Actor-turned-cult-leader facing sex charges took teenage wife from Tsuut'ina, police allege
CBC
Warning: This story deals with allegations of sexual assault
A former actor who travelled North America presenting himself as a medicine man at Indigenous ceremonies had at least five wives including a Tsuut'ina Nation woman who was offered to the alleged sexual predator by her mother as a "gift" when she was just 15 years old, according to an arrest report.
Nathan Chasing Horse, 46, faces charges that include sexual assault, sex trafficking and child abuse in Nevada and B.C., with further charges pending in Alberta as police await the approval of warrants.
On Wednesday, a Las Vegas judge set Chasing Horse's bail at $300,000 US and ordered he live with a family member, submit to electronic monitoring and stay away from children.
CBC News has obtained a copy of a 50-page arrest report that details the evidence Nevada police say they've gathered to support laying charges. None of the evidence detailed in the report has been tested in court.
Police said they've identified at least six victims, including one who was 13 when she said she was abused.
Videos found on cellphones seized from Chasing Horse's bedroom shows a girl as young as 11 being raped by the 46-year-old, according to police. The girl appears to be drugged and close to unconscious, the investigator noted in the report.
Chasing Horse is best known for his role in Kevin Costner's Dances With Wolves. He also acted in Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, a film that was shot in Calgary.
But for two decades, Chasing Horse travelled the U.S., Mexico and Canada using his self-proclaimed role as a medicine man to lure and groom girls, the document alleges.
Police say Chasing Horse would befriend single mothers with daughters.
The most recent investigation into Chasing Horse began in October after U.S. authorities received a tip from B.C. RCMP.
Tsuut'ina police also became involved after a woman reported in January that she'd been sexually assaulted and sex trafficked. She told police she was Chasing Horse's fourth wife but left him in 2022 because "she could no longer take the abuse." Police allege he had five wives at one time.
The woman told investigators her mother was part of The Circle, described by police as a kind of cult. In 2006, she met Chasing Horse who had come to Tsuut'ina to perform ceremonies as a medicine man. The woman was 14 years old at the time.
One night he came into her bedroom. He raped her after she confirmed to him she was a virgin, she told police.