Las Vegas police on Tuesday arrested and searched the home of a former actor-turned-suspected cult leader accused of sexually assaulting young Indigenous girls over a period of two decades, police filings obtained by The Associated Press show.
Nathan Lee Chasing His Horse, who goes by the nickname Nathan Chasing Horse, was taken into custody near the north Las Vegas home he shares with his five wives this afternoon. SWAT officers were seen outside the two-story home in the evening as detectives searched the property.
Known for his role in the Oscar-winning Kevin Costner film Dances With Wolves, Chasing Horse rose to fame among tribes in the United States and Canada as a so-called medicine man who conducted healing ceremonies and spiritual gatherings, according to police , used his position to abuse young Native American girls.
His arrest is the culmination of a months-long investigation that began after police received a tip in October 2022. According to a 50-page search warrant obtained by AP, Chasing Horse is believed to be the leader of a cult called The Circle.
According to the warrant, Las Vegas police have identified at least six alleged victims and uncovered sexual allegations against Chasing Horse dating back to the early 2000s in several states, including Montana, South Dakota and Nevada, where he has lived for about a decade.
Chasing Horse’s court filings did not list an attorney who could speak for him as of Tuesday night.
Chasing Horse was born on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, home of the Sicangu Sioux, one of the seven tribes of the Lakota Nation.
In 2018, he was banned from the Fort Peck Reservation in Poplar, Montana, on allegations of human trafficking, according to a warrant.
“Nathan Chasing Horse used spiritual traditions and their belief system as a tool to sexually assault young girls on numerous occasions,” it says, adding that his followers believed he could communicate with higher beings and called him “medicine man” or ” Saint” designated person.”
Although the warrant includes details of crimes reported elsewhere, the arrest is based on crimes allegedly committed in Clark County, Nevada. These include sex trafficking, sexually assaulting a child under the age of 16 and child abuse.
Some of the alleged victims were only 13 years old, it said. Police also said one of Chasing Horse’s women was offered to him as a “gift” when she was 15, while another woman was after she turned 16.
Chasing Horse is also accused of recording the sexual assaults and arranging sex with the victims for other men who allegedly paid him.