Large Church Pastor and FormerTrump Adviser Pleads Guilty to Sexual Abuse of a Minor

The head of one of the largest megachurches in the United States, Robert Morris, has pleaded guilty to molesting a 12-year-old girl in Oklahoma during the 1980s period.

Morris, sixty-four, pleaded guilty on Thursday in Osage county district court on multiple charges of lewd or indecent acts with a child. He was sentenced to a decade in prison, but as part of a plea deal will only serve six months in county jail.

He will register as a sex offender and be required to pay a quarter million dollars in restitution.

Background of the Case

The former minister founded the church in the city of Southlake, Texas. He grew it into one of the top 10 largest large churches in the United States, with more than 25,000 visitors each week.

The victim, 55, the individual who publicly identified herself as the victim of Morris’s sexual abuse, was there in court as he pleaded guilty. In a written declaration she stated: “It is impossible to have agreement from a child of twelve. We were never in an ‘inappropriate relationship’. I was not a young woman but a child. You performed a criminal act against me.”

Her sibling Karen Black also read a statement, saying: “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 last year after the victim went public. She had spent years trying to hold her abuser accountable.

Details of the Abuse

The molestation started in 1982 when the pastor, then 21, was a travelling evangelist. He stayed with the family in their residence, where he invited the girl into his room.

The abuse persisted for the next four-year period.

A leaked transcript of a phone call showed that in 2005, Morris attempted to pay off Clemishire into silence, saying to her to “put a price on it”.

Downfall and Connections

Morris’s conviction marks a remarkable fall for the pastor. At his height, he wrote 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 part of a campaign to organize religious voters for him in last year’s presidential campaign.

The former president also visited the church in 2020 where he praised Morris and his leadership as “great people with a stellar reputation”.