Update:

Updated at 6:21 p.m., March 12, 2025, with more details.

Robert Preston 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 from his position as senior pastor of Gateway in June, several days after Cindy Clemishire publicly alleged he sexually abused her from the ages of 12 to 17 in the 1980s.

Clemishire told The Dallas Morning News that Morris met her family after visiting their church in Oklahoma while he was a traveling preacher. At the time the alleged abuse began, Morris was 21 years old, married and had a young child.

When Clemishire first publicly alleged Morris abused her, legal experts told The News the statute of limitations for a criminal case against him may have expired. In a Wednesday news release, the Oklahoma Attorney General said that was not the case, as “Morris was not a resident or inhabitant of Oklahoma at any time,” according to the release.

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Related:Southlake megachurch pastor Robert Morris accused of sexual abuse in the 1980s

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 News on Wednesday.

“Now, it is time for the legal system to hold him accountable,” she said. “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.”

“There can be no tolerance for those who sexually prey on children,” Drummond said in the Wednesday news release. “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.”

Tra Willbanks, chair of Gateway’s elder board, said in a statement to The News that the church is aware of the indictment. “We are grateful for the work of the justice system in holding abusers accountable for their actions,” he said.

“We continue to pray for Cindy Clemishire and her family, for the members and staff of Gateway Church and for all those impacted by this terrible situation.”

Morris has not responded to letters and at least five phone calls from The News seeking comment. The News called three phone numbers listed in public records for Morris Wednesday and left voicemails at two of them and did not immediately receive a response.

The News called and emailed attorneys representing Morris in a different case and did not immediately hear back.

After the abuse allegations became public, Gateway announced it retained the law firm Haynes Boone to conduct an independent investigation into those allegations.

The investigation resulted in the removal of four elders and numerous staff members who had at least “some” knowledge of the Morris abuse allegations, Willbanks said at a service in November.

Related:Gateway removes 4 elders, says they had information about Morris abuse allegations

At that service, Willbanks said Gateway was cooperating with a criminal investigation that did not involve the church’s current leadership. He also said Gateway had a “failure of culture.”

“We must be honest with ourselves and acknowledge that our culture allowed this truth to be buried for too long,” Willbanks said of Morris’ alleged abuse.

Since Morris’ resignation, Gateway has faced a cultural reckoning. The church has lost roughly a quarter of its weekly attendees following the scandal.

Several staff members spoke to The News about what Gateway was like before Morris’ exit. They said the church had a “narcissistic” culture, where criticism was silenced and staffers were left with lasting trauma.

Related:Ex-Gateway employees say the church had a culture of silence and trauma. Is that changing?

Willbanks told The News Gateway is listening to former staffers’ concerns.

“I think we’re going to be better, going forward, because of these lessons that we’ve learned over the last eight months,” he said. “We had been ‘off’ for a while, and this was a wake-up call.”

Related:As attendance slides, remaining Gateway attendees put faith in church, not Robert Morris

Adrian Ashford covers faith and religion in North Texas for The Dallas Morning News through a partnership with Report for America.