Actor-director Timothy Busfield is being held in a New Mexico jail on charges that are now colliding with a long trail of earlier allegations. The 68-year-old, known for Thirtysomething and The West Wing, surrendered to Albuquerque authorities this week after police raided his New York home and obtained an arrest warrant, per the Washington Post. Busfield is charged with two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor and one count of child abuse, tied to claims he molested twin boys on the set of the Fox drama The Cleaning Lady between late 2022 and spring 2024. The boys, now 11, told investigators that "Tim" or "Mr. Tim" touched their genitals and buttocks in a bedroom on the set when they were as young as 7.
Parents said they initially could monitor the set via iPads, but access was cut off after Busfield joined the show as a director, and production assistants told police a set teacher often wasn't watching the children. Warner Bros. launched an internal inquiry in February after a separate complaint that he kissed a different 6-year-old boy on set; the studio's outside investigator said she found no corroborating evidence of misconduct or that Busfield was ever alone with the twins, per NBC News. Older, uncharged allegations are also now reemerging. A 1994 lawsuit accused Busfield of giving alcohol to a 17-year-old extra for Little Big League, groping her, and attempting to sexually assault her in a trailer.
Busfield countersued for extortion, and the case was settled privately; a later defamation suit he filed against the girl's law firm was tossed, and he was ordered to pay $150,000. A father, meanwhile, told authorities this week that around 2001, Busfield kissed his 16-year-old daughter during an audition at a Sacramento nonprofit theater Busfield founded, then put his hands down her pants; the family didn't report it at the time after Busfield allegedly agreed to seek therapy. The theater says it conducted an internal review then and that Busfield has had no role there since 2001.
A 2012 case in Los Angeles, in which a 28-year-old woman accused Busfield of groping her in a movie theater, ended with prosecutors declining to file charges. Busfield's lawyer, Stanton "Larry" Stein, says the actor "is innocent and is determined to clear his name." An upcoming Law & Order: SVU episode featuring Busfield has reportedly been pulled. His wife, actor Melissa Gilbert, isn't commenting publicly at her husband's legal team's request, with her publicist saying she's focused on supporting their family while the legal process plays out, per Entertainment Weekly. In a video posted by TMZ, Busfield himself says the allegations are "all lies" and that "I did not do anything to those little boys."
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