American actor Nathan Chasing Horse has been sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of sexually assaulting indigenous women and girls over a period spanning two decades.
The 49-year-old, who appeared in the Oscar-winning film Dances With Wolves, received the sentence on Monday from Nevada Judge Jessica Peterson.
His sentencing followed a January jury verdict in which he was found guilty on 13 of 21 charges after an 11-day trial.
Chasing Horse was arrested in 2023 during a SWAT operation and later booked at the Clark County Jail on charges including child abuse or neglect, sexual assault, sex trafficking of an adult, and sexual assault against a child.
He was known within indigenous communities in the United States and Canada as a spiritual figure, but prosecutors and victims accused him of using that position to exploit women and girls.
Deputy District Attorney Bianca Pucci told the court that Chasing Horse had “spun a web of abuse” lasting nearly 20 years.
She said he manipulated victims by claiming spiritual instructions, including telling one victim that she had to sacrifice her virginity to save her mother.
One of the victims, Corena Leone-LaCroix, who was 14 at the time of the abuse, described the long-term impact of the crimes.
“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,” she said, according to the Associated Press.
Before sentencing, the court also heard testimonies from multiple survivors who detailed how they were abused.
The judge said Chasing Horse had preyed on victims’ spirituality, “manipulating them for his own personal gratification.”
He will be eligible for parole after serving 37 years.
Chasing Horse first gained attention as a teenager in the 1990 film Dances With Wolves, where he appeared as part of the Sioux tribe.
