Federal prosecutors in Nevada have quietly dismissed the long-dormant Chasing Horse sex abuse case

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Federal prosecutors in Nevada have dismissed a long-simmering sex abuse case against Nathan Chasing Horse.

The dismissal of the federal case was granted on October 1. The former “Dances with Wolves” actor was charged in that case with two counts of child sexual exploitation and one count of possession of child sexual abuse material.

Prosecutors have decided to dismiss the case without prejudice, meaning charges can be refiled on September 27. That comes a day after the Nevada Supreme Court ordered the dismissal of a new state court complaint against Chasing Horse, which was finalized late Friday.

The federal charges stemmed from the same allegations that led to Chasing Horse’s now-dismissed state charge.

Federal prosecutors took no action in the case after filing the complaint in February 2023.

District Attorney Steve Wolfson has said his office plans to refile the charges, which include sexual assault of a minor, kidnapping and child abuse.

In the new case, Chasing Horse faces one felony count of possessing and producing child sexual abuse material. He is being held on $200,000 bail.

Prosecutors said in court Monday that Chasing Horse, 48, recorded videos of him having sex with one of his accusers when she was younger than 14. In at least one video, the girl was “completely passed out,” prosecutor William Rowles said.

As Rowles described the videos, Chasing Horse closed his eyes and shook his head.

Rowles said the footage, taken in 2010 or 2011, was found on cellphones in a locked safe in the North Las Vegas home that Chasing Horse allegedly shared with five women, including the girl in the videos.

His attorney, Kristy Holston, declined to comment after court Monday. Rowles also said he had no comment.

The dismissal of his 18-count indictment was ordered by the Nevada Supreme Court in late September after Holston successfully argued that a definition of “grooming” — presented to the grand jury without expert testimony — had tainted the state’s case , and that prosecutors should have shared inconsistent grand jury testimony from one of the victims.

Chasing Horse has been jailed in Las Vegas since his arrest last January. But the case, which sent shockwaves across Indian Country and led to more criminal charges in the U.S. and Canada, had been at a standstill for more than a year while he fought the case.

The former actor, best known for his portrayal of the character Smiles A Lot in the 1990 film ‘Dances with Wolves’, was born on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, home to the Sicangu Sioux, one of the seven tribes of the Lakota Nation.

In the decades since he starred in the Oscar-winning film, authorities say he has built a reputation as a self-styled medicine man among the tribes and has traveled across North America performing healing ceremonies.

He is accused of using that position to gain access to vulnerable girls and women, running a cult and taking underage wives from the early 2000s.