DALLAS — Robert Morris, the founder of Gateway Church, has been indicted on five counts of lewd or indecent acts to a child, the Oklahoma attorney general’s office said Wednesday.
Morris, 63, resigned his position as senior pastor of Gateway in June, several days after Cindy Clemishire publicly accused him of sexually abusing her from the ages of 12 to 17, beginning in 1982.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond briefly represented Clemishire in 2007, when she sought a lawsuit against Morris.
“After almost 43 years, the law has finally caught up with Robert Morris for the horrific crimes he committed against me as a child,” Clemishire told The Dallas Morning News on Wednesday. “Now, it is time for the legal system to hold him accountable. My family and I are deeply grateful to the authorities who have worked tirelessly to make this day possible and remain hopeful that justice will ultimately prevail.”
Morris has not responded to letters and at least five phone calls from The News seeking comment.
After the allegations became public, Gateway announced it retained the law firm Haynes Boone to conduct an independent investigation into the allegations against Morris.
The investigation resulted in the removal of four elders and numerous staff members who had knowledge of the allegations against Morris prior to June, church elder Tra Willbanks said at a service in November.
At that same service, Willbanks said Gateway was cooperating with a criminal investigation that did not involve the church’s current leadership.
Since Morris’ resignation, Gateway has faced a cultural reckoning as the church has grappled with the influence the former leader had over the church and how that influence allowed the allegations against him to be buried for so long.
At the November service, Willbanks acknowledged that a “failure of culture” led to power at Gateway being centralized around Morris.
Several former employees of the church spoke to The Dallas Morning News of the toxic environment present at the church under Morris.
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