OKLAHOMA CITY — Robert Preston Morris, 64, was released from the Osage County Jail just after midnight on March 31, 2026, after serving six months for five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child. Morris had pleaded guilty to the charges and received a 10-year suspended sentence, with the first six months to be served in the Osage County Jail as part of a plea agreement, according to Osage County District Court filings.

An Oklahoma grand jury indicted Morris in March 2025 on the counts to which he later pleaded guilty. The abusive acts began in 1982, when the victim was 12 years old and Morris was a traveling evangelist staying in Hominy, Oklahoma, with her family, according to the Oklahoma Attorney General's office.

The victim, Cindy Clemishire, now in her 50s, was present in the courtroom when Morris entered his guilty plea in October 2025. "Justice has finally been served, and the man who manipulated, groomed and abused me as a 12-year-old innocent girl is finally going to be behind bars," Clemishire said at the time.

"There is no such thing as consent from a 12-year-old child. We were never in an 'inappropriate relationship,'" Clemishire said.

Morris issued a statement acknowledging his actions. "What I did to Cindy decades ago was wrong. There is no other word for it, and there is no excuse for it. I am deeply sorry," he said. "I have carried the weight of that wrong for a very long time, and I am grateful — genuinely grateful — that the Clemishires had the courage to bring this into the light."

"Many years ago, I sought their forgiveness privately, and as Cindy's father recently noted, he extended that grace to me — a grace I did not deserve and have never taken for granted," Morris said.

Morris served as senior pastor of Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, a megachurch he founded in 2000, until June 2024. He resigned from Gateway after Clemishire's allegations became public. Morris also served on President Donald Trump's evangelical advisory board during Trump's first term.

Under the terms of his sentence, Morris must register as a sex offender and was required to pay $270,000 in restitution to the victim. He was also ordered to pay his costs of incarceration, including medical expenses. Morris will be supervised by Texas authorities via an interstate compact. According to jail records, he will remain under supervision for approximately nine and a half years of probation following his release.