The founder of a Texas megachurch accused of sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl in the 1980s has been indicted, according to the Oklahoma Attorney General's Office.
Gateway Church founder Robert Morris, 63, who stepped down in June after the allegations surfaced, was indicted Wednesday on five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child stemming from incidents in the 1980s.
The megachurch in Southlake, Texas, is among the largest in the country.
In December 1982, Morris was a traveling evangelist visiting in Hominy with the family of the girl, prosecutors said. The sexual abuse began over Christmas of that year and continued for the next four years.
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“There can be no tolerance for those who sexually prey on children,” Gentner Drummond, the state's attorney general, said in a statement. “This case is all the more despicable because the alleged perpetrator was a pastor who exploited his position. The victim in this case has waited far too many years for justice to be done.”
Cindy Clemishire went public with her allegations that Morris molested her for years. Morris has admitted to having “inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady” decades earlier, and the church later said he was “open and forthright about a moral failure" and had undergone a two-year "restoration process."
The grand jury found Morris used his hands and body to touch the girl’s private parts, according to The New York Times, which cited the indictment. The indictment refers to the girl as C.C.
Clemishire told the Times in a statement, “After almost 43 years, the law has finally caught up with Robert Morris for the horrific crimes he committed against me.”
"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," she said.
Morris previously served on a faith advisory council during Trump’s first term and hosted Trump at Gateway Church over the summer in 2020. A spokesman for Trump told the Times that Morris didn't participate in his presidential campaign last year.
