Actor Timothy Busfield Admits to Touching Child Actors 'Playfully': Warrant

They're all lies and I did not do. anything to those little boys. Uh, and. I'm I'm gonna fight it. >> Television and film actor Timothy. Busfield is now facing child sexual. abuse charges tied to horrifying. allegations that he inappropriately. [music] touched child actors all while. allegedly working right on a TV set. And. after days of being sought by police, Timothy [music] Busfield has turned. himself in. We are going to break down. the latest details in this case that. we're learning from an arrest warrant. and what authorities [music] say.

happened behind the scenes. Welcome to. Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm. Jesse Weber. By the way, one of the reasons we can. follow a story like this is because of. the incredible support that we get from. our sponsor Morgan and Morgan. This is. America's largest personal injury law. firm. This is a firm with over a. thousand attorneys who've recovered $25. billion for more than 500,000 clients. In the past few months alone, a client. in Florida received $12 million when. insurance offered just $350,000. Out in.

Pennsylvania, another client was awarded. $26 million. That is 40 times the. insurers's offer. And Morgan and Morgan, they make it easy to fight for what you. deserve. You can even start a claim from. your phone. So, if you're injured, you. can start a claim at. forthepeople.com/lcsidebar. You can click the link below or you can. scan the QR code on screen. All right, this is a major story because. for days actor Timothy Busfield, you. know, the guy that you might know from. the West Wing or Field of Dreams, he was. wanted by police in New Mexico on.

disturbing child sexual abuse charges. And his whereabouts were reportedly. unknown. Police alleged that he touched. two 11-year-old boys on the set of the. television series The Cleaning Lady. while working as a director and. executive producer and that the children. were allegedly groomed and even told to. call him Uncle Tim. But then you go to. January 13th and this is when Busfield. turned himself into authorities in. Albuquerque, New Mexico after a warrant. was issued for his arrest. And now he's. charged with two counts of criminal.

sexual contact of a minor and one count. of child abuse. and it's all in. connection with these allegations. And. those accusations are laid out in a. newly obtained arrest affidavit. So you. have these twin boys who apparently. worked with Busfield, again on the set. of The Cleaning Lady. They claim that. there was inappropriate touching when. you're talking about kids being just. seven and 8 years old. And according to. the warrant, Busfield even admitted to. police, and we're going to talk about. it, that it was quote highly likely he.

had some sort of physical contact with. the children. Though to be clear, he. characterized the interactions as just. being playful. But here's Busfield's. side. So right before turning himself. in, he looks into a camera and flat out. called all of this lies. He insisted. upon his innocence in this video. statement that was obtained by TMZ. >> I had to get a lawyer. Saturday, I got. in a car. I drove 2,000 miles to. Albuquerque. I'm going to confront these. lies. They're horrible. They're all.

lies. and I did not do anything to those. little boys. Uh, and I'm I'm gonna fight. it. I'm gonna fight it with a great. team. Uh, and I'm going to be. exonerated. >> And by the way, you also have Larry. Stern. So, this is Busfield's lawyer who. said in a statement that was released on. January 13th, quote, "This morning, Tim. voluntarily appeared before New Mexico. authorities after traveling across the. country to confront these false and. deeply troubling allegations. He is. innocent and determined to clear his. name." But here's what we're going to.

do. We're going to take a closer look at. the latest details inside this newly. obtained arrest warrant. We're going to. talk about the fallout. We're going to. talk about past allegations that. Busfield has faced. And by the way, one. of the things that he's facing is that. his most recent Law and Order SVU. episode that was pulled amid all this. controversy. And by the way, his wife, actress Melissa Gilbert, we're going to. talk about this as well, has since. reportedly scrubbed her social media. accounts. And by the way, despite the. fallout, she appears to be standing by. him. Now, here is what investigators.

allege happened and why this case has. escalated so quickly. So, police in. Albuquerque claim that the allegations. center on twin boys who worked as child. actors on the Fox series The Cleaning. Lady. And this is where again served as. a director and executive producer. We're. talking about the series from 2022 to. 2025. Now, investigators say that. concerns about Busfield's interactions. with the children, they surfaced over. time and eventually prompted a deeper. review of what may have happened on that.

