The founder of a Texas megachurch and former Trump ally has been indicted on charges of lewd or indecent acts with a child - which allegedly happened in the 1980s.
Robert Morris, 63, resigned last year from the Gateway Church in the Dallas suburb of Southlake as senior pastor after the allegations surfaced.
He is charged with five criminal counts of lewd or indecent acts involving a child, who was 12 at the time, the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office said in a statement Wednesday.
Morris, who was a member of President Donald Trump’s evangelical advisory committee during his first term, stepped down last June after admitting to having “inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady” in the 1980s, after a woman accused him of molesting her when she was 12-years-old.
Cindy Cemishire went public with the accusation last summer. She claimed Morris told her: “Never tell anyone about this. It will ruin everything.”
Prosecutors said the abuse occurred while Morris was a traveling evangelist visiting Hominy, Oklahoma, with the family of the alleged victim. The indictment alleges the abuse started around Christmas of 1982 and carried on for the next four years.
“There can be no tolerance for those who sexually prey on children,” Attorney General Gentner Drummond said. “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.”
Cemishire told NBC News that she was “grateful” to the authorities for pursuing the 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 told the outlet.
Morris previously claimed that Cemishire’s family “forgave him” and he “repented.”
“When I was in my early twenties, I was involved in inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady in a home where I was staying. It was kissing and petting and not intercourse, but it was wrong,” he said. “In March of 1987, this situation was brought to light, and it was confessed and repented of. I submitted myself to the Elders of Shady Grove Church and the young lady’s father. I asked their forgiveness, and they graciously forgave me.”
Clemishire told WFAA last year that though her family never supported the disgraced Pastor’s return to the ministry.
“I think leaders can get caught up and think it’s our responsibility to protect God and it’s not. Our responsibility is to protect the people,” she said. “God is bigger than all of that.”
When the allegations came to light, Trump’s campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said Trump had not been aware of the allegations, according to NBC News.
If found guilty, Morris faces up to 20 years in prison.
