SHERMAN, Texas — A former pastor at the Gateway Church in Southlake said he believes past church leaders knew of disgraced founder Robert Morris' alleged sexual assault of a 12-year-old girl and assisted in covering it up.
Stephen LeBlanc, who is now senior pastor of the Sherman Bible Church, said he feels betrayed by Morris and doesn't believe Gateway is taking responsibility for its now-former leader's alleged actions.
Morris resigned from Gateway last month after Cindy Clemishire said he had sexually assaulted her for years, beginning when she was 12 years old in the 1980s.
In a statement Wednesday night, a Gateway spokesperson said: "The sexual abuse of Cindy as a child by Robert Morris is unfathomable."
Watch the full interview with Stephen LeBlanc here:
"The elders are committed to finding the truth and holding people accountable," the spokesperson said. "Regrettably, prior to June 14, the current elders did not have all the facts."
LeBlanc, who said he had known Morris since the late 80s and accepted a job as a pastor at Gateway in 2011, said he had no idea the details of Morris' alleged sexual assault, despite Morris' frequent invocation of his past "immorality."
"It never in a thousand years would’ve crossed my mind to say 'Let me ask you, Robert, what was the age of this person?'" LeBlanc said. "It was always framed as indiscretion with a young lady. And when I hear young lady, I don’t think 12-year-old. I don’t think anybody does."
He said Morris' preaching of his sin and redemption made it look like "This is God restoring someone."
When he learned of Clemishire's accusations last month, he said he was stunned -- and felt betrayed and angry.
"It feels like a bit of a smoke screen," he said. "It feels like hiding in plain sight."
LeBlanc said he believes there was a cover-up of the truth of what happened "previous to Gateway's inception." But he said Clemishire reached out to the church in the mid-2000s and "it is highly likely that other people saw those emails."
"That just seems highly unlikely that no one else knew that," he said. "I think that the elders that are still there right now, I believe those men were ignorant of that."
But he said he does not believe the church -- which publicly apologized to Clemishire in late June -- is taking responsibility for the actions of its former leader.
"Integrity is not hard to prove if you have integrity," LeBlanc said. "Just let people see it, demonstrate it. Tell the truth, be transparent."
He called upon the church to release recordings of meetings its elders had about Clemishire's claims.
A Gateway spokesperson said: "The elders are deeply committed to walking with integrity and finding the truth, therefore they have retained an outside law firm, Haynes and Boone, to conduct an inquiry which began several weeks ago and will continue until that firm has completed its work."
The spokesperson said that Morris did not receive any sort of severance pay when he resigned.
LeBlanc's message
LeBlanc said he is speaking out now because he has a four-point message to share, even as people aligned with Gateway contact him and his church to express their displeasure with his vocal criticism.
He said he wants victims to feel comfortable coming forward and contacting police or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to report past abuse.
"You are not to blame, you are not the problem," he said. "You're wearing shame and you shouldn't. It's not your fault."
He urged religious leaders to call police as soon as victims come forward.
"This is not an in-house issue," he said.
LeBlanc urged political leaders to remove the statute of limitations on cases of child sex abuse, which some North Texas legislators have expressed an openness to considering in the next legislative session.
Finally, to believers, LeBlanc urged them to find a church focused on God and the scripture.
"I would avoid the hero pastor," LeBlanc said. "I would avoid it like the plague. Don’t go find another man to pastor your church, to pastor your family, who is the hero of all of his stories."