Gateway Church hit with new lawsuit alleging child sex abuse of youth group member
TARRANT COUNTY — The North Texas megachurch embroiled in controversy over its founder's alleged child sex abuse is facing another lawsuit involving accusations of abuse by a youth group member.
Gateway Church recently settled a 2020 lawsuit alleging child sex abuse.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday in Tarrant County accuses a member of the Gateway Church youth group of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl repeatedly on church grounds. The lawsuit alleges the assaults began in 2016.
According to the lawsuit filed by Julia Long, who was 13 years old at the time, she regularly attended youth group meetings at The King's University in Southlake with roughly 200 other members ranging in age from 11 years old to 18 years old. One of those members was then 17-year-old Gabriel Snyder, according to the lawsuit.
In late 2016, the lawsuit alleges Snyder began grooming Long during youth group meetings, using "biblical beliefs and teachings of ... Gateway's pastor and ministers" to convince her that it was God's will she submit to him as a female.
The lawsuit claims Snyder sexually assaulted Long multiple times in December 2016, taking her "into the darkness outside The King's University."
Typically CBS News Texas would not identify sexual assault victims, but Long made the decision to have her story publicly known as part of her healing process.
"This lawsuit is part of a healing process for her…She had the chance to be Jane Doe but chose not to because she was a victim here. This is part of her healing process," said George Boll, Long's attorney.
The assaults on the campus continued into February 2017, where surveillance cameras were in place on the building above the areas where the assaults allegedly took place, according to the lawsuit. By this time, Snyder had turned 18 years old.
No one ever came to Long's aid, the suit alleges.
Long, who is now an adult, and her parents are suing Snyder and Gateway Church for over $1 million for assault, negligence and damages.
They claim Gateway was negligent as a provider of youth services and failed to safeguard against child abuse. The lawsuit also claims that as "devout and active members" of the church, a "special" or "confidential" relationship was established between the family and Gateway. According to the suit, Gateway breached that relationship with twisted behavior, causing emotional and mental damage.
The church's behavior also constitutes fraud, the lawsuit claims.
The lawsuit alleges Long was not Snyder's only victim within the youth group. He is currently serving prison time at the Hightower Unit in Dayton, Texas, for the sexual assault of a child. According to Texas Department of Criminal Justice online records, Snyder's anticipated release is October 2024.
Snyder has not been charged criminally in relation to this lawsuit.
A trial by jury was requested.
Gateway Church responded to CBS News Texas' request for comment on Friday:
"We take any claim of abuse very seriously. We are unable to further comment regarding ongoing litigation at this time."
CBS News Texas reached out to Snyder's lawyer and is waiting for a response.
The King's University was founded by the late Dr. Jack Hayford, who also served as an apostolic elder of Gateway Church, the university's website states, and it partnered with Gateway Church.
Gateway Church's 2020 lawsuit
The case settled in April involved accusations that multiple church pastors covered up the alleged sexual abuse of a child by a member of the congregation in March 2018. The child's mother filed the lawsuit in Tarrant County in 2020, which also claimed pastors encouraged members of the congregation to ostracize her.
The lawsuit also claimed that church leaders conspired when they failed to inform law enforcement that they were aware of the alleged abuse and had spoken with the church member accused. It also alleged the church leaders tried to discredit the allegations.
For its part, the megachurch said it is not guilty of any cover-up or failure to report, stating that the incident from the 2020 lawsuit did not happen on a Gateway campus or at a Gateway event, but between two teens during a sleepover at a family home.
The church said a third teenager was told about the incident and later relayed it to his mother, a Gateway Church staff member, who reported it to "proper authorities within 48 hours."
"The mother of the victim was irate and claimed [Gateway Church] intentionally hid the story for weeks and failed to report it to authorities," the church said in a previous statement to CBS News Texas.
"She decided to file a lawsuit against [Gateway Church] … After the mother of the girl went through [six] different attorneys the insurance company decided to provide a settlement to avoid further litigation and expense. This was the 'compromise of disputed claims,' which Gateway justly defended in court," the church added.
The scandal surrounding Gateway Church's Robert Morris
The public controversy for the megachurch began in June, when Cindy Clemishire publicly claimed the church's founder, Robert Morris, sexually assaulted her starting in 1982 when she was 12 years old. Morris was a traveling Evangelist in his early 20s and had become close with her family.
Those allegations were first published by The Wartburg Watch, a North Carolina-based church watchdog blog, and then picked up by The Christian Post. Clemishire told The Wartburg Watch the alleged abuse continued until 1987.
Morris acknowledged in a sermon in 2014 that he was "sexually immoral" when he was a young man and admitted to "inappropriate sexual behavior" In a statement to the Christian Post.
"When I was in my early twenties, I was involved in inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady in a home where I was staying," he said. "It was kissing and petting and not intercourse, but it was wrong. This behavior happened on several occasions over the next few years."
Church elders said Morris disclosed to them he'd had an extramarital affair, but not that he had allegedly abused a 12-year-old.
On June 18, Morris resigned from his position as senior pastor at Gateway Church.
Clemishire said she has mixed thoughts and feelings regarding Morris' resignation and believes she is not the only victim.
"Though I am grateful that he is no longer a pastor at Gateway, I am disappointed that the Board of Elders allowed him to resign," Clemishire wrote in a statement. "He should have been terminated."
She rebuked church elders for knowing and acknowledging her claims of sexual abuse, but intentionally embracing "the false narrative Robert Morris wanted them to believe."
On June 23, protesters gathered outside the church as a church elder addressed the congregation for the first time after Clemishire's statements.
"As an elder, I did not know the truth and, frankly, like many of you my wife and I are shocked, devastated and grieving," said Tra Willbanks, a Gateway Church elder. "I'd like to express my personal compassion for Cindy Clemishire, I can't imagine carrying a burden like that for so many years and I want to say to you, Cindy, I'm so sorry."
Four members of the Gateway Church Board of Elders, including Robert Morris' son, were put on temporary leaves of absence as an outside legal team investigates the accusations against Morris, the church said on June 28.
Founded in 2000, the Southlake-based Gateway Church expanded to become one of the largest congregations in the nation, drawing approximately 100,000 attendees each weekend to its nine campuses. Morris broadcasted his weekly program live online to over 190 countries, reaching even wider audiences.