US marshals are assisting in the search for actor-director Timothy Busfield after Albuquerque police obtained a warrant accusing him of sexually abusing 11-year-old twin boys he met on a TV set. Albuquerque Police Department officials told People they are working with the US Marshals Service to find and arrest the 68-year-old Emmy winner. The warrant, reviewed by the outlet, alleges the boys were abused over a period beginning when one of them was about 7 years old. According to the warrant, the twins were child actors who met Busfield while working on the Fox drama The Cleaning Lady, where he was a director.
A doctor at the University of New Mexico Hospital first contacted authorities in November 2024 with concerns about sexual abuse, after the boys' parents brought them in on an attorney's advice. Hospital staff reportedly suggested the children had been "groomed," but the case did not initially meet law enforcement criteria. The boys' mother then filed a formal police report in October and informed Child Protective Services that both children had disclosed abuse by Busfield from late 2022 through spring 2024. One boy allegedly said Busfield touched his "private areas" on several occasions, per the Los Angeles Times.
Busfield, now accused of two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor and one count of child abuse, told investigators that the boys' parents were angry their sons had been replaced on the show by a younger actor, according to the warrant. The West Wing actor, who is married to Little House on the Prairie alum Melissa Gilbert, was previously accused of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl on the set of 1993's Little Big League before settling a lawsuit with the minor, per the New York Post and Deseret News. He later filed a defamation suit against a law firm that raised the claim but the case was thrown out and he was ordered to pay the firm nearly $150,000 to cover legal costs.
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