Authorities in New Mexico released audio of actor Timothy Busfield telling a detective that he never did anything sexual with two young boys on the set of a show he directed and calling the allegations “disgusting.”
The audio, obtained by NBC affiliate KOB of Albuquerque, is from a phone call in November between Busfield and a detective in Albuquerque who said he was investigating a report from a child about something that was alleged to have happened on the set of “The Cleaning Lady.”
A grand jury in Bernalillo County indicted Busfield, 68, in February on four counts of criminal sexual contact with a child. According to the indictment, the contact is alleged to have occurred on multiple occasions from 2022 to 2024.
Busfield and his attorneys have denied the allegations and described them as a revenge plot manufactured by the boys’ parents, who they said were upset after the children lost their roles in “The Cleaning Lady.”
A judge ordered Busfield released on his own recognizance in January while he awaits trial. An attorney for Busfield, Stanton "Larry" Stein, said he was "delighted" that the audio was released, saying it was "completely exculpatory."
"You don't talk to police if you've done something wrong," Stein said. "He knows he didn't do anything wrong."
In the phone call, which was recorded on the detective's body camera, Busfield says it was “highly likely” that he would have picked the boys up or tickled them. He wanted a “playful environment,” he said, adding that their father would tell them to “go hug Uncle Tim.”
“They didn’t really want to, and it was never a serious hug,” he said, adding that the interaction was awkward for him and the boys.
“I would treat them like a coach,” Busfield said. “That was my job.”
At one point in the conversation, Busfield’s wife, actor Melissa Gilbert, identified herself as a “former kid actor” and said it was standard practice to become friendly with child actors to build trust and help them open up on screen.
In the call, Busfield also mentioned an independent investigation that Warner Bros. commissioned to look into the allegations. The investigator from the law firm that conducted the probe has said she found no evidence to support the claims that Busfield engaged in inappropriate conduct or was alone with the boys on the set of "The Cleaning Lady."
Busfield directed several episodes of the Fox series, which was filmed in Albuquerque and ended last year after four seasons.
Bernalillo County Deputy District Attorney Savannah Brandenburg-Koch has described the allegations as specific, detailed and part of “pattern of conduct” that included past allegations of inappropriate touching and sexual assault made against Busfield by other women and a teenager.
Those allegations did not result in criminal charges. At a hearing in January, the judge overseeing the child sex abuse case found that there was no evidence of a pattern of conduct. A lawyer for Busfield, Larry Stein, has described some of the past allegations as “unproven” and “totally irrelevant” to the New Mexico case.
