The “Dances with Wolves” actor is again accused of sexual harassment in Nevada

LAS VEGAS (AP) – A Nevada grand jury has again indicted Nathan Chasing Horse on charges that he sexually abused Native women and girls for decades, reopening a wide-ranging criminal case against the former “Dances With Wolves” actor.

The 21-count indictment was unsealed Thursday in Clark County District Court, covering Las Vegas, and again accuses the 48-year-old of sexual assault, lewdness and kidnapping. It also adds criminal charges for producing and possessing child sexual abuse material.

That ruling will follow the Nevada Supreme Court’s ruling in September ordered dismissal the original indictment of Chasing Horse, while leaving open the possibility of refiling the charges. The court sided with Chasing Horse, saying in its scathing order that prosecutors abused the jury process.

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson quickly announced another indictment.

The initial indictment covering 18 people accused Chasing Horse of a dozen crimes. He pleaded not guilty.

His lawyer, Kristy Holston, also argued that the case should be dismissed because, as the former actor stated, the sexual encounters were consensual. According to the indictment, one of his accusers was under 16, the age of consent in Nevada, when the abuse began.

Neither Wolfson nor Holston immediately responded Thursday to telephone or email requests for comment.

Best known for his role as Smiles A Lot in the 1990 film “Dances With Wolves,” “Chasing Horse” was born on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, which is home to the Sicang Sioux, one of the seven tribes of the Lakota Nation.

After starring in the Oscar-winning film, authorities say he professed himself as a self-proclaimed Lakota shaman while traveling across North America to perform healing ceremonies.

He is accused of using this position to gain the trust of vulnerable indigenous women and girls, lead a cult and take underage wives.

Chasing a horse arrested in January last year reverberated throughout Indian Country and helped law enforcement in the U.S. and Canada confirm long-standing allegations against him, leading to subsequent criminal charges, including on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana. Tribal leaders banished Chasing Horse from the reservation in 2015 amid allegations of human trafficking.

He has been incarcerated in a Las Vegas jail since his arrest.

When the Nevada Supreme Court ordered the dismissal of the Chasing Horse indictment, the judges said they were not assessing his guilt or innocence and considered the charges against him serious. However, the court found that prosecutors improperly presented the grand jury with a definition of seduction without expert testimony and faulted the grand jury for failing to present the grand jury with inconsistent testimony from one of the accusers.

Chasing Horse’s legal problems are unfolding at the same time as lawmakers and prosecutors across the United States directing more resources in cases involving Native American women, including human trafficking and murder.