March 12 (UPI) — The founder and former pastor of a Texas mega church was indicted Wednesday by a multi-county grand jury on charges of sexually abusing a 12-year-old during the 1980s.
Robert Preston Morris, 63, is the founder of Southlake-based Gateway Church, one of the United States largest, and had resigned last summer as senior pastor amid sexual abuse allegations.
The indictment announced Wednesday by Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond accuses Morri of committing sexual misconduct against a 12-year-old daughter of a family he was staying with in Hominy when working as a traveling evangelist.
The court document states the alleged misconduct began Christmas 1982 and persisted until at least Jan. 24, 1985, when the victim was about 15 years old.
Few specifics of the alleged misconduct are detailed in the document, which refers to the victim by the initials C.C.
Two of the counts accuse Morris of having “intentionally and designedly touch or feel with his hand the body and private parts, including the breast and vaginal area, of C.C.”
One states he allegedly “intentionally and designedly” looked upon his victim’s breasts and vaginal area “after removing her clothing and exposing those areas of her body to his view.”
One count accuses him of molesting his victim, who was then 13 or 14 years old, “while parked in a vehicle” on Red Eagle Road in Osage County.
The fifth count accuses him of touching or feeling the private parts of C.C., then about 13 or 14, “by removing her clothing and rubbing his body, including his penis, covered by his clothing, against her body, including her leg.” The alleged incident again occurred while parked on Red Eagle Road.
UPI has contacted Gateway Church for comment.
“There can be no tolerance for those who sexually prey on children,” Drummond said in a statement Wednesday.
“This case is all the more despicable because the alleged perpetrator was a pastor who exploited his position. The victim in this case has waited far too many years for justice to be done.”
Morris resigned from his church in June after confessing to committing a “moral failure” by engaging in sexual behavior with a “young lady” over several years in the 1980s.
His resignation confession was prompted by Cindy Clemishire telling The Wartbug Watch church watchdog that Morris had sexually abused her between the ages of 12 and 15.
Following Morris’ resignation, Clemishire told The Christian Post that she was “appalled” by his description of her as having been a young girl when the alleged crimes occurred.
“I was a little girl,” she told the evangelical news site in June. “A very innocent little girl. And he was brought into our home. He and his wife, Debbie, and their little boy, Josh, and trusted and preached at the church that my dad helped start and then began grooming all of us to do this, which took me decades to wrap my brain around as an adult.”
According to the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office, the statute of limitations is not applicable in this situation because Morris was not a resident or inhabitant of Oklahoma at any time.