https://www.texastribune.org/2025/03/12/robert-morris-texas-megachurch-indicted-sexual-abuse/Robert Morris, the Dallas-area megachurch pastor who resigned last year amid sexual abuse allegations, has been indicted in Oklahoma for child sex crimes that date back to the 1980s.
Morris is a former spiritual adviser to President Donald Trump, and Gateway — one of the nation’s largest megachurches — has been particularly active in politics. In 2020, Trump held a “Roundtable on Transition to Greatness” there that was attended by then-U.S. Attorney General William Barr and other prominent Republicans.
Morris faces five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child, the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office said in a Wednesday evening press release.
The indictment comes less than a year after Morris resigned from Gateway Church in Southlake after an adult woman, Cindy Clemishire, said Morris repeatedly sexually assaulted her while she was a child in Oklahoma in the 1980s. Morris was at the time working as a traveling preacher.
In a Wednesday text message, Clemishire said through an attorney that she was grateful for the indictments.
“After almost 43 years, the law has finally caught up with Robert Morris for the horrific crimes he committed against me as a child,” she said. “Now, it is time for the legal system to hold him accountable. My family and I are deeply grateful to the authorities who have worked tirelessly to make this day possible and remain hopeful that justice will ultimately prevail.”
Clemishire’s disclosure came as the Dallas religious community was still reeling from a handful of recent sex abuse scandals. Since then, at least a dozen Dallas-area churches or pastors have been accused of committing or concealing sexual misconduct, allegations that have ensnared some of the area’s most prominent leaders and institutions.
