By Steve Gorman
Feb 6 (Reuters) – Actor Timothy Busfield, known for his U.S. prime-time roles on “The West Wing” and “Thirtysomething,” was indicted on child sex offense charges on Friday, accused of groping a young boy on the set of a television show he was directing and producing.
The four-count indictment, returned by a grand jury in New Mexico, came a little more than two weeks after a state court judge found the evidence previously lodged against Busfield by prosecutors to be “neutral” and ordered him freed from pre-trial detention.
Busfield, 68, who surrendered to authorities last month in Albuquerque when he was first charged in a criminal complaint, has steadfastly professed his innocence, calling the allegations against him “lies.”
Prosecutors alleged in an affidavit accompanying the original complaint that Busfield had improperly touched two young cast members – twin boys – while directing the Fox TV drama “The Cleaning Lady.” The show was filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico’s largest city.
The twins, now 11, reported that the alleged contact had occurred over a two-year period, when they were aged 7 and 8, during breaks in production, prosecutors said in the complaint.
According to the affidavit, one of the boys reported multiple instances of Busfield touching his “private areas” over his clothes. His brother also reported being touched by Busfield, but was less specific, the affidavit said.
The grand jury indictment, which supersedes the complaint, contains four counts of criminal sexual contact with a child, a third-degree felony in New Mexico, and is based on allegations that Busfield groped only one of the brothers.
The indictment also contains no general charge of child abuse, as the complaint did, though the complaint carried just two counts of criminal sexual contact, rather than four.
Busfield, who was an executive producer of the show and began directing episodes around the end of season two in 2022, said in a videotaped statement he released prior to his arrest last month, “I did not do anything to those little boys.”
In court last month, defense attorney Christopher Dodd described the boys’ mother and father in court as “scam artists” who were out to exact “revenge” on Busfield after their sons were replaced in the cast of “The Cleaning Lady.”
Dodd also asserted that both boys had denied they were sexually abused by Busfield when they were first questioned by a law enforcement officer.
An arraignment, in which the actor would enter a plea to the charges, was set for Feb. 16, according to Dodd.
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 advertising agency executive on the 1980s ABC ensemble series “Thirtysomething.” He also appeared in the 1989 baseball fantasy film “Field of Dreams.”
He is married to Melissa Gilbert, an actor and former president of the Screen Actors Guild.
(Reporting and writing by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York; Editing by Paul Simao and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
Comments