PAWHUSKA, Okla. — Robert Preston Morris, the founder of Dallas-area megachurch Gateway who is charged with child sex abuse, made an initial court appearance at the Osage County Courthouse on Friday. His preliminary hearing was set for Sept. 4.
Related:Robert Morris: What to know about Gateway founder, abuse allegations, fallout
Morris was indicted in March on five counts of lewd or indecent acts to a child, according to the office of Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond. Morris could face up to 20 years in prison for each of the five charges, according to the attorney general’s office.
Morris turned himself in on March 17 and was released on a $50,000 bond, according to Osage County officials. Morris entered a not guilty plea, according to court records.
Last June, Cindy Clemishire publicly alleged that Morris sexually abused her from the ages of 12 to 17 in the 1980s. She shared her story in a June 14 post on Christian blog The Wartburg Watch.
Morris has provided one public statement on Clemishire’s story. He shared a statement with The Christian Post for a June 15 article, admitting to “inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady.” He resigned from the church he founded on June 18, 2024.
On Friday morning, Morris walked toward the Osage County Courthouse, accompanied by his wife, Debbie Morris, and his attorney, Mack Martin. Robert Morris was asked whether he could comment.
“I’m sorry, I can’t,” Morris said.
“He’s not talking,” Martin said.
Related:Gateway founder Robert Morris to make initial court appearance Friday: what to know
Morris has not responded to letters and at least five phone calls from The Dallas Morning News seeking comment. The News called two phone numbers listed in public records for Morris on May 7 and left a voicemail at one of them and did not receive a response. The News asked Martin for comment on Friday, and he did not respond.
On Friday, Morris’ appearance in front of Judge Cindy Pickerill lasted about a minute. As Morris and his wife sat in the back of the courtroom, Martin asked the judge to schedule a preliminary hearing, which she set for Sept. 4.
“Is there anything else?” the judge asked.
“No, Your Honor,” Martin said.
Related:Fight for strong NDA ban for sex abuse cases prompts North Texas lawmaker to block bills
Clemishire sat in the courtroom with her parents and older sister, Karen Black. They were joined by Clemishire’s friends, including Tracy Jungels and Robin Turney. Jungels and Turney have known Clemishire for over 30 years. Clemishire declined to comment.
Drummond, Oklahoma’s attorney general, was in the courtroom but declined to comment through a spokesperson.
Kimberly Osment, 69, who lives just outside Osage County, also sat in the courtroom. She said she is a survivor of sexual abuse and wanted to attend the court appearance to support Clemishire. “Every battle impacts all the others,” Osment said. “You just hope — first off, for justice, but secondly, for a change in the culture, that this stops.”
Statute of limitations
When Clemishire first alleged Morris abused her, legal experts said they doubted Morris would face any criminal charges.
That doubt was rooted in statute of limitations laws. Those laws typically determine how long an alleged victim of child sexual abuse can wait before initiating legal action against the person who allegedly abused them.
Attorneys told The News that in the 1980s, Texas law said a case against someone accused of abusing a child must be brought within a few years of the alleged abuse.
Drummond told The News in a March interview that a frontier-era Oklahoma law might allow Morris to be prosecuted anyway.
Related:Woman who accused Gateway Church founder of sexual abuse says recovery has been ‘lifelong’
“When Oklahoma was formulating its constitution and statutory framework, we were ‘no man’s land,’ we were Indian territory,” Drummond said. He said the state put a law on the books to prevent people from neighboring states like Arkansas and Texas from coming to Oklahoma, committing crimes and returning home.
The statute he referenced says: “If when the offense is committed the defendant be out of the state, the prosecution may be commenced within the term herein limited after his coming within the state, and no time during which the defendant is not an inhabitant of or usually resident within the state, is part of the limitation.”
Gateway Church
Morris founded Southlake’s Gateway Church in 2000 and served as its senior pastor until last June.
Related:A timeline of Robert Morris, Gateway Church and the child sex abuse scandal
Gateway Church is a nondenominational church that is “Bible-based, evangelistic, Spirit-empowered,” according to its website. Robert Morris founded Gateway on Easter Sunday in 2000 in the living room of his Southlake home with just 30 people.
Three years later, Gateway opened a 64,000-square-foot facility with a 600-seat auditorium in Southlake. A few years later, Gateway broke ground on its current Southlake campus, which features a 4,000-seat auditorium.
Related:Ex-Gateway employees say the church had a culture of silence and trauma. Is that changing?
In 2016, Gateway added a campus in Dallas near Hillcrest Road and Churchill Way. It also operates campuses in Frisco, Grand Prairie, Fort Worth, North Richland Hills, Justin, Plano and Prosper.
Morris has written numerous books, including The Blessed Life, Why Keep Praying, Dream to Destiny, The God I Never Knew, Truly Free and his latest, Grace, Period.
He also hosted a radio program, Worship & the Word with Pastor Robert, that aired in more than 6,800 cities, according to its website. His television show, Pastor Robert Morris Ministries, aired on Trinity Broadcasting Network and Daystar and reached 190 countries, according to its website. In Dallas-Fort Worth, it aired on KDFW-TV (Channel 4) at 9:30 on Sundays, according to its website.
Daystar, in a June statement posted on social media, said it would remove all of Morris’ programming from its broadcast schedule in light of the allegations and the statement by Gateway Church.
Adrian Ashford covers faith and religion in North Texas for The Dallas Morning News through a partnership with Report for America.
