LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nathan Chasing Horse has been charged in Alberta, Canada, with new sex crimes in the latest criminal case brought against the former “Dances With Wolves” actor, who remains jailed in Las Vegas pending trial. into a sweeping sexual abuse case that has stunned Indian Country and helped law enforcement in two countries substantiate longstanding allegations against him.
During a virtual press conference on Wednesday, Sgt. Nancy Farmer of the Tsuut’ina Nation Police Service acknowledged that the Alberta case is largely symbolic. Chasing Horse — which not only faces decades in a Nevada prison if convicted in the Las Vegas case, but criminal charges in five jurisdictions — may never return to Canada to face those charges.
“At the end of the day,” Farmer said, “it’s important for us to have these warrants in the system so our victims know they’ve been heard. It is extremely important that we continue to support them in this way.”
Chasing Horse declined multiple requests from The Associated Press to interview him at the county jail, and his Las Vegas public defender, Kristy Holston, said she had no comment on the new charges. It was not immediately clear if Chasing Horse had a lawyer in Canada who could comment on its behalf.
Farmer said the 47-year-old faces nine counts in Alberta, including three counts of sexual exploitation and four counts of sexual assault. Crimes within their jurisdiction date back to 2005, she said.
Chasing Horse was born on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, home to the Sicangu Sioux, one of the seven tribes of the Lakota Nation. He is widely known for his portrayal of Smiles a Lot in Kevin Costner’s Oscar-winning film.
After starring in the 1990 film, Chasing Horse had made a name for himself among the tribes of the United States and Canada as a self-proclaimed healer capable of communicating with higher beings. Las Vegas police and prosecutors accused him of using the position to lead a cult, gain access to vulnerable Indigenous women and girls, and take underage brides beginning in the early 2000s.
He is charged in the Las Vegas case with 18 crimes, including sexual assault of a minor, child abuse and kidnapping. He also faces criminal charges in the village of Keremeos in British Columbia, in United States District Court in Nevada and on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana.
Court proceedings in the Las Vegas case have been suspended indefinitely as Chasing Horse awaits a decision on its appeal filed last month to the Nevada Supreme Court seeking the quashing of its indictment.
Chasing Horse and his public defenders have said in legal documents that his accusers wanted to have sex with him. One of the women was under 16 – the age of consent in Nevada – when she said Chasing Horse began abusing her.