The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.
Robert Morris, former pastor of Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, stands accused of five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child.
The founder of a Texas megachurch who resigned as senior pastor last year after he admitted “inappropriate sexual behavior” in the 1980s has been indicted on five criminal counts involving a child, the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office said Wednesday.
Robert Morris, 63, who founded Gateway Church in Southlake, is charged with five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child, the attorney general’s office said in a statement.
The abuse began in December 1982 when Morris was visiting the Hominy, Oklahoma, home of the victim, the attorney general’s office alleged. He was 21 and she was 12 at the time.
It continued for four years, the office said.
It was not clear whether Morris had an attorney in the criminal case announced Wednesday.
Gateway Church in Southlake, which is in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, is the one of the largest megachurches in the United States.
In June, after Cindy Clemishire came forward to accuse Morris of sexually abusing her as a child, Morris said he engaged in “inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady in a home where I was staying” in a statement to the evangelical news site The Christian Post.
“It was kissing and petting and not intercourse, but it was wrong,” he said.
Three days later, he resigned as senior pastor, and the church’s Board of Elders said it had not been aware of the girl’s age or the length of the alleged abuse.
“The elders’ prior understanding was that Morris’s extramarital relationship, which he had discussed many times throughout his ministry, was with ‘a young lady’ and not abuse of a 12-year-old child,” the board said at the time.
A voicemail left with the church’s administrative offices was not immediately returned after business hours Wednesday evening.
A multicounty grand jury returned the indictment against Morris, the attorney general’s office said.”There can be no tolerance for those who sexually prey on children,” Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said in the statement.
“This case is all the more despicable because the alleged perpetrator was a pastor who exploited his position,” Drummond said. “The victim in this case has waited far too many years for justice to be done.”
The indictment, which refers to the girl only as C.C., alleges that Morris inappropriately touched the girl, beginning around Dec. 25, 1982, when she was 12, and again on other occasions when she was 13 to 14 years old, including once when he rubbed himself on her. He also on one occasion took off the girl’s clothes when she was 12, the indictment says.
Clemishire told NBC News last year that the abuse started when Morris, an evangelist, was staying at the family’s home on Christmas Day.
Clemishire said Morris told her: “Never tell anyone about this. It will ruin everything.”
In a written statement Wednesday, she said she was grateful to authorities for their work on the criminal case.
“After almost 43 years, the law has finally caught up with Robert Morris for the horrific crimes he committed against me as a child. Now, it is time for the legal system to hold him accountable,” she said.
In 2007, Clemishire hired Drummond to represent her in seeking restitution from Morris to cover the cost of her counseling. The negotiations fell apart when Clemishire was not willing to sign a nondisclosure agreement, she has told NBC News.
Morris was a member of President Donald Trump’s spiritual advisory committee during his first term.
After the allegations were made public last year, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said Trump had not been aware of the allegations.
Morris was not in custody Wednesday, a spokesperson for the attorney general’s office said. Charges will be entered Thursday in Osage County, and a judge will set an initial appearance and bond.
“The Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office will work with Morris’ attorneys for him to surrender himself,” the attorney general’s office said.
The charge of lewd or indecent acts on a child is a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison, the office said.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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“Morris was a member of President Donald Trump’s spiritual advisory committee during his first term.”
That tracks. These sexual predators flock together.
It’s also telling that Morros referred to a 12-year-old child as a “young lady” to try to make it sound less reprehensible. No, a 12-year-old is a CHILD.
Is this what Jesus said about treating those in prison? Revival Fires is obsessed with anal sex and prison rape.
“In prison this man will get his butt ra**ed by a gang. He will be someone’s girlfriend and will know how that 12 year old felt. Be crying and putting his **** against the wall until he’s pulled away by 7 or 8 of them.”
Certainly, preachers who molest children or take sexual advantage of vulnerable people should be arrested, prosecuted, and incarcerated. However, it is immoral to promote prison rape and violence, regardless of a person’s crime.
Personally, I think Revival Fires 🔥 is a closeted homosexual; a closet filled with dark secrets. He hides behind fake names and email addresses. Much like Dr. David Tee, he rails against LGBTQ people, safe from any accountability. If RF and DDT are the best Christianity has to offer — no thanks.
Revival Liars is a self-absorbed jackass who needs professional help. He is a good example of a Christian hypocrite. I guess the silver lining is that he doesn’t seem to hide his hypocrisy, like so many other “followers of Christ”.
But hey, like I always say, he is praying for you to be “saved”, Bruce! 👍
I don’t actually believe that RF is a Christian. He’s a religious fanatic of some kind though. What ties in with Robert Morris in a weird way is this Senator in Minnesota that was arrested for soliciting a minor, Justin Eichorn. He wrote out that recent bill, called ” Trump Derangement Syndrome.” Him and his fellow morons did, who knew that Eichorn was living this double life. He looks so creepy,and incel- like. He harped about being a super- Christian. America is just too weird.
Robert Morris needs to locked up, but it’s true that rapes in prisons just shouldn’t be allowed, period. The guards know what’s going on, and they just let it happen. All that does is make first- time criminals harden up and become repeat offenders. All cells should be protected from assaults and those other things.