Jury convicts 'Dances with Wolves' actor in sexual assault trial

Noble Brigham, Las Vegas Review-Journal on Jan 30, 2026

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LAS VEGAS — A jury on Friday convicted “Dances with Wolves” actor Nathan Chasing Horse in a sexual assault trial in which he was accused of targeting fellow Native Americans.

Prosecutors had charged Chasing Horse, 49, with 21 counts, including sexual assault with a minor under 16, sexual assault, first-degree kidnapping of a minor, open and gross lewdness and use of a minor under 14 in producing pornography.

Chasing Horse, who played Smiles a Lot in the 1990 movie, promoted himself as a “medicine man” and committed crimes in the U.S. and Canada while running The Circle, a cult with up to 350 followers at its height, according to authorities.

Jurors returned a split verdict, finding Chasing Horse guilty of 13 counts and not guilty of eight others.

The jury found him guilty of multiple counts of sexual assault of a minor under 16, a count of open and gross lewdness, a count of sexual assault and a child pornography count. But they returned a not guilty verdict for other child pornography and sexual assault counts as well as a count of kidnapping of a minor.

Multiple alleged victims testified during the trial, telling jurors that Chasing Horse used their spiritual traditions to victimize them.

The jury returned a guilty verdict on at least one count for each of the three victims who were the basis for the charges he faced.

Corena Leone-LaCroix, who eventually became one of Chasing Horse’s multiple wives, said she saw him as a safe figure and felt honored when he adopted her as his granddaughter. She never questioned him or thought she could say no to him, she said.

Although the Review-Journal typically does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault, it is choosing to name Corena Leone-LaCroix and publish her photo because she has previously given interviews to news outlets including the Review-Journal.

When she was 14, her mother was diagnosed with cancer and Chasing Horse said he could help “at a cost,” she testified.

He told her, she said, that she must give up her virginity.

“He had said that it was the last good thing about me, the last pure thing about me and that, because I had started lying and talking to boys and stealing, that I was not worth anything,” she told jurors, her voice tearful.

“I said, ‘There has to be something else,’” she added. She believed if she refused, her mother would die, she said. Though she did not want to have sex with him, she did not feel she could say no, she testified.

After having sex with her, Chasing Horse told her it was “a sacred secret,” Leone-LaCroix said, and that her mother’s sickness would return if she divulged it.

Prosecutors accused Chasing Horse of sexually assaulting her multiple other times.

Defense attorney Craig Mueller attacked Leone-LaCroix in his closing argument Wednesday, saying she was “simply not credible” and made allegations after she did not receive money.

Leone-LaCroix pushed back on that narrative in her testimony.

“After (another wife) stopped paying your bills, that’s when you decided that you had been a victim and went to the police department,” the lawyer said.

“Incorrect,” she replied.

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