Emmy Award–winning actor Timothy Busfield faces arrest warrant in child abuse case
News out of New Mexico took a serious turn as authorities issued an arrest warrant for Emmy Award–winning actor and director Timothy Busfield after a child came forward with disturbing allegations of inappropriate contact.
According to the criminal complaint filed by an investigator with the Albuquerque Police Department, the child said that Busfield touched him in ways he shouldn’t have while on the set of the television series The Cleaning Lady, a show Busfield both directed and acted in. The complaint says the first incident happened when the boy was just seven years old and that Busfield touched him three or four times. It alleges another five or six inappropriate touches occurred when he was eight.
The child’s mother eventually reported what happened to Child Protective Services, saying the abuse spanned from November 2022 through spring 2024, the complaint states.
The arrest warrant, signed by a judge, charges Busfield with two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor. As of Friday night, neither Busfield’s attorney nor his agent had responded to emails seeking comment.
The complaint also includes details about the emotional impact on the child, who is identified only by his initials. It says the boy has been diagnosed with post‑traumatic stress disorder and anxiety. A social worker’s notes reportedly include the boy saying he has “had nightmares about Busfield touching him and has woken up scared.”
The complaint adds that the child was afraid to tell anyone earlier because Busfield was the director on the show and the boy feared he “would get mad at him.”
The investigation reportedly began in November 2024 after a doctor at the University of New Mexico Hospital called police. The child’s parents had taken him there at the recommendation of a law firm, the complaint says.
The Cleaning Lady aired for four seasons on Fox, with a storyline following Elodie Yung as a Cambodian doctor who gets caught up with organized crime after moving to the United States for her son’s medical treatment. Warner Bros., the show’s producer, conducted its own investigation into the abuse claims but said it was unable to corroborate them, according to the complaint.
Busfield has had a long career in film and television, with credits including The West Wing, Field of Dreams and Thirtysomething, for which he won an Emmy for outstanding supporting actor in a drama series back in 1991. He is married to actor Melissa Gilbert. There was no immediate response to an email sent to her publicist.