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Eight people were booked into the Osage County Jail on Oct. 2. On the surface, that doesn’t sound like many, but for a county with only around 45,000 people, the range of charges against the new inmates was striking. Burglary in the first degree, obstructing an officer, domestic assault and battery, exploitation of an elderly person or disabled adult and even maiming are listed as just some of the charges facing a few of those booked into the jail on Thursday.
In the middle of that list is the only new inmate with only one charge listed under his name: Robert Morris, charged with lewd or indecent proposals or acts to a child. The disgraced former lead pastor of Gateway Church in Southlake pleaded guilty to all five counts against him in a deal that will keep him in the Osage County Jail for six months out of a reported 10-year sentence.
The fall has been as stunning as it has been quick since Cindy Clemishire went public with her accusations against Morris in June 2024, igniting one of the biggest church scandals in North Texas history. Clemishire said that in the 1980s, beginning when she was 12, Morris sexually abused her as he and his then-new wife were staying at her family’s home in Oklahoma. Morris stepped down from his position at Gateway shortly thereafter, bringing an end to an era that saw him oversee a church that had become one of the largest congregations in the state while becoming a prominent author, radio host and television personality as well as one of President Donald Trump’s leading religious supporters as a member of the president’s spiritual advisory council.
Perhaps the most dramatic moment of the previous 14 months came on Thursday, not when Morris was led away with his hands cuffed behind him, but just before that, when Clemishire read her victim-impact statement directly to the admitted pedophile.
In a statement provided to the media after the hearing, Clemishire said, “Today is a new beginning for me, my family and friends who have been by my side through this horrendous journey. I leave this courtroom today not as a victim, but a survivor.”
Read Clemishire’s full victim impact statement below:
Your Honor, my name is Cindy Clemishire. I am the 12-year-old little girl Robert Morris abused for more than four years. Thank you for giving me this time to describe how this crime has devastated my life and my family.
Robert, I want to remind you and help everyone else understand a little about my childhood so they can grasp the weight of what you took from me. I was raised in a loving home — surrounded by my sister, my brother, many aunts and uncles, cousins and the most amazing grandparents. My parents gave me a strong foundation in love, faith in Jesus, and family. Robert and Debbie [Morris’ wife], my parents, welcomed you into our home as their own. You all introduced us to the Faulkner family. The bond between all of us was special and unique. We all traveled together, went on mission trips, and shared summers and holidays. My dad trusted you.
I was only 12 years old when you began grooming me and my family. It was on December 25, 1982, you first told me, “You can never tell anyone, or it will ruin everything.” Those words became a prison to me. That Christmas day, my entire life shifted. You did not just harm me as a child — you stole my innocence, the most sacred possession a child has, and you murdered the future woman, wife, mother, grandmother, sister, daughter and friend I was meant to become. You carried on this premeditated crime for more than four years as you continued to remind me, I could never tell anyone, or it would ruin everything.
You created a false picture, you built a fractured framework, of what a relationship should be. During my most formative years, you controlled me emotionally, spiritually, physically, and psychologically. You twisted my trust and affection into something harmful and wrong. You trained me to believe abuse was love and that my body was not sacred.
When I told Glenda and my parents the truth when I was 17, I was terrified and ashamed of something that was never my fault. Then, Debbie, you called me to say you forgave me. Forgave me? That phone call added to my shame, and I carried that heavy burden of shame for decades. And for 38 years, my dad has carried the unbearable weight of guilt for allowing you into our home — a pedophile, disguised as a preacher.
This crime rippled into every part of my life. It strained my relationships with my parents and siblings. It damaged my marriages. It affected how I parented my children. It forced me into decades of counseling just to keep moving forward. And though my children and grandchildren are innocent, they too carry the burden of my pain.
While you built a megachurch, authored books and gained fame, I dropped out of college, endured divorces and struggled with self-worth. While you twisted your crimes into a story of “infidelity” to protect your image, my family and I were left trying to explain the truth to pastors who looked the other way. I battled depression, made countless poor decisions, adding more shame to my life. And when I finally spoke, you tried to call it consensual. Let me be clear: there is no such thing as consent from a 12-year-old child. We were never in an inappropriate relationship. I was not a young lady but a child. You committed a crime against me.
For the past 38 years, I longed for two things: first, for you to admit the truth and acknowledge the devastation you brought to my life. And second, for the childhood you stole from me to somehow be restored. The second can NEVER happen. The first, you have refused to do for decades.
And then, when the truth began to surface, you and Gateway Church made it worse. You were not just any pastor; you had built one of the largest megachurches in the country and served as a spiritual advisor to the president of the United States. Even though your public image was built on lies, your influence was powerful and far-reaching.
In June 2024, you and Gateway’s elders released false and misleading statements to protect your image. Those statements minimized my abuse, and once again shifted blame onto me, and turned my private pain into national news. Those statements retraumatized me. They emboldened strangers to threaten, stalk and attack me with the cruel lie that I — at 12 years old — somehow pursued you. People called and left degrading messages, sent messages through social media, commented on articles blaming me and calling me names, just like you did in your twisted sermons.
Robert, the abuse itself was horrific. But when you and your church rewrote the story, you multiplied the harm. You used your influence to protect your image and destroy mine. Instead of peace, I was forced to relive my trauma on a public stage.
Your crimes didn’t just wound me. They wounded my family, they wounded the church and they wounded faith itself. Daddy still asks, “What do think our heavenly father thinks of all this?” It grieves Daddy deeply to see how your actions corrupted the church, the body of Christ [that] he has devoted his life to.
But what you intended for evil, God is using for good. In Genesis 50:20, Joseph told his brothers, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good, so that many might be saved.” By speaking today, I pray other victims will see their shame lifted. I hope new laws like Trey’s Law [a Texas law banning nondisclosure agreements in child sex abuse civil cases] will continue to be written to protect victims’ rights, and current laws changed to protect children. I hope that churches will no longer silence abuse to protect predators. I hope God gets the glory, and His church is purged of people doing evil in the name of God. I hope I continue to heal. I even hope God reveals to you and Debbie the depth of this crime, I hope He convicts you of the sins committed against so many innocent people, and that you both genuinely repent. Because the most important message in this traumatic and heartbreaking story is that Jesus died on the cross for each one of us. He died not only to cover our sins and your horrific crime like this, but He also died for my pain and shame.
Robert, even if you never see the truth, the state of Oklahoma does and has finally done what should have been done decades ago — brought you to justice. For that, I am deeply grateful.
I will never get what I truly want — for none of this to have ever happened. But today marks a new beginning for me, my family, and my friends who have been by my side throughout this horrendous journey. Robert, I want you to see me clearly: I am no longer the silenced little girl you abused.
I am not a victim. I am a survivor.
