A North Carolina pastor, who journaled his quest on social media to find his estranged daughter in the seedy side of Las Vegas’s underground drug tunnels, is now facing drug and gun-related charges.
David McGee, of Winston-Salem, NC, was arrested on Aug. 20 at the Strat Hotel Casino & Tower, as reported by 8 News Now.
A telephone call to McGee was not returned and a message on the ministry’s answering machine said its email service was down. The 61-year-old was the senior pastor at The Bridge Christian Fellowship. The church’s website suggests the church closed in 2023. And after its closing, McGee became the voice behind Cross the Bridge Ministries— a TV, radio, and internet outreach.
On Facebook, McGree chronicled his journey to Las Vegas to find his daughter, Sara Ashli McGee, “from the worst and scariest place for my daughter in America . . . the Las Vegas tunnels,” according to an Aug. 17 post.
In the follow-up posts, McGee refers to his daughter as Ashli.
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The last post shows the father and daughter were in touch, but Ashli “has been evasive, sometimes leaving but returning later, even the next day.”
McGee Arrested
McGee, who traveled by private jet to Las Vegas, reported “a piece of property was missing,” prompting drug and counter-terrorism detectives to investigate, 8 News Now reported.
During the investigation, McGee admitted to having a gun in his guitar case. He was warned by hotel employees earlier about the hotel’s gun policy, after he allegedly brought a shotgun into his room. Detectives found an AR-15 with a scope in McGee’s possession, the station reported.
Detectives also found fentanyl pills and powder in McGee’s room. The pastor told detectives he paid around $1,000 for the fentanyl and brought it from North Carolina.
“McGee stated that he was a user of fentanyl and intended to distribute the fentanyl to his daughter when he locates her,” 8 News Now reported.
After locating the AR-15, detectives suspected McGee was planning a mass shooting similar to the October 1, 2017, mass shooting at the Las Vegas Strip that killed 60 people and wounded at least 867, according to published reports.
On the day of McGee’s arrest, erroneous social media posts claimed a failed terrorism plot was behind police responding to the hotel. Metro police released a statement saying the social media posts were false, 8 News Now reported.
McGee is not in custody and is due back in court on Dec. 19.
Sheila Stogsdill is a freelance print journalist and digital reporter, primarily covering crime issues for KSN/KODE.
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