DALLAS — Gateway Church has filed a response denying all allegations in a lawsuit that accused a teen member of a youth group of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl, court documents show.
The lawsuit, filed in August by the girl and her parents, alleged the 13-year-old girl was groomed by a then-17-year-old boy and sexually assaulted during youth group meetings starting in late 2016 at The King’s University in Southlake, a campus where Gateway hosts youth group meetings.
Gateway Church, in a new court filing Friday, denied the allegations in the lawsuit.
“Defendant generally denies each and every material allegation in Plaintiff’s Original Petition and demands strict proof thereof,” Gateway’s response reads. “Defendant prays that upon final hearing, Plaintiffs take nothing from Defendant, and that Defendant be allowed to go hence with recovery of its costs.”
WFAA is not naming the defendant, nor the victim, because both were minors at the time.
The defendant, accused in the lawsuit of assaulting the girl “in the darkness outside of The King’s University” multiple times from December 2016 until February 2017, was later arrested in a separate case of child sex assault and sentenced in 2022 to four years in prison. The lawsuit states the defendant’s conviction was unrelated to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit came after Gateway Church’s annual conference was canceled amid separate sexual assault allegations against the church’s founder Robert Morris. Cindy Clemishire accused Morris of molesting her when she was 12 years old in the mid-1980s. Days later, Morris resigned from the church. Since then, other high-level leaders have also left the church, including Morris’ son James, who recently announced plans for a new church.
