Actor Tim Busfield makes first appearance in court on child abuse charges

By Danielle Broadway and Steve Gorman Jan 14 (Reuters) – Actor-director Timothy Busfield made his first court appearance on Wednesday in New Mexico on child sex abuse charges. Busfield will continue to be jailed without bond pending a hearing that will take place in the next five business days, the judge said via Zoom. The "West Wing" actor will have a preliminary hearing on January 29. Busfield did not comment during the brief court appearance. He was not asked to enter a plea. The "Field of Dreams" actor 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 7 and 8, 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 he 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 from 1999 to 2006, and as an ad agency executive on the 1980s ABC ensemble series "Thirtysomething."  He is married to actor Melissa Gilbert, a former president of the Screen Actors Guild who gained fame in the 1970s as a child actor on the hit 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 Yung was questioned by a private investigator for the show's producer, Warner Bros. Television. (Reporting by Danielle Broadway, Steve Gorman and Sarah Mills in Los Angeles; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)