Bombshell court documents reveal how Texas megachurch pastor Robert Morris tried to blame 12-year-old girl for their illegal sexual relationship
Texas megachurch Pastor Robert Morris lawyers tried to blame the 12-year-old girl who accused him of assault for the sexual abuse, legal documents have claimed.
Morris, 62, the founder and senior pastor of Gateway Church in Southlake - one of the largest megachurches in the country - has been accused of sexually abusing former family friend Cindy Clemishire in the 1980s, when she was just 12 years old.
The former spiritual advisor to Donald Trump resigned from the megachurch after admitting to abusing Clemishire, who went public last month with her allegations in a blog post on The Wartburg Watch, a website dedicated to exposing abuse in churches.
Correspondence obtained by NBC News shows 25 years after the alleged abuse when Clemishire hired an attorney and threatened to sue Morris, his lawyer responded by blaming the 12-year-old for what happened.
'It was your client who initiated inappropriate behavior by coming into my client’s bedroom and getting in bed with him, which my client should not have allowed to happen,' Morris' lawyer J. Shelby Sharpe wrote in a February 6, 2007 response.
Legal documents show Texas megachurch Pastor Robert Morris lawyers tried to blame the 12-year-old girl who accused him of assault for the sexual abuse
Cindy Clemishire (pictured) claimed Morris abused her in the 1980s, when she was just 12 years old
The letter was one in a series of exchanges that year between Sharpe and Clemishire's lawyer Gentner Drummond, from when she was seeking $50,000 in restitution to cover the cost of counseling.
Morris countered with an offer of $25,000, but negotiations stopped because Clemishire was not willing to sign a nondisclosure agreement, NBC News reported.
Clemishire alleged that Morris' abuse began when he stayed at her family home in Tulsa on Christmas 1982.
She described a scene in which Morris asked her to come to his room and speak with him, asking her to lay on his bed.
Morris began to touch her inappropriately, with Clemishire alleging he touched her stomach, then her breast and then under her pants.
She added that after the alleged abuse occurred, Morris 'told me I could never tell anyone, because it would ruin everything,' and that he would continue to isolate her and abuse her for the next four-and-a- half years before she finally spoke out.
Decades after the alleged abuse when Clemishire hired an attorney and threatened to sue Morris, his lawyer responded by blaming the 12 year old for what happened
Morris is the founder and senior pastor of Gateway Church (pictured) in Southlake - one of the largest megachurches in the country
Morris had previously admitted to 'inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady' without specifying the age of Clemishire, who says the abuse went from 1982 to 1987 when he was married to his wife Debbie (right)
Over two decades later January 30, 2007, Drummond wrote to Sharpe on behalf of Clemishire detailing the sexual abuse and how Morris 'led her to believe that they were having a special relationship that had to remain secret.'
'Reverend Morris began sexually assaulting [Clemishire] who was then twelve years old,' Drummond wrote.
Sharpe responded a week later claiming Clemishire initiated sexual contact with Morris.
When contacted by NBC News, Sharpe denied knowing at the time that Clemishire had been a child when Morris began engaging in sexual behavior with her - despite Drummond's initial correspondence specifically stating she was 12 years old.
'I don’t ever remember seeing that,' Sharpe said. 'I can tell you that the letters that you’ve seen, they speak for themselves. I will not amplify beyond those letters, because they speak for themselves.'
