The woman who accused a pro-Donald Trump megachurch pastor of sexually abusing her when she was 12 — which he later admitted — reportedly demanded payment from him in an unflinching email: "Pray about it and call me.”
Accuser Cindy Clemishire came forward last week with sexual abuse allegations against pastor Robert Morris of Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas. Clemishire said Morris molested her for years beginning when she was 12 at her Oklahoma home in 1982.
Morris and Gateway’s elders responded to the allegations last weekend acknowledging that Morris had several sexual encounters with a “young lady” when he was in his 20s. He was transparent about the sin and repented. On Tuesday, Gateway’s board of elders said Morris resigned. He has not been charged.
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NBC News reported Friday evening that his accuser confronted him and demanded compensation two decades before Morris admitted to having "sexual” encounters with a child.
“Twenty-three years after you began destroying my life, I am still dealing with the pain and damage you caused,” Clemishire wrote Morris in a redacted 2005 email obtained by NBC News.
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“I want some type of restitution," she said. "Pray about it and call me.”
Two weeks later, she received a response.
“Debbie and I really do care for you and we sincerely want God’s best for you,” Morris wrote. He said he'd confessed his sins to her father long ago and thought he’d “obtained your forgiveness as well as your family’s," according to the emails.
Then he threatened her with charges.
“My attorney advises that if I pay you any money under a threat of exposure, you could be criminally prosecuted and Debbie and I do not want that,” Morris said. “If you need more information, have your attorney contact mine.”
Morris later served on Trump’s spiritual advisory panel.
