Native American actor remain sin custody in Las Vegas while courts deal with his sexual abuse charges. He has pleaded not guilty. Photo: APTN file
A former ‘Dances with Wolves’ actor remains in custody after the Nevada Supreme Court dismissed sexual assault charges against him last week.
Nathan Lee Chasing Horse, 48, was accused of sexually assaulting a woman and girl.
He pleaded not guilty.
Chasing Horse, who was born on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota, was arrested at his Nevada home in January 2023 and is being held at the Clark County Detention Centre in Las Vegas.
He is wanted for similar allegations in other U.S. states, the village of Keremeos in British Columbia, and the Tsuut’ina First Nation outside Calgary, where he is accused of running a cult and sexually assaulting a number of Indigenous girls over the past two decades.
Sgt. Mike Cavilla with the Tsuut’ina Nation Police Service said the force is keeping an eye on court developments south of the border and working with U.S. law enforcement to determine next steps.
There are warrants for Chasing Horse’s arrest in Canada, Cavilla added.
“We have been advised that Chasing Horse will remain in custody for the time being,” he said in an emailed statement to APTN News Monday, “and that even though felony charges in Nevada were dismissed by the Nevada Superior Court, the option for the District Attorney to re-lay the charges is still an available option.”
Chasing Horse is also wanted in Montana on accusations he sexually abused Indigenous women and girls. He is also facing federal in charges in the United States for alleged kidnapping across national and regional borders, and was arrested on those allegations.
Chasing Horse is best known for playing the character Smiles A Lot in the 1990 Kevin Kostner film Dances with Wolves.
Late Friday, the Clark County District Attorney confirmed his office would take the case to a new grand jury.
“While we were disappointed to learn of the Nevada Supreme Court’s decision, this is only a minor setback,” said Steve Wolfson in a statement to news outlets. “The Court’s decision explicitly allows us to return to the grand jury to seek an indictment.”
Cavilla said the case in Tsuut’ina, west of Calgary, involve two complainants.
Chasing Horse was banned from several reservations in the U.S. and Canada before and since being arrested.
Court documents allege he was a cult leader who used his position of power to abuse women and girls – one as young as 14. He referred to himself as a ‘medicine man’, the documents show, and travelled throughout North America to hold healing ceremonies.
