Nathan Chasing Horse, a 49-year-old American actor best known for his role in the Oscar-winning film ‘Dances With Wolves,’ has been sentenced to life in prison for the sexual abuse of Indigenous women and girls over a span of two decades.
The sentencing was handed down on Monday by Nevada judge Jessica Peterson, following Chasing Horse’s conviction in January on 13 out of 21 charges after an 11-day trial. He was arrested by a SWAT team in 2023 and held in Clark County jail on multiple counts, including child abuse or neglect, sexual assault, sexual assault of a child, and sex trafficking of an adult.
Chasing Horse, who was recognized as a medicine man among Indigenous communities in the United States and Canada, was accused by victims and their families of exploiting his status as a spiritual leader to abuse visitors. During the trial, three women testified that he had sexually assaulted them, and survivors described how he manipulated their spirituality for his own gain.
Corena Leone-LaCroix, who was 14 at the time of the abuse, told the court, There is no way to get back the youth, the childhood loss, my first time, my first kiss, the graduation I never got to have. The life that little girl could have lived has been taken from me forever.
Deputy district attorney Bianca Pucci said Chasing Horse had spun a web of abuse for nearly 20 years, telling Leone-LaCroix that spirits wanted her to give up her virginity to save her mother, who had cancer.
Judge Peterson told Chasing Horse during sentencing that he preyed on women’s spirituality, manipulating them for his own personal gratification. Chasing Horse will be eligible for parole after serving 37 years.
Chasing Horse rose to fame as a young member of South Dakota’s Sioux tribe in Dances With Wolves,’ the 1990 Hollywood classic.
