With Nathan Chasing Horse now weeks away from sentencing, two Sonoma County women who say they survived his alleged abuse have spent years quietly building a grassroots safety net for Indigenous survivors. The projects they launched, a survivor-led nonprofit and a peer-support circle, have helped women line up housing, counseling, and legal guidance while the criminal case moved through Nevada courts.
A Nevada jury convicted Chasing Horse on Jan. 30 on 13 of 21 felony counts, and he is scheduled to be sentenced on March 11. According to AP News, prosecutors say he faces a minimum of 25 years in prison on multiple counts. The verdict followed an 11-day trial in Clark County that featured testimony from survivors and evidence prosecutors say showed a long-running pattern of abuse.
Survivor-led groups stepped into a gap
In Sonoma County, survivors including Lisa Diaz-McQuaid and Elizabeth Quiroz created Redemption House of the Bay Area to provide peer mentorship and street outreach, according to the group's website. Local reporting describes the founders organizing bi-monthly meetings, visiting encampments and planning a safe house to help women leave exploitative situations, work they say fills a long-standing gap in services. Redemption House and a feature in NorthBay Biz both document that organizing history and outreach.
VOICE members took the stand
Other survivors in Sonoma organized VOICE (Victims of Indigenous Ceremonial Exploitation), and, as reported by The Press Democrat, the group grew to roughly 15 women, including about 10 who say they were sexually assaulted. Two VOICE members ultimately testified at Chasing Horse's trial, the paper reports, a shift that survivors and advocates say helped fracture the local support network that had formed around him.
Prosecutors described spiritual manipulation
Prosecutors told jurors they believe Chasing Horse used his reputation as a Lakota medicine man to manipulate and sexually exploit women and girls, describing testimony that they say showed a pattern stretching across years and locations. As detailed by AP, jurors heard from several women about abuse that began when some victims were minors, while local outlets followed the courtroom testimony as it unfolded. Hoodline chronicled the trial's progress in Las Vegas.
Sentence looms and wider implications
Sentencing is set for March 11, and prosecutors and advocates say the outcome could carry weight beyond Clark County as other investigations remain pending. The Las Vegas Review-Journal notes that jurors returned a split verdict and that several of the guilty counts stem from assaults on a victim who was 14 when the abuse began.
Sonoma survivors keep working
For survivors in Sonoma County, the verdict has served as both a measure of accountability and a push to expand services. Leaders at Redemption House say peer support, outreach and court preparation remain immediate priorities as families and survivors get ready to attend the sentencing, according to the organization's website.