set. And authorities say the case first. came to their attention in late 2024. after a report raised concerns about. possible inappropriate behavior. involving the boys. And at that point, investigators claimed that the children. didn't say there was any kind of sexual. contact. And so the case didn't. immediately move forward with criminal. charges. But here's what happened. Police claim that changed months later. when one of the boys allegedly made a. disclosure to a counselor and.

pediatrician that Busfield allegedly. touched his private areas. And this was. followed by additional reporting that. investigators say prompted them to. reopen and intensify the case. Now to be. clear, Busfield has denied the. wrongdoing. According to court records, there has been a suggestion that these. allegations may be tied to tensions. surrounding the children's roles on the. show. Yeah. Apparently, in an interview. with investigators, Busfield had said, and this is, I believe, back in. November, that this is just merely about.

revenge on him because there was a. decision that the children wouldn't be. brought back for the final season of the. show. And that brings us to the legal. turning point. There was an arrest. warrant that was issued on January 9th. Authorities said they were actively. trying to locate Busfield. His. whereabouts were apparently unknown. They were even bringing in outside. assistance as concerns grew about where. he was, when he would surface. And then. January 13th, he turns himself in, he. reappears, turns himself in at the. Metropolitan Detention Center out in. Albuquerque. So, now that the.

whereabouts of Timothy Busfield are now. known, right, he turned himself in, he's. facing these charges. What happens next? To help break us down, I want to bring. on a special guest, uh, Marian Bracha, professor, practice professor of law, director of the LLM and trial advocacy. program, former uh, child abuse and sex. crimes prosecutor. Thank you so much for. taking the time. Uh, this is an unusual. case for a lot of different reasons. I I. actually want to start with the. circumstances of him surrendering. A, there was a couple days where they. didn't seem to know where he was. He.

surrenders. What do you think was going. on in that period of time? Uh I think in that period of time u I. would assume that he was conferring with. counsel that perhaps he was looking for. um representation for the criminal case. He was considering uh his options in. terms of the circumstances of a. surrender whether there was a place or a. time where he could present himself to. subject himself to the warrant or if. other arrangements such as you know. officers coming or uh marshals coming to. arrest him wherever he was. So I would.

assume in that time that that the. logistics were being worked out in terms. of his booking. >> Is it unusual to see a suspect publicly. deny allegations not in a written. statement but on camera? Right. I mean. that was a big moment for him to do that. clearly trying to set the record. straight for himself. You know saying. I'm going to deny these allegations. I'm. going to fight it. Was that unusual? Does that affect the case legally? Because you would wonder whatever he. said in that video could it potentially. be used as evidence at a trial? It could.

certainly be used as evidence at a. trial. Those are um the the now. defendant statements. If he's been. charged, he's officially considered a. criminal defendant. So, the prosecution. could use those statements against him. They're not custodial. They weren't. interrogation. They were just his. voluntary statements. So, they could. absolutely be used against him. As to. the issue of whether it's usual, likely. not. But keep in mind that this is. someone who has access to media. This is. someone who has access to cameras, to. addressing an audience, to addressing a.

public. So, if this is the medium that. he is most comfortable and familiar. with, it's not entirely surprising that. someone who's facing these charges would. take I I don't want to say take. advantage of, but would avail himself of. the medium that's available to him and. address the public. >> So, you've seen the reporting on this. We talked a little bit before we came on. air about what the affidavit says. [clears throat and cough]. What stands out to you about these. allegations? I'll go a little bit more. through the timeline, but what stands. out to you about these allegations? They're highly disturbing, uh, involving. young children, but there there's kind.

of, you know, his narrative. I'm going. to also talk about an independent. investigation. There's who was reporting. this, how it was being reported. Um, what stands out to you about this case? How is it different? >> Yeah. So, I I think what what does make. this case I'm going to answer a slightly. different question first. What makes. what makes this case very similar or or. rather consistent with other child abuse. cases that I've seen is that child abuse. cases like this in all sexual assault. cases, virtually all sexual assault. cases, are very difficult to prove.

because there is very little. corroboration. It's not what we call. street crimes. It's not like it's. something that happens on a street. corner or at a bus stop where there are. cameras or other witnesses. So crimes of. sexual violence or sexual abuse. typically happen behind closed doors. between known individuals, not in a. place where there is great opportunity. for witnessing or for the creation of of. corroboration. So a case like this. really does rest on the disclosures made. by the two complainants. But I think.

