Texas megachurch pastor Robert Morris is free after 6 months in an
Oklahoma jail for child sex abuse
[April 01, 2026]
By SEAN MURPHY
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The founder of a Texas megachurch who pleaded
guilty to sexually abusing a child in the 1980s was released Tuesday
after serving six months in an Oklahoma jail.
Robert Preston Morris, 64, was released just after midnight, said Osage
County Sheriff’s Capt. Matt Clark.
Morris pleaded guilty last year to five counts of lewd or indecent acts
with a child as part of a plea agreement under which he received a
10-year suspended sentence with the first six months to be served in the
Osage County Jail.
The abuse began in 1982 when the victim was 12 and Morris was a
traveling evangelist staying in Hominy, Oklahoma, with her family,
according to Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, whose office
prosecuted the case.
Morris was the senior pastor of Gateway Church in the Dallas-Fort Worth
suburb of Southlake, where he led one of the nation’s largest
megachurches until June 2024 when — faced with the victim's allegations
— he resigned. He was indicted last year by an Oklahoma grand jury.
Morris must register as a sex offender and will be supervised by Texas
authorities via interstate compact. He also was ordered to pay his costs
of incarceration, including any medical expenses, and restitution to the
victim.
The victim, Cindy Clemishire, who is now in her 50s, did not immediately
respond Tuesday to a request for comment, but said in a statement when
Morris was sentenced 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.” The Associated Press typically does
not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they
come forward publicly, as Clemishire did.
Jeff Leach, a Dallas-based attorney who represents Clemishire, said in a
statement they are “heartened to know that he (Morris) still has nearly
ten years of probation as well as a lifetime ahead of being publicly
registered as a sex offender.”
[to top of second column]
|
Texas megachurch founder Robert Morris is escorted out of the
building after pleading guilty to lewd and indecent acts with a
child at the Osage County Courthouse in Pawhuska, Okla., Oct. 2,
2025. (Juan Figueroa/The Dallas Morning News via AP, File)
Leach added that Clemishire plans to continue to seek justice
through civil courts.
“She rightfully seeks full accountability not only for Robert and
the crimes he committed against her as a young child, but also for
the other individuals who harbored him, covered for him, lied for
him and even in some cases attacked Cindy on his behalf,” Leach
said.
In a statement released Tuesday by one of Morris' attorneys, Bill
Mateja, Morris apologized to Clemishire and her family and praised
them for coming forward.
“What I did to Cindy decades ago was wrong. There is no other word
for it, and there is no excuse for it. I am deeply sorry,” Morris
said. "I have carried the weight of that wrong for a very long time,
and I am grateful — genuinely grateful — that the Clemishires had
the courage to bring this into the light.
“Many years ago, I sought their forgiveness privately, and as
Cindy’s father recently noted, he extended that grace to me — a
grace I did not deserve and have never taken for granted.”
Gateway Church was founded by Morris in 2000. He has been
politically active and formerly served on President Donald Trump’s
evangelical advisory board. The church hosted Trump on its Dallas
campus in 2020 for a discussion on race relations and the economy.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
