DALLAS (AP) — A former pastor of a Texas megachurch who resigned after a woman accused him of sexually abusing her in the 1980s has been indicted in Oklahoma on child sexual abuse charges, that state’s attorney general’s office said Wednesday.
Robert Preston Morris, 63, has been charged with five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child.
The alleged abuse started in 1982 when the victim, referred to in the indictment as C.C., was 12 years old 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.
Cindy Clemishire, Morris’ accuser, said in a statement that she is very grateful to the authorities who have worked to make the indictment possible and is hopeful “justice will ultimately prevail.”
“After almost 43 years, the law has finally caught up with Robert Morris for the horrific crimes he committed against me as a child,” said Clemishire, now 55. “Now, it is time for the legal system to hold him accountable.”
The Associated Press typically does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted, but Clemishire said she would like her name included.
Phone numbers associated with Morris were either disconnected or messages were not immediately returned Wednesday. It was unclear whether he has an attorney.
“There can be no tolerance for those who sexually prey on children,” Attorney General Gentner Drummond said in a statement. “This case is all the more despicable because the alleged perpetrator was a pastor who exploited his position. The victim in this case has waited far too many years for justice to be done.”
The Gateway Church, based in the Dallas suburb of Southlake, was founded by Morris in 2000. It said in a statement Wednesday that its members are praying for Clemishire and “all of those impacted by this terrible situation.”
“We are aware of the actions being taken by the legal authorities in Oklahoma and are grateful for the work of the justice system in holding abusers accountable for their actions,” the statement said.
Morris resigned last year from the church after allegations came to light on the religious watchdog blog The Wartburg Watch.
Clemishire told The Dallas Morning News last year that she met Morris in 1981, when he was a traveling preacher and began preaching at her family’s church in Oklahoma. She said Morris and his wife and young son became close to her family. She said he was staying at her house in 1982 when the abuse began.
The church has multiple locations in the area. It is among the largest in the United States, according to the attorney general’s office.
Morris was known to be politically active. The church hosted President Donald Trump on its Dallas campus in 2020 for a discussion on race relations and the economy.
Morris could face up to 20 years in prison for each of the five charges, according to the attorney general’s office. He was not in custody as of Wednesday.
WATERBURY, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut man who said he was held captive for 20 years was rescued after setting fire to his room and telling first responders he did it to gain his freedom, police said Wednesday.
The man’s stepmother was charged with cruelty and kidnapping.
Waterbury first responders rescued the emaciated, 32-year-old man from an upstairs room after they were deployed to a house fire last month, police said in a statement. While being treated for smoke inhalation, he revealed that he intentionally set the blaze.
“I wanted my freedom,” the man said, according to police. He said he had been held captive since he was about 11 years old.
An investigation revealed that the man, whose name was not released, “had been held in captivity for over 20 years, enduring prolonged abuse, starvation, severe neglect, and inhumane treatment,” police said, adding that he had not received medical or dental care during that time.
“The suffering this victim endured for over 20 years is both heartbreaking and unimaginable,” Chief Fernando Spagnolo said in a statement.
Kimberly Sullivan, 56, identified as the man’s stepmother, was charged with assault, kidnapping, unlawful restraint, cruelty and reckless endangerment. She was arraigned Wednesday and held in lieu of $300,000 bond.
Sullivan’s attorney, Ioannis Kaloidis, said her client was “stunned to hear the allegations” and denies them.
“What she indicated to me was that they were absolutely not true, and as we get more information we intend to put up a vigorous defense,” Kaloidis said by phone. “But she’s adamant she did not do the things that she’s accused of.”
He said he was still gathering information and could not immediately say whether anyone else lived in the home.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A coalition of Democratic-led states is challenging the Trump administration’s sweeping layoffs across the Education Department, saying it amounts to an illegal dismantling of an agency created by Congress.
In a federal lawsuit filed Thursday in Massachusetts, 20 states and Washington, D.C., say the layoffs are so severe that the department “can no longer function, and cannot comply with its statutory requirements.”
It alleges the cuts will result in a loss or delay of federal money for public schools, and will leave the agency unable to administer college financial aid or enforce civil rights laws at schools, among other disruptions.
A department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The department has insisted previously it will continue to deliver on its statutory obligations, despite the cuts.
