North Las Vegas, NV (AP) — Former ‘Dances With Wolves’ actor Accused of sexually abusing an indigenous girl And leading the cult must be held without bail until his next court hearing, a judge ordered Thursday morning.
Nathan Chasing Horse, 46, faces charges of sex trafficking, sexual assault of a child under the age of 16, and child abuse.he is detained Since being arrested on Tuesday afternoon Near the North Las Vegas home he shares with his five wives.
He briefly appeared in court in North Las Vegas on Thursday but did not speak before Justice of the Peace Belinda Harris scheduled a bail hearing on Monday.Chasing Horse has not been formally charged.
On Monday, Harris will address Chasing Horse’s custody status pending trial and may set bail after being contacted by attorneys, investigators, the victim and the defendant’s relatives. .
Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorney Jessica Walsh told a judge on Thursday that the Las Vegas police detective, FBI special agent, and victim will speak at the hearing.
He has “a lot of support,” said court-appointed defense attorney Michael Wilfong, who gestured to the front row of the courtroom gallery where Chasing Horse’s family was seated. His relatives, like Wilfon, declined to comment when leaving the court.
Best known for his role as Smiles-a-Lot, a young Sioux member in the Oscar-winning Kevin Costner film, Chasing Horse is a so-called medicine man who performs healing ceremonies among tribes across the United States and Canada. gained popularity among
He was believed to be the leader of a cult known as The Circle, whose followers believed he could communicate with higher powers, according to an arrest warrant released Wednesday. abused his position, physically and sexually assaulted an indigenous girl, and married an underage wife for more than 20 years.
Chasing Horse was born on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, home to the Sikung Sioux, one of the seven Lakota tribes.
According to a 50-page search warrant obtained by the Associated Press on Tuesday, Chasing Horse trained his wife in the use of firearms and instructed her to “shoot with police officers if they try to tear the family apart.” If that failed, he told his wife to take “suicide pills.”
SWAT officers and detectives took Chasing Horse into custody and cleared the family home without incident.
According to Chasing Horse’s arrest report released Wednesday, detectives who searched Chasing Horse’s property and vehicle found firearms, 41 pounds (18.5 kilograms) of marijuana and psilocybin mushrooms, and multiple suspects of sexual assault. I found a memory card containing a video.
Additional claims may be filed in connection with the video, the report said.
Las Vegas police said in a search warrant that investigators had identified at least six victims of sexual assault. Police also tracked sexual allegations against Chasing Horse to his early 2000s in Canada and in multiple states, including South Dakota, Montana, and Nevada, where he lived for about a decade.
Police say one of Chasing Horse’s wives was given to him as a “gift” when he was 15 and the other became his wife when he was 16. he.
His arrest comes nearly a decade after he was expelled from the Fort Peck Reservation in Poplar, Montana amid allegations of human trafficking.
Fort Peck tribal leaders banned the Chasing Horse from re-entering the reservation in 2015 by a 7-0 vote, accusing them of human trafficking and accusations of drug trafficking, emotional abuse and intimidation of tribe members. Indian Country Today, citing report.
Activist and community organizer Angeline Cheek, who has lived on the Fort Peck Reservation for most of her life, says she distinctly remembers the tension building in the Tribal Council chambers when Chasing Horse was exiled. rice field.
“Some of Nathan’s supporters told members that something bad was going to happen,” Cheek told The Associated Press. “They threatened our elders sitting in the council room. Did.”
Cheek said he remembers Chasing Horse frequenting the reservation as a child, especially when he was in high school in the early 2000s.
Cheek, now 34, believes Chasing Horse’s arrest will encourage more Indigenous girls and women to report crimes and urge lawmakers and elected officials across the country to make addressing violence against Indigenous peoples a priority. I would like to encourage
But she also hopes that news of the crime doesn’t erode the cultural importance of healthcare workers.
“There are good medicine men and medicine women among our people who won’t try to commercialize the sacred ways of their ancestors,” Cheek said. “They should heal people, not hurt them.” am.”
