Overview
- Alameda County prosecutors charged Michael Morris with 18 felony counts of non-forcible sexual assault involving four separate victims and arraigned him Thursday.
- The criminal complaint says the alleged abuse occurred roughly between 1991 and 2001 while Morris served as a bishop in Livermore and supervised a church-affiliated boys’ youth group.
- Morris was initially held on $920,000 bail, and local reporting says he later posted bail and appeared out of custody to contest release conditions.
- Prosecutors have asked for enhancements in the complaint for violent conduct, abuse of a position of trust, and targeting vulnerable victims, and the DA said the case was handled by multiple law enforcement agencies.
- Morris is due back in court on June 10 for a formal plea and prosecutors are seeking conditions including surrendering his passport and prohibiting unsupervised contact with minors.