‘Smiles A Lot’ arrested on sex trafficking charges
LAS VEGAS – When he played Smiles A lot in the 1990 film “Dances with Wolves” Nathan Chasing Horse won over the hearts of many movie goers with his boyish antics.
Now, 33 years later, the actor is being charged with using his influence to sexually abuse young indigenous girls.
On January 31, Nathan Chasing Horse aka Nathan Chasing His Horse, 46, was arrested at his home in Las Vegas where he had been living with his “five wives” on charges of sex trafficking, sexual assault against a child younger than 16, and child abuse.
According to the Associated Press, an investigation into Chasing Horse’s crimes began in October 2022, when Las Vegas detectives received a call from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police that he was suspected of a sexual assault in British Columbia.
A joint investigation began between the Mounted Police, Las Vegas Metro, the FBI and the Bureau of Indian Affairs which culminated in the arrest of Chasing Horse.
According to a 50-page search warrant obtained by the AP, Chasing Horse built a reputation across U.S. and Canada as a so called “medicine man” and is believed to be the leader of a cult known as “The Circle.” His followers believed he had healing powers and that he could communicate with the spirits.
Chasing Horse, a Sicangu Lakota from the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota, is alleged to have abused his powers and spiritual influence by “posing as a holy man” to groom vulnerable young indigenous girls and women into relationships. The report states that he physically and sexually assaulted them and took underage wives over two decades.
Police said at least six victims had been identified, 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. Another claims she was became Chasing Horse’s wife when she turned 16.
His crimes, police said, span multiple states and two countries including Canada, South Dakota, Montana and Nevada, where he has lived for about a decade.
According to Chasing Horse’s arrest report, when SWAT officers took him into custody, detectives searched the family’s home and found memory cards with videos of sexual assaults, guns, 41 pounds (18.5 kilograms) of marijuana and psilocybin mushrooms.
According to the search warrant, Chasing Horse trained his wives to use firearms and instructed them to “shoot it out” with any authorities who tried to “break their family apart.” If that failed, or if he was ever arrested or died unexpectedly, he told his wives to take “suicide pills,” the document said.
A criminal complaint also charges Chasing Horse with two misdemeanors in connection with a dead bald eagle and parts of a dead hawk discovered during the search of his property.
This isn’t the first time the sexual predator Chasing Horse has been accused of abusing the spiritual ceremonies of the Oceti Sakowin to take advantage of young indigenous girls.
In 2015, Chasing Horse was banished from the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana over allegations of human trafficking, drug dealing, and spiritual abuse.
Chasing Horse remains in the Clark County jail, where he is being held without bail until further arraignments.
(Contact Ernestine Anunkasan Hupa at staffwriter@nativesunnews.today)
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February 17, 2023