Cult leader who starred in ‘Dances with Wolves’ arrested on child sex abuse charges

Chasing Horse was taken into custody as SWAT officers and other law enforcement personnel carried out their search of his north Las Vegas property, which he is said to have shared with his five wives.

According to the Associated Press, following his role in the hit film, Chasing Horse embarked on a career as a medicine man, and convinced people from tribes across the United States that he could perform spiritual healing ceremonies. After becoming the leader of a cult known as "The Circle," Chasing Horse allegedly used the trust and authority he built up along the way to abuse women and girls, most of them Native American.

"Nathan Chasing Horse used spiritual traditions and their belief system as a tool to sexually assault young girls on numerous occasions,” the warrant stated. The document also explained that Chasing Horse allegedly filmed his sexual assaults and arranged sexual encounters with his victims and other men, who would then pay him.

During the monthslong investigation, authorities tied at least six alleged victims to Chasing Horse. The incidents date back to the early 2000s and span multiple states including Montana, Nevada, and his home state of South Dakota, where he was born into the Sicangu Sioux tribe of the Lakota nation.

As the AP reports, a warrant revealed that Chasing Horse's victims ranged in age, but were as young as thirteen. One of his wives was said to have been offered to him as a "gift" at fifteen, and another at sixteen.

The warrant also noted that Chasing Horse had been banned from the Fort Peck Reservation in Montana in 2015 after allegedly engaging in human trafficking.