The founder of among the biggest large congregations in the United States, the pastor, has pleaded guilty to molesting a young girl in Oklahoma during the 1980s.
Morris, 64, entered a guilty plea on that day in the local court on five criminal counts of inappropriate acts with a minor. He was given a sentence to a decade in custody, but under an agreement will serve only half a year in local jail.
He will register as a sex offender and be required to pay a quarter million dollars in restitution.
The former minister established Gateway church in Southlake, the state of Texas. He expanded it into among the ten biggest large churches in the US, with more than 25,000 attendees each week.
The victim, fifty-five, the individual who publicly identified herself as the victim of the abuse, was present in the courtroom as he pleaded guilty. In a prepared statement she stated: “It is impossible to have agreement 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 sister Karen Black also made a declaration, saying: “You pretended to be holy, speaking from big pulpits. As you hid behind your facade, we’ve been aware you are nothing but a predator.”
The pastor resigned from the congregation the previous year after the victim made her story known. She had devoted many years seeking justice for the abuse.
The molestation started in the year 1982 when the pastor, at age twenty-one, was a travelling evangelist. He was a guest of Clemishire’s family in their home, where he invited the girl into his room.
The abuse continued for the following four years.
A leaked transcript of a conversation showed that in 2005, Morris tried to bribe Clemishire into not speaking out, saying to her to “put a price on it”.
Morris’s conviction signals a dramatic downfall for the pastor. At his peak, he authored multiple popular books and his teachings were broadcast globally.
He also became a spiritual adviser to Donald Trump. He was part of the presidential advisory group during the initial Trump administration and was involved in an effort to mobilize religious voters for him in last year’s presidential campaign.
Trump also visited the church in 2020 where he praised the pastor and his senior team as “great people with a stellar reputation”.
Lena Hoffmann is a seasoned journalist with a passion for uncovering stories that matter, specializing in German current affairs and digital media trends.