what makes this unique is the pretty I. would call it pretty heavy involvement. of the parents. And again, that's not a. bad thing. These are parents of two. minor children, 10 and 11 years old. They were child actors, but it seems. that the parents were heavily involved. in the investigation and in the. reporting and the disclosure. And I. think that is likely something that the. defense would want to explore. >> Yeah. So, let me go through this a. little bit. According to the warrant, uh, police first became involved after a. doctor at the University of New Mexico. Hospital contacted authorities in late.

2024, raising concerns about possible. sexual abuse involving two child actors. And at that point, officers apparently. interviewed the boys, the parents, according to the warrant, there were. allegations that while Timothy Busfield. grew closer to the twins, and allegedly. told them to call him Uncle Tim, when. they were asked directly if they had. been touched in a way that made them. uncomfortable, at that time the kids. didn't reveal any kind of sexual. contact, just that Busfield would. allegedly tickle them on their stomach.

or their legs. So, what changed? What. changed came next year, 2025. According. to the affidavit, in September of 2025, one of the boys apparently told his. counselor that Busfield had quote. touched him on his genitalia and bottom. And that disclosure was then later. repeated to a pediatrician and then. apparently to police. And investigators. say the second child later confirmed. that he didn't like being touched but. did not say anything because he didn't. want to get in trouble. And the.

complaint alleges that in both 2024 and. the 2025 the interviews essentially the. boys described the touching as happening. multiple times. It was often framed as. play that Busfield will tickle them. And. then again just to reemphasize the one. detail that investigators highlighted. repeatedly is how he was positioned on. the set right in this position of. authority and also trying to grow closer. to them. Uncle Tim, all that. But. there's also this moment involving the. boy's mother that investigators say was. pivotal because according to the warrant. when she asked her children or allegedly.

asked her children in November of 2024. whether anyone had ever touched them. inappropriately, there was a response, "You mean like Uncle Tim?" So, according. to reporting on October 3rd, the mother. of these twins filed a police report, contacted CPS, writing her children both. disclosed that there was sexual abuse by. Timothy from around November 2022 to. spring 2024. However, she says she was. told nothing would be done about it. because it didn't rise to the level of. abuse. And then you go to Busfield's.

interview. So, he apparently spoke with. detectives and when asked whether he. ever picked up or tickled the boys, Busfield allegedly told police, quote, "It was highly likely that he would have. because he wanted to create a playful. environment." But investigators note. that Busfield also acknowledged that. physical contact with child actors is. not allowed, stating in the interview, "It's not allowed at all. 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." And the. warrant includes kind of a broader. observation from law enforcement stating.

and this is according to deadline. pedophiles often infiltrate families. under a trusted role like Timothy who as. a producer exploited the hectic film. sets. Now I will also note this. Okay. At one point there was an independent. outside investigation that was conducted. by Warner Brothers to see about this. onset allegations of of misconduct. There apparently was no corroborating. evidence. So, this is according to. Christina McGovern. I conducted an. independent and thorough investigation.

of all allegations known to the studio. at the time. Warner Brothers gave me. full discretion as to my investigation. Based on what was alleged and all. evidence gathered, including multiple. witness statements, I found no. corroborating evidence that Mr. Busfield. engaged in inappropriate conduct or that. he was ever alone with the twins on set. So, Professor, this is very confusing. How do you sort through it? Well, if it's if we're having a hard. time sorting through it, uh, with all of. the documentation in front of us and and. two law degrees between the two of us, I.

think a jury would have a hard time. sorting sorting through it as well. I. think that's what makes cases like this. complicated and very difficult to try. So, there are inconsistencies in the. reporting. There is delay between the. alleged incident and the reporting which. is typically understood and somewhat. accepted in cases of child sexual abuse, not so in cases of adult sexual abuse, which is probably a topic for a. different day. But there are going to. be, I would think, a series of pre-trial. motions where both sides, the.

