LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Two women are coming forward and accusing "Dances With Wolves" actor Nathan Chasing Horse of using his status as a medicine man and father figure to take advantage and sexually assault them.
According to grand jury documents, one woman said she first met Chasing Horse when she was six or seven years old. She had traveled with her mother to a ceremony. Ceremonies are where people come together to pray for health or pray for people who need help. After being treated badly by their own native blood family in South Dakota, they turned to Chasing Horse and his group The Circle.
The woman said at the time, Chasing Horse wasn't officially recognized by his tribe but they didn't know that. They believed Chasing Horse was a medicine man and she remembered thinking "he was like our Jesus."
Chasing Horse adopted her as his granddaughter when she was seven years old and became a pipe girl. She said those are virgin girls that are used as examples. She was not allowed to date, not allowed to wear her hair down, not allowed to wear makeup, and was very limited on what she could and couldn't wear.
When she was 14, the woman said her mother was diagnosed with stage four cancer throughout her body and her mom told her to go to Chasing Horse for help since he was seen as a medicine man. When she went to Chasing Horse's house, he pulled her into a bedroom closet, turned out the lights, and told her in order for her mom to get better, it would cost her her first-born child and her virginity. He then sexually assaulted her before giving her a Plan B pill.
In another incident, one of Chasing Horse's wives asked if the woman wanted to see a particular dress. The pair went into a bedroom and Chasing Horse followed. The wife then left the room, closed the door, and Chasing Horse sexually assaulted the woman again.
Chasing Horse took the woman along for a road trip telling her mom it was to learn more about ceremonies. The woman was the only female on the trip and was sexually assaulted in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana. She was 14 years old. She said Chasing Horse also recorded sex acts with her on a cell phone "approximately 20 times".
After her 16th birthday, she became one of his wives and moved in with him in North Las Vegas for approximately seven years.
The woman created dating apps at one point before getting scared and deleting her accounts but one of Chasing Horse's followers saw her profile. Chasing Horse then started allowing other men to have sex with the woman. On several occasions, the woman said she was taken to a local casino or hotel, took off her clothes, was blindfolded, and then told to lay on a bed without making any noises while she was sexually assaulted.
The woman also said she was physically abused by Chasing Horse saying during one incident, her nose was broken and her shoulder was dislocated. She told police she refused medical care and reset her own nose and shoulder by watching YouTube videos for reference.
She said she was struggling with depression for most of 2019 and was suicidal. In 2020, she left The Circle. She said she had gotten pregnant and remembered thinking she didn't want to keep it because she didn't know if the baby would be safe. She went to her mom's house and then miscarried.
A second woman testified saying she was introduced to Chasing Horse when she was three or four years old because her mom was dating him at the time.
She said she saw Chasing Horse as a father figure and that she was made a pipe carrier when she was eight years old.
In July 2014, there was unspecified incident where she asked to speak to Chasing Horse. He took her into a bedroom and started touching her body. The woman said she froze because she was confused about what was happening. That's when she was sexually assaulted.
She said Chasing Horse told her the grandfathers and spirits told him to do it.
The woman said she contacted police about the incident in 2014 but nothing came from it.
One of the witnesses said Chasing Horse had a plan in case authorities came to arrest him.
One woman said Chasing Horse told them if it looked like he was going to be put away or that he wasn't going to be around, if police started shooting at them, they were supposed to shoot back. If that didn't work, they were all supposed to kill themselves.
Investigators from multiple law enforcement agencies have been looking into Chasing Horse for months with police accusing him of being a serial sexual predator with alleged crimes in two countries and multiple states.
According to an arrest report, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said they first learned about allegations against Chasing Horse when they got a call from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Sgt. Nancy Farmer from the Tsuut'ina Nation Police, based in Alberta, Canada, said one of Chasing Horse's victims came forward to tribal police and created the Las Vegas connection.
In an arrest report, police noted Chasing Horse was banished by the Fort Peck Tribe in Montana for spiritual abuse and intimidation of tribal members.
Please see attached media release. pic.twitter.com/igYOdFgasj
— Tsuut'ina Police (@Tsuutinapolice) February 1, 2023
That kicked off a join investigation involving Metro, the FBI, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and tribal police in other states who said the abuse has been going on for decades.
Investigators raided Chasing Horse's North Las Vegas home in January with police finding pounds of drugs including marijuana and mushrooms.
Chasing Horse is facing 19 felony charges including sexual assault, kidnapping, and trafficking a controlled substance.
His public defender, Kristy Holston, has told Channel 13 they have no comment at this time.
Chasing Horse is due back in court for a scheduled arraignment hearing on Wednesday.
