PAWHUSKA, Okla. (AP) — The founder of a Texas megachurch who resigned last year after a woman in Oklahoma accused the pastor of sexually abusing her in the 1980s pleaded guilty Thursday to five counts of lewd and indecent acts with a child, authorities said.
Robert Preston Morris, 64, entered the pleas before a judge in Osage County as part of a plea agreement, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said in a statement.
The alleged abuse began in 1982 when the victim was 12 and Morris was a traveling evangelist staying in Hominy, Oklahoma, with her family, according to the attorney general’s office. The abuse allegedly continued for four years.
Under the plea agreement, Morris received a 10-year suspended sentence with the first six months to be served in the Osage County Jail.
He also must register as a sex offender and will be supervised by Texas authorities via interstate compact. Morris was also ordered to pay his costs of incarceration, including any medical expenses, and restitution to the victim.
A message left for one of Morris’ attorneys, Mack Martin, of Oklahoma City, was not immediately returned Thursday.
Morris, the senior pastor of Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, until his resignation, was indicted by a Multi-County Grand Jury earlier this year. The attorney general’s statement said the pleas were entered before Osage County District Special Judge Cindy Pickerill.
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