NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. – A judge on Wednesday set bail at $300,000 for a former Dances With Wolves actor accused of sexually abusing and trafficking Indigenous women and girls in Nevada.
North Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Craig Newman said Nathan Chasing Horse would have to stay with a relative if he was released from prison. The 46-year-old, who played young member of the Sioux tribe Smiles a Lot in Kevin Costner’s Oscar-winning 1990 film Smiles a Lot, is being electronically monitored and not allowed access to drugs, alcohol or firearms, Newman said. He is prohibited from contacting alleged victims or minors.
Under Nevada law, Chasing Horse would have to pay 15% of bail — $45,000 — to gain his release. His jubilant supporters declined to speak to reporters as they exited the court after the brief hearing.
A prosecutor had asked for $2 million bail and called Chasing Horse a danger to the community and a risk of absconding. Clark County public defender Kristy Holston asked the judge to set bail at $50,000.
Authorities say Chasing Horse has spent decades building a reputation as a “medicine man” among tribes in the United States and Canada. Authorities accuse him of abusing this position to physically and sexually assault women and girls and to take underage wives.
He was banned from the Fort Peck Reservation in Poplar, Montana, in 2015 following similar allegations, and authorities in British Columbia, Canada, Chasing Horse charged this week in an alleged sexual assault in 2018.
In Nevada, Chasing Horse was charged with eight felonies, including sex trafficking, sexual assault and child molestation. He has not submitted a plea.
After Wednesday’s hearing, Holston told The Associated Press that she was pleased with the verdict.
“We think it’s remarkable that after reviewing the case, the judge set bail appropriately,” she said.
Holston declined to comment on the allegations but said she looks forward to Chasing Horse’s next court date, which is scheduled for February 22. At this hearing, a judge is expected to hear evidence in the case and decide whether Chasing Horse will stand trial.
“We very much look forward to the preliminary hearing in this case,” she said, “because it is another public hearing where we will have the opportunity to highlight the weaknesses in the state’s case.”
Clark County Assistant District Attorney William Rowles gestured to Chasing Horse supporters in the courtroom on Wednesday and said the former actor has a “huge” network of connections in Las Vegas, Canada and Mexico.
Rowles said police found evidence at Chasing Horse’s home last week that he was “in the process of nurturing young children to replace others as they grow up to become their wives.” Rowles declined to comment after the judge announced his verdict.
Chasing Horse’s relatives and supporters packed the courtroom on Wednesday, as they have since done at previous hearings his arrest on January 31 near the north Las Vegas home he shares with five women he identifies as his wives.
In a 50-page search warrant and 53-page arrest report, Las Vegas police described Chasing Horse as a the leader of a cult called The Circlewhose followers believe that he communicates with higher powers.
Police said they have identified at least six victims, including one who was 13 when she said she was abused and another who said she was offered to Chasing Horse as a “gift” when she was 15 was.
Task Force officers took Chasing Horse into custody last week, and detectives said a search of the family home found guns, 41 pounds (18.5 kilograms) of marijuana, psilocybin mushrooms and cellphone video, which his arrest report said recorded sexual assault minors showed.
Chasing Horse also uses the name Nathan Lee Chasing His Horse. He was born on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, home of the Sicangu Sioux, one of the seven tribes of the Lakota Nation.
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