Some Education Department employees have left through buyout offers and the termination of probationary employees. After a layoff of 1,300 people announced Tuesday, the department will sit at roughly half the 4,100 it had when President Donald Trump took office.
Trump has repeatedly said he wants the agency shut down, calling it wasteful and overly influenced by liberal thinking.
The suit says only Congress has the power close the department or dismantle its core work.
New York Attorney General Letitia James said the cuts will impair necessary services for students and families.
The Federal Trade Commission has walked back comments that a lack of resources is interfering with the agency’s ability to be ready for a September trial over Amazon’s Prime program.
Jonathan Cohen, a lawyer for the FTC, had asked a federal judge during a hearing on Wednesday to delay the trail and relax deadlines in the case, citing budgetary and staffing shortfalls.
But the agency made an about-face later in the day, telling U.S. District Judge John Chun in a letter submitted in court that the statements Cohen made were incorrect.
“I want to clarify comments I made today: I was wrong,” Cohen wrote in the letter. “The Commission does not have resource constraints and we are fully prepared to litigate this case.”
In a statement sent to the AP on Thursday, FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson also said “the attorney was wrong.”
“I have made it clear since Day One that we will commit the resources necessary for this case,” Ferguson said, adding that his agency “will never back down from taking on Big Tech.”
Cohen’s comments were made amid large-scale cost-cutting efforts across the federal government driven by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
During the hearing on Wednesday, Cohen said some employees chose to leave the FTC following the “Fork in the road” email sent by the administration in January. Staff members who resigned for other reasons also have not been replaced due to a government hiring freeze, he said.
The trial is the result of a lawsuit the commission filed in 2023 accusing Amazon of enrolling consumers in its Prime program without their consent and making it difficult for them to cancel their subscriptions.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Prosecutors have requested a mental evaluation for a former Kentucky sheriff charged with gunning down a judge in a courthouse last year after his attorneys said they will argue he was emotionally disturbed at the time of the shooting.
The killing rocked the small Appalachian community of Whitesburg, where residents knew Shawn “Mickey” Stines to be longtime friends with District Judge Kevin Mullins. Prosecutors have presented a video in court of a man police identified as Stines pulling out a handgun and shooting Mullins at his desk on Sept. 19.
Prosecutors with the state attorney general’s office filed a motion Monday asking the court to allow a state doctor to evaluate Stines’ claim “that he suffers, or has suffered, from a mental disease or defect or any other mental condition that bears on the issues of guilt and punishment.”
Investigators have not announced a motive for the shooting. Earlier that day, the two men had met for lunch with several other people near the courthouse, police said.
Attorneys for Stines wrote in a motion earlier this month that they plan to present evidence that the ex-lawman suffered from insanity and “extreme emotional disturbance” at the time he allegedly shot Mullins. Stines’ attorneys said they would not raise the issue of whether Stines is mentally fit to stand trial.
“While further evaluation is needed to determine the extent of the mental health evidence ultimately presented, it is our strong belief that our client was operating under extreme pressure that significantly impacted his mental state,” Stines’ attorney Kerri Bartley said in an emailed statement.
Stines remains jailed without bond. At a January hearing, special judge Chris Cohron said he would take up the issue of Stines’ bond at a later hearing. He has pleaded not guilty to one count of murder of a public official and resigned days after the shooting.
ELY, Nev. (AP) — Nevada prosecutors say 20 people have been charged in connection with a brawl at a maximum-security prison in eastern Nevada last year in which three inmates were killed and others were injured.
The Nevada Attorney General’s Office said Tuesday the final arrest in the investigation was made on March 5.
Prisoners Anthony Williams, 41, Connor Brown, 22, and Zacharia Luz, 42, were killed in the July 30 fight at Ely State Prison. No officers were injured. Authorities say the charges in the case include first-degree murder and attempted murder with use of a deadly weapon with intent to promote or assist a criminal gang. It’s not clear how many of the 20 defendants face those charges.
Ely State Prison is one of six Nevada prisons. It has almost 1,200 beds, houses the state’s death row for convicted killers and a lethal injection chamber that has never been used. Nevada has not carried out an execution since 2006.
Conditions behind bars in the state have drawn criticism from advocates, particularly during hot summers and cold winters. In December 2022, several people incarcerated at Ely State Prison held a hunger strike over what advocates and some family members described as unsafe conditions and inadequate food portions.
