Timothy Busfield faces accusations of child sex abuse following the issuance of an arrest warrant against The West Wing actor.
Busfield will be charged with two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor and one count of child abuse after a New Mexico judge approved the warrant. The alleged incidents occurred on the set of the now-canceled Fox series The Cleaning Lady, where Busfield worked as executive producer and director.
According to an arrest warrant obtained by KOAT, the inquiry began in November 2024 after staff at the University of New Mexico Hospital raised concerns that Busfield had possibly groomed two child actors on The Cleaning Lady, whom he called “Uncle Tim.” The incidents reportedly involved children, identified by their initials in the warrant, who were 7 and 8 years old at the time.
Initially, the children disclosed only unwanted tickling to hospital staff. However, subsequent interviews with a social worker allegedly revealed that Busfield inappropriately touched the children’s private areas over their clothing, as stated in the arrest warrant.
An initial Albuquerque police investigation did not meet the department’s criteria for acceptance, and a follow-up investigation by Warner Bros., the producer of The Cleaning Lady, failed to corroborate the allegations.
In October 2025, the children’s mother filed a police report and told Child Protective Services that her children both disclosed sexual abuse by Busfield between November 2022 and Spring 2024. One child told a therapist he was “having nightmares about the director touching him and waking up scared” and claimed Busfield “had touched and rubbed his penis 3 or 4 times and appeared to be ashamed.” This child was diagnosed with moderate post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety.
Investigators interviewed Busfield, who dismissed the accusations as “revenge” for The Cleaning Lady replacing the child actors. “There would never be a weird moment about it.I don’t really remember picking those boys up,” Busfield told investigators, according to the warrant. “I remember picking up the boy who followed them. I’d pick him up, and he’d be giggling, and that would sort of get him ready to act.”
Officer marvin Kirk Brown, who issued the arrest warrant, stated, “In my training and experience, pedophiles often infiltrate families under a trusted role, like Timothy, who, as a producer, exploited the hectic film sets to tickle and touch SL on his penis and buttocks, masking it as play.”
Brown continued,“He would invite the family to off-set gatherings,with his wife buying Christmas gifts to foster closeness,making SL feel special and dependent— classic grooming to erode boundaries,isolate the victim,and silence suspicions by blending abuse into normalcy.”
Busfield has appeared in films including Revenge of the Nerds, Field of Dreams, and Little big League, and won an Emmy for his role in the drama series Thirtysomething.In 1994, a lawsuit accused Busfield of sexual assault by a 17-year-old female extra on the set of Little Big League; the lawsuit was later settled.