prosecution and the defense, ask a trial. judge or the judge who's assigned to. hear motions in this case whether or not. to admit or to let the factf finder hear. the evidence of this independent. investigation and the findings from that. independent investigation. There's a. different standard when it comes to. independent investigations. It's not to. a prepoundonderance. It's not certainly. not beyond a reasonable doubt. And I. could imagine the prosecution saying. that this would confuse the issues and. mislead the jury uh and that it would it. would just muddy [snorts] the waters and. and just lead to a red herring. I could.

imagine a prosecution argument to that. nature. But there is a lot of. documentation and a lot of people from. the case workers to the pediatrician to. the investigator to the parents. A lot. of people involved in the back and forth. over the couple of years where this was. allegedly being reported and. investigating. And it's it's going to. take quite a few witnesses to sort. through uh everyone who was involved in. this. >> and this defense that the mother was. bitter, right? That that the because the.

children were, you know, they were. recast in a sense or right there was an. issue about uh the show. Is that going to be a claim? Is that. going to be a defense um that could. potentially work here? Does a required. bus field? Obviously, he can choose. whether he wants to testify or not. It. seems like he might want to. you imagine. what a trial would look like and perhaps. the minors would have to testify. Would. it all come down to him? Would it all. come down to his perspective about this. and or what was going on and uh with. respect to the parents? I mean, what. would the defense look like?

>> So, I'm not sure that that a case like. this would entirely come down to the. defendant's testimony. I think a lot of. times a case like this will come down to. the complaintants, their ability to. testify. I am referring of course to the. children to the child actors and their. parents because their parents as prompts. complaint witnesses and their parents as. potential adverse witnesses to the. defense might be called to be. cross-examined about their potential. bias against the defendant. So bias is. never a collateral issue. It's always. something that shapes or can color.

testimony or someone's motive or. incentive to bring a certain report or. offer certain testimony. So I do think. that the defense would be permitted to. explore that. Will that be dispositive? Again, that's entirely up to a jury to. determine who they believe and how much. weight to give anyone's testimony. >> Let me ask you this. So, this isn't the. first time that Timothy Busfield has had. legal trouble. Uh, according to LA Mag. in 1994, you had a 17-year-old who. accused him of sexual assault on the set. of the movie Little Big League. Busfield, oh, he responded. He sued the.

law firm that represented the accuser, claimed defamation. He lost, was ordered. by the court to pay about $150,000 to. the law firm. The legal case with that. teen was settled. 2012, a woman claimed. that the actor groped her at a movie. theater out in LA. Apparently, there. wasn't enough evidence for prosecutors. to move forward with formal charges. For. our perspective, it just kind of adds a. little bit to the story. But from a. legal perspective, is there any chance. any of that is relevant to the case at. hand? Because I mean, again, you're.

dealing with something that didn't. advance it to criminal charges. One was. a civil case. There is a if you're. talking about allegations right now of. sexual abuse and you're I mean talk. about past allegations of sexual abuse. any way that that would come into a. trial or be relevant. >> I think there's a really good chance. that it that it could become relevant. and that it could be admitted. Again, I. think this is a topic that would go. before the trial judge or the judge. assigned to hear motions pre-trial. There are very specific rules of. evidence that deal with instances of. prior sexual misconduct or sexual abuse.

certain states fold up those rules into. other rules concerning other misconduct. or other acts. The federal rules have. specific rules that deal with issues of. prior sexual misconduct. So ordinarily. other acts or acts that are outside the. four corners so to speak of the. complaint that don't pertain to the. time, place or action that's alleged to. have caused this injury or the crime. Typically those outside the box claims. are irrelevant and the factfinder.

doesn't get to hear about them because. again they muddy the waters. They create. little side acts and sideesh shows and. so we want our factfinders to remain. focused on what's really an issue. However, our policy or public policy. recognizes an exception for cases of. prior sexual abuse or even allegations. of prior sexual misconduct. And a lot of. times we say, well, if this was a course. of conduct or if someone had this. pattern of behavior over a certain. amount of time, our factfinders have a. right to hear that and consider that. along with all the other evidence.

