Timothy Busfield’s upcoming episode as a guest star on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit has been pulled.
According to reports on Monday, Jan. 12, the episode originally slated to air on Thursday, Jan. 15, which featured Busfield, will no longer air. Instead, it will be replaced with next week’s Jan. 22 episode, Deadline reported.
This comes shortly after the Albuquerque Police Department issued an arrest warrant, obtained by News Of Losangeles, on Friday, Jan. 9, alleging that Busfield, 68, engaged in unlawful sexual conduct with twin 11-year-old boys. One of the minors alleged the incidents began when he was 7 years old.
The actor, who is known for his role as Danny Concannon on The West Wing and is married to Melissa Gilbert, is facing two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor and one count of child abuse.
The Allegations
The minors were child actors who met Busfield on the set of the FOX series The Cleaning Lady, where Busfield served as a director, according to the arrest warrant, issued by Officer Marvin Kirk Brown.
The television program ran from January 2022 until June 2025.
In a statement to News Of Losangeles, a Warner Bros. Television representative said:
> “The health and safety of our cast and crew is always our top priority, especially the safety of minors on our productions. We take all allegations of misconduct very seriously and have systems in place to promptly and thoroughly investigate, and when needed, take appropriate action.”
“[We] have been and will continue to cooperate with law enforcement,” the spokesperson added.
Investigation Timeline
An investigation into Busfield began on Nov. 1, 2024, after a doctor at the University of New Mexico Hospital (UNMH) alerted police about alleged sexual abuse. The minors were taken to the facility after the father was told that “there had been multiple rumors that Timothy had been ‘handsy’ with women.”
When the mother asked her sons, “Who were eleven years old at the time, if anyone had ever touched them in a manner that made them feel uncomfortable. The children allegedly responded by asking, ‘You mean like Uncle Tim?'” according to the warrant.
At the time, Brown said the siblings had not disclosed any sexual contact, but both claimed Busfield “would tickle them on the stomach and legs.” It was then determined that the case did not meet their acceptance criteria at that time.
New Allegations Surface
The mother told authorities on Sept. 2, 2025, and Sept. 22, 2025, that her son told his counselor that Busfield inappropriately touched him.
When one of the victims was 10 years old, his therapist diagnosed him with moderate post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety following claims of “inappropriate touching.”
The therapist said the child began “having nightmares about the director touching him and waking up scared,” and claimed Busfield “had touched and rubbed his penis 3 or 4 times and appeared to be ashamed,” per the warrant. The victim also allegedly suffered from bed-wetting and other behavioral issues.
The warrant alleges that the victim told authorities he did not come forward “because he did not want to be mean to” Busfield.
Busfield’s Response
Busfield allegedly told police that the parents were upset their sons had been replaced with a younger actor who auditioned, according to the warrant. He then got a call from Warner Bros. informing him they were investigating a complaint.
“Timothy said Warner Brothers had an outside investigation through another firm do an investigation. Timothy was told there were complaints about him from the boys. Timothy acknowledged that the boys involved were [Victim 1] and [Victim 2]” the warrant stated.
When asked by investigators if he ever picked up or tickled the boys, Busfield allegedly said it was “highly likely that he would have” because he wanted “a playful environment.”
“It’s not allowed at all,” Busfield allegedly told investigators of touching on set. “There is no, there’s no protocol. I mean, I’m always around people, right? It would be, you know, in front of the parents.”
“There would never be a weird moment about it. I don’t really remember picking those boys up,” he continued, per the warrant. “I remember picking up the boy who followed them. I’d pick him up, and he’d be giggling, and that would sort of get him ready to act.”
Busfield allegedly said that he and his wife had a relationship with the boys and their parents “outside of work,” and said that they bought the boys “Christmas gifts and were together on several social functions.”
Production Assistant Concerns
The officer said that throughout the investigation, a production assistant also alleged one of the minors would be unsupervised often on set and believed that “Timothy had the opportunity to be alone with [the victim] while he was lying in the bed on the TV set.”
After receiving the results of the internal investigation by Warner Bros., it was documented that an individual “claimed to have witnessed the incident in the Hair and Make-Up trailer, executive producer/director Tim Busfield entered and kissed a minor male on the face as the minor was getting a haircut” in December 2024.
Officer’s Analysis
“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 victim] on his penis and buttocks, masking it as play,” officer Brown wrote in the warrant.
“He would invite the family to off-set gatherings, with his wife buying Christmas gifts to foster closeness, making [the victim] 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.”
Prior Allegations
Busfield has also faced prior sexual assault allegations dating back to 1994, according to the warrant.
Reps for Busfield and Gilbert did not immediately respond to News Of Losangeles‘s request for comment.
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If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453**, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
