Robert Morris, the founder and senior pastor of Gateway Church, pleaded guilty to five felony counts in Osage County District Court on 2 October 2025. The former spiritual advisor to Donald Trump was charged with lewd or indecent acts with a child. This admission follows his resignation from the Texas megachurch in 2024.
The abuse involved Cindy Clemishire. She was 12 years old when the unpleasant incidents began in 1982. Morris was then a 21-year-old traveling evangelist staying at her family home in Oklahoma. Statements made by the victim to authorities revealed that the sexual molestation continued for approximately four years.
It was on 14 June 2024 when the accusation became public on the religious watchdog blog The Wartburg Watch. Clemishire, then already 54 years old, had claimed that on Christmas night in 1982, Morris, with whom she had been staying in the same household, invited her to his room and made inappropriate advances toward her.
Morris received a 10-year sentence in custody, but a plea agreement drastically reduced his actual prison term. He will serve only six months in county jail. This concession instantly sparked widespread public criticism. Note that the deal mandates that the former Christian evangelical pastor must legally register as a sex offender.
In addition, as part of the legal settlement, Morris is required to pay 250,000 United States dollars in restitution to Clemishire. During the recent district court proceedings, Clemishire delivered a powerful statement. She emphasized the fact that she was a child, not a “young lady,” and that no consent was possible at age twelve.
This conviction represents a profound downfall for an iconic evangelist whose sermons were globally broadcast and whose church hosted numerous political events. One of these events was a roundtable discussion with Trump in 2020. The verdict brought legal accountability decades after the horrific crimes were first committed.
Further details included a 2005 telephone call transcript indicating Morris was trying to silence the victim. He allegedly urged Clemishire to “put a price on it,” revealing an attempt at bribery. This act aimed to conceal his past crimes from the public and preserve his prominent, highly profitable religious career as a megachurch pastor.