On Thursday, Robert Preston Morris, 64, the founder of the Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, pleaded guilty to five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child from incidents that date back to the 80s.
Morris, who resigned from the church as senior pastor last year, was indicted by a multi-county grand jury earlier this year in Osage County, Oklahoma, according to a news release.
“The abuse began in December 1982 when Morris was a traveling evangelist visiting the family of the victim in Hominy. The victim was 12 years old at the time, and the abuse continued over the next four years,” according to a news release from the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office.
Under the plea agreement, Morries received a 10-year suspended sentence, with the first six months of the sentence to be served