Actor-director Tim Busfield jailed on child sex abuse charges

By Steve Gorman Jan 13 (Reuters) – Actor-director Timothy Busfield surrendered to authorities in New Mexico on Tuesday to face child sexual abuse charges, accused of inappropriately touching two young cast members on the set of a television show he was directing and producing. According to a criminal complaint and arrest warrant affidavit, the case involves 11-year-old twin boys who reported the alleged contact occurred over a two-year period, when they were aged seven and eight, during production of the Fox crime drama "The Cleaning Lady." Busfield was an executive producer of the show, which was filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico's largest city, and began directing episodes around the end of the second season, in 2022. The arrest warrant was issued on Monday. Busfield, 68, turned himself in to the Albuquerque Police Department on Tuesday and was booked into the Bernalillo County jail without bond, said Nancy Laflin, a spokesperson for the district attorney's office. In a video posted online shortly before his surrender, Busfield professed his innocence, called the allegations against him "lies" and said, "I'm going to be exonerated. I know I am." "I did not do anything to those little boys," he said during the 45-second clip. Busfield is best known for his prime-time television roles as a White House reporter on the NBC political drama "The West Wing," which ran on NBC from 1999 to 2006, and as an ad agency executive on the 1980s ABC ensemble series "Thirtysomething." He is married to actress Melissa Gilbert, a former president of the Screen Actors Guild who gained fame in the 1970s as a child actress on the hit Western family drama "Little House on the Prairie." Busfield is charged in the complaint with child abuse and two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor. According to the affidavit, one of the boys reported multiple instances of Busfield touching his "private areas" over his clothes during pauses in production. His brother also reported being touched by Busfield but was less specific, the affidavit said. In his own interview for the investigation in November, Busfield acknowledged he probably had physical contact with the boys on occasion, like tickling or picking them up, but in a playful manner with others present, the affidavit said. Busfield also suggested a possible motive for false allegations against him, according to the affidavit. Citing information he said he gleaned from the show's star, Elodie Yung, Busfield told police that the boys' mother was upset with him to the point of wanting "revenge" after producers decided to replace her sons in the final season of the series. Yung declined to be interviewed for the police investigation, the affidavit said, but had related a similar account of the mother vowing revenge against Busfield when the actress was questioned by a private investigator for the show's producer, Warner Bros. Television. (Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Michael Perry)

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