At a Glance
- Timothy Busfield surrendered to Albuquerque police on January 13 after a warrant alleged sexual abuse of 11-year-old twins.
- A second report, filed the same day, accuses him of assaulting a 16-year-old girl during a Sacramento audition “several years ago.”
- Prosecutors want him detained pending trial, citing a “sustained pattern of predatory conduct.”
- Why it matters: The new claim broadens the timeline and geography of alleged abuse, raising fresh safety questions for child actors.
Timothy Busfield, 68, is facing expanded allegations after turning himself in on a New Mexico warrant that originally accused him of sexual contact with two boys. A pretrial detention motion filed January 14 reveals a father, Colin Swift, told Sacramento investigators that Busfield allegedly kissed his 16-year-old daughter and “put his hands down her pants” while she auditioned at B Street Theatre, the company Busfield founded in 1986.
According to the motion, Busfield later “begged the family to not report to law enforcement if he received therapy.” Swift, described as a therapist himself, initially agreed; the incident was never prosecuted.
The January 9 arrest warrant that triggered Busfield’s surrender centers on twin boys he met while directing episodes of FOX’s The Cleaning Lady in 2022. The warrant alleges abuse began when the boys were seven and continued until spring 2024. One child told a counselor that Busfield “touched and rubbed his penis 3 or 4 times,” leading to a PTSD diagnosis, bed-wetting, and nightmares.
In a self-shot video obtained by TMZ before his arrest, Busfield denied wrongdoing: “They’re all lies and I did not do anything to those little boys… I’m gonna fight it… I’m gonna be exonerated.”
Bernalillo District Attorney Sam Bregman formally charged Busfield with:
- Two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor
- One count of child abuse
Prosecutors cite “repeated sexual touching” and “deliberate grooming behaviors” in asking a judge to keep Busfield jailed until trial, arguing he “poses a serious and ongoing danger… to any child placed within his proximity.”
Warner Bros. Television told News Of Losangeles it prioritizes “the safety of minors” and continues to “cooperate with law enforcement.”
Busfield previously settled an undisclosed lawsuit in the 1990s involving a 17-year-old extra on Little Big League, and in 2012 a 28-year-old woman accused him of battery in a Los Angeles theater; prosecutors declined to file charges, calling evidence “slim.”
If convicted on the New Mexico counts, the Emmy-winning actor could face years in prison and mandatory sex-offender registration.
