A once-powerful megachurch leader in Texas walked out of Osage County Jail in Oklahoma overnight after serving just six months for sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl.
Robert Morris, 64, founder of Gateway Church, was released from custody early Tuesday, according to Osage County Sheriff’s Office records.
His release comes six months after he pleaded guilty in October 2025 to five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child. Morris’ case has caused outrage but also led to unwavering support from many of his followers.
Now that Morris has been released, he is required to register as a lifetime sex offender, pay more than $250,000 in restitution and court costs, and will remain on probation for nine and a half years. Morris plans to serve out his probation at his $1.5 million lakefront home in Palo Pinto County, CBS News reported, citing court records.
Authorities say Morris sexually abused Cindy Clemishire beginning in 1982, when she was 12 years old, during visits to her family’s home in Oklahoma while he was a traveling preacher. The abuse continued for four years, officials said.
Despite Clemshire reporting the abuse, charges weren’t brought against Morris until decades later. In October 2025, Morris was sentenced in Osage County District Court to 10 years but under a plea agreement, he only served six months in jail.
Clemishire, who was 55 at the time of sentencing, said she reported the abuse to her parents and church leaders in 1987 and later attempted to pursue allegations in 2005 and 2007.
Morris founded Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, in 2000, growing it into one of the largest megachurches in the country with weekly attendance of about 25,000.
In 2016, Donald Trump named him a spiritual adviser and member of his evangelical advisory committee. In 2020, Morris hosted Trump at Gateway Church, where the president praised him as “great people with a great reputation.”
But things took a turn when Clemishire publicly accused Morris of abusing her in a blog post online in June 2024. He resigned that same year.
At the time, the church’s board released at statement saying it was the “elders' prior understanding was that Morris's extramarital relationship, which he had discussed many times throughout his ministry, was with 'a young lady' and not abuse of a 12-year-old child.”
Amid the fallout, multiple pastors, including Morris’s son James, left the church.
In 2025, Morris pled guilty to five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child.
Speaking in court, Clemishire delivered a searing statement: “Let me be clear: there is no such thing as consent from a 12-year-old child. You did not just harm me as a child - you stole my innocence, the most sacred possession a child has, and you murdered the future woman, wife, mother, grandmother, sister, daughter, and friend I was meant to become.”
“The most important thing for me was that he pled guilty to all five counts, and that he'd served some amount of time,” Oklahoma Attorney General's Office and Clemishire told CBS News Texas following the verdict. ”And, while most people think it's not enough, for me, it ensured that he would spend time behind bars.”
In a statement, Morris’s attorneys said he “pled guilty because he wanted to accept responsibility for his conduct… Pastor Robert made it a point to ask that I tell Ms. Clemishire and her family that he sincerely apologizes.”
The case has drawn international attention and sharp condemnation, but also support from some of Morris’s followers. Just after the sentencing in October, many followers flocked to a Facebook post by the 700 Club, defending the former pastor.
“God does forgive, and I believe he is a forgiven man,” one supporter wrote.
“For something that happened 40-plus years ago. UNBELIEVABLE,” another wrote.
Another supporter added: “Love you, Pastor Robert. Praying for you and your family. God isn’t finished with you. Your best has yet to come!”
