Albuquerque, New Mexico —
Emmy Award-winning actor and director Timothy Busfield is facing serious criminal charges following an investigation into alleged misconduct on the set of the television series The Cleaning Lady.
A criminal complaint and subsequent arrest warrant filed in Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court on January 9, 2026, charges the 68-year-old filmmaker with one count of Child Abuse and two counts of Criminal Sexual Contact of a Minor.
The investigation began in late 2024, according to the criminal complaint, after a physician at the University of New Mexico Hospital reported a potential sexual abuse case involving child actors. The victims, twin brothers, were 10 years old at the time of the reported incidents.
According to the affidavit, the alleged abuse occurred between late 2022 and early 2024 while the boys were filming The Cleaning Lady in Albuquerque. One boy told forensic interviewers that Busfield, whom the children were encouraged to call “Uncle Tim,” touched him inappropriately in “private areas” on multiple occasions while they were alone in a bedroom setting on the movie set.
The complaint says a shift in the production’s safety protocols, noting that iPads previously provided to parents to monitor their children on set were reportedly discontinued after Busfield joined the series as a director. Production assistants also allegedly described “abnormal behavior” on set, reportedly claiming that Busfield was occasionally left unsupervised with the children due to lapses by the assigned set teacher.
In a phone interview with Albuquerque Police Department detectives in November 2025, Busfield denied any inappropriate contact. The complaint says he acknowledged it was “highly likely” he had picked up or tickled the children in a “playful environment,” he stated that such contact was never “weird” and would have happened in front of others.
Busfield further alleged that the accusations were motivated by “revenge” because the children were not brought back for the final season of the show.
The APD Crimes Against Children Unit (CACU) led the investigation, which included reviews of medical records, Safe House interviews with the victims, and statements from several crew members. The criminal complaint is 11 pages in length. Per NM court records, a warrant was issued for Busfield’s arrest on Friday, January 9th.
Timothy Busfield is a veteran of the entertainment industry, best known for his roles in thirtysomething, The West Wing, and Field of Dreams.
He won a Primetime Emmy Award in 1991 for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.
The case remains active as legal proceedings began within the New Mexico court system. The accused is innocent until proven guilty.
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[…] boys, twins, were allegedly touched inappropriately in “private areas” on a bedroom set for the series, one of the boys told forensic […]
[…] boys, twins, were allegedly touched inappropriately in “private areas” on a bedroom set for the series, one of the boys told forensic […]
[…] The victims are identified in court documents as twin brothers who were cast members on The Cleaning Lady. The boys, who were 7 and 8 years old at the time of the alleged incidents, told forensic interviewers that Busfield engaged in “grooming” behavior. They claimed he encouraged them to call him “Uncle Tim” and bought expensive gifts for their family to foster a false sense of closeness. […]
[…] The victims are identified in court documents as twin brothers who were cast members on The Cleaning Lady. The boys, who were 7 and 8 years old at the time of the alleged incidents, told forensic interviewers that Busfield engaged in “grooming” behavior. They claimed he encouraged them to call him “Uncle Tim” and bought expensive gifts for their family to foster a false sense of closeness. […]