>> I just want your perspective on one more. thing here. Um, the fallout in this. case, it didn't stop with the arrest. because within hours of turning himself. in, you had NBC quietly pulling an. upcoming episode of Law and Order SVU. that featured him in a guest role. According to network confirmation that. was reported by the New York Post, the. episode was titled Corrosive. It was. originally scheduled to air later this. week. Instead, NBC replaced it with a. different episode. So, it's pushing the. Busfield appearance off the broadcast. schedule entirely. He was set to play a. judge apparently in the episode. And NBC.

has not accused of wrongdoing. They. haven't commented on the case itself, but you know, that's kind of a. statement. Warner Brothers Television. said in a statement to Fox News Digital, "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 are aware of. the current charges against Mr. Busfield. and have been and will continue to.

cooperate with law enforcement." NBC. Warner Brothers professor, from your. perspective, what message does this send. and how does it play into the criminal. case at all? >> Well, I do think it plays into for the. same reason that I said about the. independent investigation. I think it's. iffy issue whether or not a factfinder. would get to consider that the episode. was pulled and and other production. decisions were made that were outside. the realm of this criminal. investigation. And I say this as an. admitted Westwing fan, but I'm not. allowing my fandom to color my.

commentary here. I think, however, that. a case like this um is going to have a. very um lengthy jury selection process. if the case gets to that point because I. imagine there's going to be a series of. special interrogatories for any. potential juror in this case to ask if. they know of Busfield's work, if they've. followed his career, if they've watched. his shows, if they're a fan of his. performances, and if that is the case, or if they're not fans of his. performances, say they didn't like his.

performance on Wesling or anything else, if that would impact their ability to be. fair and impartial. So, anytime you have. a public official or a recognized face. or name who's sitting accused of a. crime, that is going to add an. additional layer of complexity to. finding a fair and impartial jury jury. >> Now, as this case against Busfield has. escalated, there's something else going. on. There's a lot of attention that's. turned to someone else in the public in. the public eye. This is his wife. Okay, this is actress Melissa Gilbert. and. Gilbert, who's best known for her role. on Little House on the Prairie, her long.

career as an advocate within the. entertainment industry. She has not. appeared publicly since the arrest. warrant was issued several days ago. But. her digital footprint changed almost. immediately. Within days of the. allegations becoming public, Gilbert's. personal social media accounts. apparently disappeared. Her Instagram or. threads pages, they were taken down. Links showing that the profiles were no. longer available. She hasn't spoken. publicly herself since the arrest. warrant was issued. However, she has. apparently spoken through a. representative shortly after Busfield. turned himself in. Gilbert's.

spokesperson released the following. statement on her behalf. Quote, "Melissa. Gilbert is not making public statements. at this time. Any purported statements. circulating online, including AI. generated deep fakes of her breaking her. silence, should not be treated as coming. from her. She is honoring the request of. Tim's lawyers not to speak publicly. while the legal process unfolds. During. this period, her focus is on supporting. and caring for their very large family. as they navigate this moment. Melissa. stands with and supports her husband and. will address the public at an.

appropriate time. We ask that their. privacy be respected. Now, to be clear, Gilbert is not accused of any wrongdoing. in this case, but it is very. interesting, a that we live in a day and. age, professor, where you have to say, "Hey, any AI videos you may see or deep. fakes, they're not real." but be very. specific about what she said and also. supporting her husband. Your thoughts on. that? >> Well, this is litigation in the 21st. century, Jesse. This is what evidence. committees all over the country are. talking about. If there need to be.

specific rules governing the. admissibility or the consideration of. potentially AI generated evidence, deep. space, just doed evidence. So, this is. unfortunately nothing new, but that is. an advisory and something of an asterisk. that's going to be attached to almost. any piece of digital or or allegedly. documentary evidence that is introduced. in courts around the country. In terms. of her social media presence going. silent or going dark or being taken. down, I think my reaction as a lay. person to that would be to say, "Yeah,

so what? She's not the target of the. investigation." This is, I'm sure, a. very trying time for um both sides of. this case, for all of the parties. involved. And so to to want to maintain. some privacy, some dignity, some some. security um I don't think is is. something that would be frowned upon, especially by someone who's not a target. of the investigation. >> Professor Marian Bracha, thank you so. much for taking your time uh to talk. about this rapidly developing story. Uh. really appreciate it as always. >> Thanks, Jesse. Have a great day.

>> And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so. much for joining us and as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should. get your podcasts. You can follow me on. X or Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll. speak to you next time.