Robert Morris, the founder of Gateway Church in Texas, has been released from an Oklahoma jail after serving six months for sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl in the 1980s. The 64-year-old former pastor pleaded guilty in October to five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child.
Under a plea agreement, Morris received a 10-year suspended sentence with only six months served in Osage County jail. He was released early on Tuesday, having completed his sentence, and will now serve nine and a half years of probation. He must also register as a sex offender and pay $270,000 in restitution.
The victim, Cindy Clemishire, identified herself publicly in 2024. She said the abuse began in 1982 when she was 12 and Morris was 21, a travelling preacher staying at her family's home in Oklahoma. In a statement after his guilty plea, she said: 'There is no such thing as consent from a 12-year-old child.'
Morris resigned as senior pastor of Gateway Church in 2024 after Clemishire went public. He was indicted in March 2025 on the charges to which he later pleaded guilty. Gateway Church, based in Southlake, Texas, grew into one of the largest megachurches in the US under his leadership.
Morris also served as a White House spiritual adviser during Donald Trump's first presidency, and Trump attended a roundtable at Gateway Church in June 2020.
