Megachurch Pastor and Ex-Trump Adviser Admits Guilt to Sexual Abuse of a Minor
The founder of among the biggest megachurches in the United States, Robert Morris, has pleaded guilty to molesting a young girl in Oklahoma during the 1980s.
The pastor, sixty-four, entered a guilty plea on that day in Osage county district court on five criminal counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child. He was given a sentence to 10 years in custody, but as part of a plea deal will only serve half a year in county jail.
He will register as a registered offender and be required to pay a quarter million dollars in compensation.
Background of the Legal Matter
The former minister founded the church in the city of Southlake, Texas. He expanded it into one of the top 10 largest large churches in the US, with over twenty-five thousand visitors each week.
The victim, 55, the individual who publicly identified herself as the victim of Morris’s sexual abuse, was present in the courtroom as he admitted his guilt. In a prepared statement she stated: “It is impossible to have consent from a 12-year-old child. We were never in an ‘inappropriate relationship’. I was not a young woman but a minor. You performed a criminal act against me.”
Her sibling a family member also made a declaration, saying: “You pretended to be holy, preaching from big pulpits. As you hid behind your facade, we’ve known you are nothing but a predator.”
The pastor stepped down from the church last year after the victim went public. She had spent years seeking justice for the abuse.
Details of the Abuse
The abuse started in the year 1982 when Morris, at age twenty-one, was a travelling evangelist. He stayed with Clemishire’s family in their home, where he invited the child into his room.
The molestation continued for the next four-year period.
A revealed recording of a phone call revealed that in 2005, the pastor tried to bribe Clemishire into silence, telling her to “name your price”.
Fall from Grace and Associations
Morris’s conviction marks a remarkable fall for the pastor. At his peak, he wrote multiple popular books and his sermons were transmitted around the world.
He also became a religious counselor to the former president. He joined the presidential advisory group during the first Trump presidency and was part of a campaign to mobilize evangelical voters for him in last year’s presidential campaign.
The former president also attended the church in 2020 where he commended the pastor and his leadership as “wonderful individuals with a stellar reputation”.
