Actor Timothy Busfield Is Indicted on Charges of Child Sexual Abuse

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/arts/television/timothy-busfield-indicted-child-sexual-abuse.html

Prosecutors in New Mexico secured an indictment of Timothy Busfield, the longtime actor and director, on charges that he made sexual contact with a child actor whom he directed on a television show, according to court records released on Friday.

Mr. Busfield, 68, has vehemently denied the allegations, calling them “lies.” But the grand jurors, who heard the case on Thursday in a state court in Albuquerque, voted to indict him on four counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor, according to court records.

The case stems from the set of the “The Cleaning Lady,” a Fox crime drama that Mr. Busfield starting directing in 2022 and that was filmed in New Mexico. Prosecutors have accused Mr. Busfield of repeatedly touching the genitals and backside of one of the show’s child actors, who worked on the set alongside his twin brother and who told the authorities that he was 7 and 8 years old at the time.

Mr. Busfield’s lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The defense has made a concerted effort to disprove the allegations, pointing to audio recordings in which the boys both told the authorities that Mr. Busfield had not touched them inappropriately.

The prosecution has said that medical and psychological records bolster the accusations. In 2024, the parents of the boy took him and his twin brother to a hospital, where the staff was concerned that the children may have been “groomed” for abuse, according to a law enforcement affidavit.

When a police officer first interviewed the boys, they said Mr. Busfield had tickled them on the stomach and legs in a way that made them uncomfortable, the affidavit said, but they did not disclose any sexual contact.

“It’s not uncommon that the kids did not disclose at that time, or were ready to disclose at that time, to a police officer that showed up at their house,” Savannah Brandenburg-Koch, one of the prosecutors, said at a hearing last month.

Nearly a year later, one of the boys — who has been identified only by his initials — told a therapist that Mr. Busfield had also touched his genitals and bottom, the affidavit said. He later reiterated the account to a child forensic interviewer.

Prosecutors filed a criminal complaint against Mr. Busfield last month, and he turned himself in to the authorities on Jan. 13. The Albuquerque police booked him on charges of child sexual abuse.

A judge allowed Mr. Busfield to be released from jail during the legal proceedings, requiring that the actor have no unsupervised contact with children during that time. A grand jury indictment, which requires a vote from two-thirds of the 12 jurors, brings the case closer to trial. No date has been set.

Mr. Busfield’s lawyers have accused the boys’ parents, Angele LaSalle and Ronald Rodis, of manufacturing the accusations after the children’s roles in the show were recast in 2024. (A showrunner attributed the decision in part to their having aged out of the role.)

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Last year, an independent investigator hired by Warner Bros., which co-produced “The Cleaning Lady,” investigated claims of inappropriate behavior by Mr. Busfield toward the boys that the parents had made in draft legal papers. The investigator’s report said she had been unable to corroborate the allegations. It cited an interview with the show’s lead actress, Élodie Yung, who said the boys’ mother had told her that after their recasting she would “get her revenge against Tim Busfield.”

The boys’ parents and a lawyer who represented them have not responded to requests for comment.

Ms. Brandenburg-Koch, the prosecutor, said the parents had initially been concerned about the potential for abuse because they were being tagged in social media posts referring to Mr. Busfield’s “history.”

Mr. Busfield was sued in the 1990s by a woman who had been a 17-year-old extra in the movie “Little Big League,” in which Mr. Busfield had a role, and accused him of serving her alcohol, groping her and trying to have sex with her in a trailer. Mr. Busfield denied the allegations at the time, and the case was settled.

Mr. Busfield rose to prominence in the 1980s, when he starred in the series “Thirtysomething,” a drama about the inner lives of a group of young professionals in Philadelphia. He later landed roles in “The West Wing” and “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” and became a regular director who was tapped for stints in shows such as “Lipstick Jungle” and “The Night Shift.”