Disgraced megachurch pastor free after 6 months in jail for sexually abusing 12-year-old girl: ‘I am deeply sorry’
Robert Preston Morris, 64, the Texas megachurch pastor convicted of sexually abusing a child in the 1980s, was released from an Oklahoma prison just after midnight Tuesday, according to Osage County Sheriff’s Capt. Matt Clark.
Morris, who served six months of a 10-year suspended sentence, is required to register as a sex offender and will remain under supervision by Texas authorities. He must also cover his incarceration costs, including medical bills, and pay restitution to the victim, Cindy Clemishire. Clemishire, now in her 50s, did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday. At the time of sentencing, she said, “Justice has finally been served, and the man who manipulated, groomed, and abused me as a 12-year-old is finally behind bars.”
Clemishire’s attorney, Dallas-based Jeff Leach, emphasized the ongoing accountability Morris will face. “It is reassuring that he still has nearly ten years of probation, in addition to a lifetime of being publicly registered as a sex offender,” Leach said.
Morris was indicted by an Oklahoma grand jury last year and later pleaded guilty to five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child, stemming from a four-year pattern of abuse against Clemishire, who lived in Kansas at the time. The crimes occurred when she was 12 years old, beginning in 1982 while Morris was a traveling evangelist staying with her family in Hominy, Oklahoma, according to Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, whose office handled the prosecution.
Despite the abuse, Morris went on to gain national prominence, founding the Gateway Church in Southlake, a Dallas-Fort Worth suburb, in 2000. The church became one of the country’s largest megachurches. Morris resigned as senior pastor in June 2024 after the abuse allegations became public.
In a statement released Tuesday by his attorney Bill Mateja, Morris expressed remorse. “What I did to Cindy decades ago was wrong. There is no excuse for it, and I am deeply sorry,” he said. He added that he had previously sought forgiveness privately and credited Clemishire’s father for extending grace that he says he never took for granted.
Leach noted that Clemishire plans to pursue further justice in civil court. “She seeks full accountability not only from Robert for the crimes committed against her, but also from others who enabled him, lied on his behalf, or even acted against her to protect him,” he said.
Morris has also been involved politically, previously serving on President Trump’s evangelical advisory board.
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