Large Church Pastor and Ex-Trump Adviser Pleads Guilty to Child Sexual Abuse

The founder of among the biggest large congregations in the United States, Robert Morris, has admitted guilt to sexually abusing a young girl in Oklahoma during the 1980s.

The pastor, 64, pleaded guilty on Thursday in the local court on five criminal counts of lewd or indecent acts with a minor. He was sentenced to a decade in prison, but as part of a plea deal will only serve half a year in county jail.

He will be listed as a sex offender and be required to pay $250,000 in restitution.

Background of the Legal Matter

The disgraced pastor founded the church in the city of Southlake, the state of Texas. He expanded it into among the ten biggest large churches in the US, with over twenty-five thousand visitors weekly.

The victim, 55, the individual who came forward as the survivor of the abuse, was present in the courtroom as he admitted his guilt. In a prepared statement she told him: “It is impossible to have agreement from a 12-year-old child. We were not involved in any improper relationship. I was not a young woman but a child. You performed a criminal act against me.”

Her sibling Karen Black also made a declaration, stating: “You acted as if you were righteous, speaking from large platforms. As you hid behind your facade, we’ve known you are simply a predator.”

The pastor resigned from the congregation the previous year after Clemishire went public. She had spent years seeking justice for the abuse.

Specifics of the Abuse

The abuse started in 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 persisted for the next four-year period.

A leaked transcript of a phone call revealed that in 2005, Morris tried to bribe the victim into not speaking out, saying to her to “name your price”.

Fall from Grace and Connections

The guilty verdict signals a dramatic downfall for the minister. At his peak, he authored several bestselling books and his sermons were broadcast around the world.

He also became a spiritual adviser to the former president. He was part of the presidential advisory group during the initial Trump administration and was involved in an effort to organize religious voters for him in last year’s presidential campaign.

The former president also attended Gateway church in 2020 where he praised the pastor and his leadership as “wonderful individuals with a great reputation”.