UPDATE: Former Megachurch Pastor Robert Morris Turns Himself in on Child Sexual Abuse Charges
UPDATE
Former Texas megachurch pastor Robert Preston Morris, the founder of Gateway Church, reportedly turned himself in to authorities at the Osage County Courthouse before 8 a.m. today.
The Office of the Oklahoma Attorney General confirmed the development to CBN News.
Morris has been indicted in Oklahoma on five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child, the state’s attorney general announced last week.
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ORIGINAL STORY
The charges stem from allegations by Cindy Clemishire, who says Morris sexually abused her beginning in 1982 when she was just 12 years old. At the time, Morris was a traveling evangelist staying with Clemishire’s family in Hominy, Oklahoma. The abuse allegedly continued for four years.
“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, now 55, said in a statement. “Now, it is time for the legal system to hold him accountable.”
Morris, 63, resigned from Gateway Church last year, two days after admitting to “inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady.” However, Clemishire rejects that characterization.
“It was a crime,” she said. “I was a little girl.”
Clemishire, who is now a mom and grandma, told CBN News it took years for her to fully grasp what she endured. “I was 12,” she said. “I was not a teenager yet. And I told when I was 17 — and it did go all the way through … the full year of being 16.”
Morris’s accuser said she spent years sharing her story with friends, family, and those willing to listen, despite facing inner conflict.
“Like most believers, you don’t want to do anything that’s going to tarnish the name of God,” she said. “You don’t want to tarnish the church. You don’t want to hurt other believers. You don’t want to, you know, cause another person to not come to Jesus. And so I never wanted it to be a big deal, exposing … I just wanted someone in leadership, somewhere, {to} take him out of the pulpit because we did not feel as a family that that’s where he should be.”
Clemishire also spent decades sharing her story with church leaders, hoping someone would take action.
To read the full story please visit our content partners at CBN News.
Reprinted with permission from cbn.com. Copyright © 2025 The Christian Broadcasting Network Inc. All rights reserved.
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