Chasing Horse appears before judge in child pornography case

A woman who has accused an alleged cult leader of grooming and raping her said she was “disappointed” when the Nevada Supreme Court dismissed his case but she wants the new prosecution against him to move forward.

“At the end of the day he can’t hurt anybody right now, and hopefully everyone does their part and he can’t hurt anybody ever again, that’s all we can hope for in this,” said Ren Leone-LaCroix, one of the alleged victims in the case against Nathan Chasing Horse.

Last month, the Nevada Supreme Court dismissed a previous indictment that charged Chasing Horse with counts of sexual assault, lewdness, kidnapping and drug trafficking. Prosecutors have filed a new case against him with only two charges — using a minor under 14 to produce pornography and possession of pornography of a person under 16, court records show.

The new case was originally filed in Las Vegas Justice Court, and Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Joseph Sciscento set bail for Chasing Horse at $200,000, court records show. The case was then moved to Justice Court in North Las Vegas, where Chasing Horse was living at the time of his arrest in January 2023.

North Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Pro Tem Craig Newman set a Nov. 6 preliminary hearing date in the new case.

Leone-LaCroix said she was “very disappointed” when the Supreme Court dismissed the previous indictment, but wanted to be present in the courtroom Wednesday as Chasing Horse again faced a judge.

“I definitely felt it was necessary that I was there and I was present with him in that courtroom to just show that I’m still here and we did not forget,” she told reporters on Wednesday. “And we’re not going to forget.”

Chasing Horse, who is also known for playing Smiles a Lot in the 1990 Kevin Costner film “Dances With Wolves,” was accused of committing crimes in the U.S. and Canada between 2012 and 2023, while running a cult called The Circle. He was arrested after police raided his North Las Vegas home, where he lived with multiple women he viewed as wives.

Multiple women who told police that Chasing Horse assaulted them said he filmed himself “having intercourse with them while they were conscious and unconscious,” according to his arrest report.

Chasing Horse was also accused of grooming one of the women, telling her to have sex with him so that he could heal her mother’s cancer, according to court records.

When the Supreme Court dismissed the previous indictment, the justices found that prosecutors did not provide a grand jury with expert testimony about “grooming,” despite having a jury instruction that described the term.