Robert Morris warned sex abuse accuser she could be prosecuted for seeking compensation, emails show

Emails from 2005 released by Cindy Clemishire show how Gateway Church pastor Robert Morris responded after she asked for “restitution” for sex abuse she says began when she was 12.

Two decades before pastor Robert Morris publicly confessed last week to engaging in “sexual behavior” with a child and resigned from Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, his accuser had confronted him and sought compensation, according to copies of emails obtained by NBC News.

“Twenty-three years after you began destroying my life, I am still dealing with the pain and damage you caused,” Cindy Clemishire, 35 at the time, wrote to Morris on Sept. 20, 2005, according to partially redacted emails provided to NBC News by her attorney.

“I want some type of restitution. Pray about it and call me.”

Morris responded two weeks later.

“Debbie and I really do care for you and we sincerely want God’s best for you,” he wrote, referring to his wife, Debbie Morris, according to the emails. Robert Morris wrote that he’d long ago confessed his sins to Clemishire’s father and believed that he’d “obtained your forgiveness as well as your family’s.” 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/robert-morris-gateway-church-sex-abuse-emails-rcna158349

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