A former pastor of a Texas megachurch – and ex-Donald Trump spiritual adviser – surrendered to Oklahoma authorities on Monday on charges of child sexual abuse.
Robert Preston Morris, 63, turned himself over to officials in Osage county, where he was charged on Thursday with five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child, Phil Bacharach, a spokesperson for the Oklahoma attorney general’s office, told the Associated Press.
Court records show an Osage county judge set a $50,000 bond and ordered Morris to surrender his passport.
Morris is expected to make an initial appearance before a judge at 10am on 9 May, Bacharach said.
Attorney Mack Martin declined to comment on the charges but said he anticipated entering a not guilty plea on Morris’s behalf.
Morris resigned last year as pastor of Gateway church in the Dallas suburb of Southlake after a woman accused him of sexually abusing her in the 1980s.
The victim, referred to in the indictment as CC, told authorities the abuse started when she was 12 years old and Morris was a traveling evangelist staying in Hominy, Oklahoma, with her family, according to the attorney general’s office. She said the abuse continued for four years.
Cindy Clemishire, Morris’s accuser, said in a statement that she was very grateful to the authorities who have worked to make the indictment possible and was hopeful “justice will ultimately prevail”.
“After almost 43 years, the law has finally caught up with Robert Morris for the horrific crimes he committed against me as a child,” said Clemishire, now 55. “Now, it is time for the legal system to hold him accountable.”
The AP typically does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted, but Clemishire said she would like her name included.
Morris was known to be politically active. The church hosted Trump on its Dallas campus in 2020 for a discussion on race relations and the economy. He was also a member of Trump’s spiritual advisory committee and evangelical executive advisory board during his first presidential term – and joined an effort to mobilize conservatives and evangelicals in support of Trump’s successful 2024 presidential campaign.
Morris could face up to 20 years in prison for each of the five charges, according to the attorney general’s office.
