'West Wing' actor Timothy Busfield indicted on child abuse charges

Feb 6 (Reuters) – Timothy Busfield, the U.S. actor and director known for his role in "The West Wing," was indicted by a New Mexico grand jury on charges of child sex abuse, the prosecutor's office in Albuquerque announced on Friday. Busfield surrendered to authorities on January 13 after Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman filed a criminal complaint accusing the actor of abusing twin boys over two years of production of the Fox crime drama "The Cleaning Lady," when the boys were seven or eight years old. The boys are now 11. The 68-year-old actor, in a video recorded before he surrendered, said the charges against him were "lies," and that he would be exonerated. A judge ordered Busfield to be released from jail about a week later, ruling there was insufficient evidence for pre-trial detention. Busfield could not immediately be reached for comment. His defense lawyer, Christopher Dodd, did not respond to queries. Allowing prosecutors to proceed to a trial, a grand jury voted to indict Busfield on Thursday on four counts of criminal sexual contact of a child, a third-degree felony in New Mexico. The indictment was not yet public on Friday morning, but the district attorney's original criminal complaint said Busfield abused the twin boys while filming "The Cleaning Lady" in Albuquerque, the state's biggest city. Busfield was an executive producer of the show, and also the director of some episodes. Busfield is famous 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 advertising agency executive on the 1980s ABC ensemble series "Thirtysomething."  He is married to Melissa Gilbert, an actor and former president of the Screen Actors Guild. (Reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York; Editing by Paul Simao)

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