Megachurch Minister and FormerTrump Adviser Admits Guilt to Child Sexual Abuse
The head of one of the largest megachurches in the US, Robert Morris, has admitted guilt to sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl in Oklahoma during the 1980s period.
Morris, sixty-four, pleaded guilty on Thursday in Osage county district court on five criminal counts of lewd or indecent acts with a minor. He was given a sentence to 10 years in prison, but as part of a plea deal will serve only six months in local jail.
He will register as a registered offender and pay a quarter million dollars in compensation.
Context of the Legal Matter
The disgraced pastor founded Gateway church in the city of Southlake, Texas. He grew it into among the ten biggest large churches in the US, with more than 25,000 attendees each week.
Cindy Clemishire, 55, the individual who publicly identified herself as the survivor of Morris’s sexual abuse, was present in the courtroom as he pleaded guilty. In a written declaration she stated: “It is impossible to have consent from a child of twelve. We were not involved in any improper relationship. I was not a young woman but a child. You performed a criminal act against me.”
Her sibling Karen Black also read a statement, saying: “You acted as if you were righteous, speaking from big pulpits. As you concealed your true self, we’ve known you are simply a predator.”
The pastor stepped down from the church the previous year after the victim made her story known. She had spent years trying to hold her abuser accountable.
Details of the Abuse
The abuse began in the year 1982 when the pastor, then 21, was a itinerant preacher. He stayed with the family in their home, where he asked the girl into his bedroom.
The abuse continued for the next four-year period.
A revealed recording of a phone call revealed that in 2005, the pastor attempted to pay off the victim into not speaking out, saying to her to “put a price on it”.
Downfall and Connections
The guilty verdict signals a dramatic downfall for the minister. At his peak, he authored multiple popular books and his sermons were transmitted around the world.
He also served as a religious counselor to the former president. He joined the White House spiritual advisory committee during the first Trump presidency and was involved in an effort to organize religious voters for him in last year’s presidential campaign.
Trump also visited the church in 2020 where he praised the pastor and his senior team as “wonderful individuals with a stellar reputation”.
