused Mr. Morris, 63, of getting abused her when she used to be a lady, Mr. Morris resigned because the senior pastor of the Dallas-based Gateway Church.
On Wednesday, a grand jury indicted Mr. Morris on 5 prison counts of lewd or indecent acts to a kid after concluding that he had used his fingers and frame to the touch the lady’s non-public portions from when she used to be 12 till she used to be 14, in keeping with the indictment. The indictment refers back to the woman most effective as C.C.
Ms. Clemishire, 55, of Oklahoma, instructed The Dallas Morning News final 12 months that the abuse had begun when her circle of relatives invited Mr. Morris — then a tender, touring preacher — to stick at their house in Oklahoma on Christmas Day in 1982. It took her a long time to comprehend that what had took place to her used to be abuse and a criminal offense, Ms. Clemishire instructed the newspaper.
In a remark on Wednesday, Ms. Clemishire stated, “After nearly 43 years, the legislation has in the end stuck up with Robert Morris for the horrific crimes he dedicated towards me.” She added, “My circle of relatives and I are deeply thankful to the government who’ve labored tirelessly to make these days conceivable and stay hopeful that justice will in the end be successful.”
Attorneys who had represented Mr. Morris didn’t in an instant reply to telephone calls and emails in the hunt for remark.
In a statement to The Christian Put up final 12 months after Ms. Clemishire made her allegations, Mr. Morris, who based Gateway Church in 2000, confessed that he had engaged in “beside the point sexual conduct with a tender girl.” Gateway Church, one of the most greatest church buildings in america, claimed to have greater than 100,000 attendees.
In a remark on Wednesday night time, Gateway Church stated: “We’re conscious about the movements being taken via the prison government in Oklahoma and are thankful for the paintings of the justice gadget in preserving abusers in charge of their movements. We proceed to wish for Cindy Clemishire and her circle of relatives, for the individuals and workforce of Gateway Church, and for all of the ones impacted via this horrible scenario.”
Mr. Morris had served on a religion advisory council throughout President Trump’s first time period. He hosted Mr. Trump at Gateway Church in June 2020. In 2024, a spokesman for Mr. Trump stated that Mr. Morris had now not performed a task in his 2024 presidential marketing campaign.
Specifics in regards to the prison investigation into Ms. Clemishire’s claims weren’t in an instant to be had. The costs that Mr. Morris faces each and every elevate a most penalty of twenty years in jail.
Sheelagh McNeill contributed analysis.
