‘Dances With Wolves’ actor charged in Nevada sex abuse case

NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. (AP) — A former “Dances With Wolves” actor accused of sexually abusing Indigenous women and girls for 20 years in a number of states has been charged in Nevada for crimes that prosecutors stated occurred within the Las Vegas-area beginning in 2012.

Nathan Chasing Horse, 46, was formally charged Monday morning throughout a quick look in a North Las Vegas courtroom stuffed with his buddies and family who had hoped to see him launched on bail. However a decide postponed listening to arguments about his custody standing till Wednesday to permit Chasing Horse to discover a new legal professional.

Nevada regulation requires prosecutors to current convincing proof {that a} defendant ought to stay in custody. Clark County Deputy District Lawyer Jessica Walsh stated final week that she anticipated testimony from Las Vegas police detectives, FBI particular brokers and victims.

Within the meantime, Chasing Horse is being held with out bail at a jail in downtown Las Vegas. He has been in custody since his Jan. 31 arrest close to the North Las Vegas residence he shares together with his 5 wives.

Chasing Horse is charged with eight felonies, together with intercourse trafficking, sexual assault in opposition to a toddler youthful than 16, and little one abuse, in response to a legal grievance. Prosecutors additionally filed an extra felony cost Monday in reference to what detectives stated have been movies saved on a telephone displaying sexual assaults of a minor.

Seated reverse of Chasing Horse’s household on Monday, a number of the victims and their supporters held indicators contained in the courtroom studying “NO MORE STOLEN SISTERS” and “WOMEN AREN’T PRISONERS.”

Rulon Pete, govt director of the Las Vegas Indian Heart, stated after the listening to that the victims had been ready “to assist out with ensuring justice has been served.”

“Sadly there’s quite a lot of anxiousness they’re experiencing,” he instructed The Related Press after talking with the victims and prosecutors. “When this bought pushed again, it was like including extra weight to the scenario.”

He didn’t enter a plea Monday after he was formally charged. In Nevada, defendants don’t enter a plea till their legal case is sure over to a state district court docket, both after a grand jury indictment or after a decide decides prosecutors have sufficient proof for the defendant to face trial.

Chasing Horse performed the function of Sioux tribe member Smiles a Lot in Kevin Costner’s 1990 Oscar-winning movie.

Since then, he has constructed a popularity amongst tribes throughout america and in Canada as a “medication man.” Chasing Horse, police stated, abused that place and took underage wives over 20 years in a number of states, together with South Dakota, Montana and Nevada, the place he has lived for a couple of decade. He additionally was banished from the Fort Peck Reservation in Poplar, Montana, in 2015 following related allegations.

Detectives described Chasing Horse in a 50-page search warrant because the chief of a cult referred to as The Circle, whose followers believed he may talk with larger powers.

Pete, of the Las Vegas Indian Heart, described the function of the drugs man of their tradition as a extremely revered management put up. “They’re like clergymen, if you’ll.”

“You observe what they train,” he stated, including that the victims have proven nice braveness by talking out regardless of the intimidation and threats Pete stated they’ve confronted since Chasing Horse’s arrest.

An arrest report for Chasing Horse reveals a minimum of six victims have been recognized, together with one who was 13 when she stated she was abused, and one other who stated she was provided to him as a “reward” when she was 15.

After SWAT officers took him into custody final week, detectives searched the household’s residence and located weapons, 41 kilos (18.5 kilograms) of marijuana and psilocybin mushrooms, in response to the arrest report.

The legal grievance filed Monday additionally prices Chasing Horse with two misdemeanors in reference to a useless bald eagle and components of a useless hawk found throughout the search of his property.

Chasing Horse was born on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, which is residence to the Sicangu Sioux, one of many seven tribes of the Lakota nation.