Timothy Busfield reportedly turns himself in after warrant issued on child sex abuse charges
- - Timothy Busfield reportedly turns himself in after warrant issued on child sex abuse charges
Dylan StablefordJanuary 14, 2026 at 4:37 AM
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Timothy Busfield “presented himself” to police in New Mexico on Tuesday, according to NBC News, four days after an arrest warrant was issued alleging the 68-year-old actor and director abused 11-year-old twin boys on a film set.
The development came hours after the U.S. Marshals Service confirmed they were assisting police in New Mexico in the search for Busfield. The Albuquerque Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
An arrest warrant was issued on Friday for Busfield, who is facing two counts of criminal sexual contact with a minor and one count of child abuse.
Busfield is best known for his TV roles on The West Wing and Thirtysomething and in the movie Field of Dreams. He is married to actress Melissa Gilbert, who deleted her Instagram account after the allegations against Busfield became public.
What are the allegations against him?
Allison Janney and Timothy Busfield in 1999 on NBC's "West Wing". (Eric Liebowitz/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)
According to the criminal complaint, an investigation into Busfield began in November 2024 when a doctor at the University of New Mexico Hospital alerted police about suspected sexual abuse of the boys, who were both child actors. The minors are not identified in court documents.
The alleged abuse occurred on the set of The Cleaning Lady, a now-canceled TV drama Busfield directed and acted in, between 2022 and 2024. According to the complaint, Busfield would tell the boys to call him “Uncle Tim.”
When the mother of the boys asked if anyone had ever touched them in a manner that made them feel uncomfortable, the children responded by asking, "You mean like Uncle Tim?"
At the time of the initial investigation, in November 2024, the boys said that Busfield would tickle them, but did not disclose any sexual contact, and police determined that the case did not meet their “acceptance criteria.”
In October 2025, the mother reported to Child Protective Services that both of her children disclosed that they had been sexually abused by Busfield.
One of the children told a forensic child interviewer that the alleged abuse first occurred when he was 7 years old. The child said that Busfield touched him five to six times over his clothing in his “poop” and “pee” area.
The child described a similar incident when he was 8 years old, in which Busfield touched him in the same areas over his clothing three to four times. He said he “was afraid to tell anyone because Tim was the Director, and he feared Tim would get mad at him,” the complaint states.
According to the complaint, the boy previously told a therapist he was “having nightmares about the director touching him and waking up scared.” The boy “also disclosed that the director had touched and rubbed his penis 3 or 4 times and appeared to be ashamed.”
The other boy told the forensic child interviewer that Busfield “started touching them for the first two years” they were on set. The boy said the touching occurred as they were filming in the "house,” and that “he did not ike being touched, but did not say anything because he did not want to get in trouble.”
What did Busfield tell police?
Melissa Gilbert and Timothy Busfield in 2023. (Stephane Cardinale/Corbis via Getty Images) (Stephane Cardinale/Corbis via Getty Images)
Busfield denied the allegations when he spoke with investigators in November 2025.
During a phone interview with police, Busfield was asked “if he ever had any physical contact with these boys and if he ever picked them up and tickled them.”
He said it was “highly likely” because, as a director, he wanted to foster a “playful environment.”
“I don't remember it,” Busfield said, according to the complaint. “If it happened, I don't remember overtly tickling the boys ever, but it wouldn't be uncommon for me."
Busfield and Gilbert told police that they had “a relationship with the alleged victims and their family outside of work.” The couple “advised that they did buy the two boys Christmas gifts and were together on several social functions,” per the complaint.
Busfield said that the boys were eventually replaced by another child actor on the show, and that he was told by another actor that their mother “wanted revenge” on him for not bringing her kids back for the final season.
Timothy Busfield and Patricia Wettig in 1989 on ABC's "Thirtysomething" (ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
“In my training and experience, pedophiles often infiltrate families under a trusted role, like Timothy, who, as a producer, exploited the hectic film sets to tickle and touch [the boy] on his penis and buttocks, masking it as play," Albuquerque Police Officer Marvin Brown wrote in a conclusion to the complaint attached to the arrest warrant.
“He would invite the family to off-set gatherings, with his wife buying Christmas gifts to foster closeness, making [the boy] feel special and dependent — classic grooming to erode boundaries, isolate the victim, and silence suspicions by blending abuse into normalcy,” Brown continued. “This dual tactic, charming parents while secretly violating the child, builds a web of complicity that is hard to unravel, delaying detection, as families trust the abuser's facade.”
What did Warner Bros. say?
According to the complaint, attorneys for Warner Bros. Television, which produced The Cleaning Lady, told police that in February 2025, the studio conducted an independent investigation into allegations that Busfield kissed a minor male actor on the face in a makeup trailer, but could not find evidence to support the claims.
On Monday, a Warner Bros. spokesperson said in a statement that “we are aware of the current charges against Mr. Busfield and have been and will continue to cooperate with law enforcement."
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
