To make the case that TV actor Timothy Busfield should remain in custody pending his trial in New Mexico on allegations that he sexually abused two 11-year-old twin brothers, prosecutors revealed that there could be a third victim, a 16-year-old girl who auditioned for his theater company in Sacramento.
The 68-year-old “West Wing” alum is currently being held in the Metropolitan Detention Center outside Albuquerque. During his first court appearance Wednesday, virtually from the jail, the husband of “Little House on the Prairie” star Melissa Gilbert was told by a judge that he would remain in custody pending his next hearing within five business days. Busfield, wearing an orange jump suit, didn’t speak during the two-minute hearing before he was led away.
The Emmy-winning actor surrendered to police on Tuesday after learning on Friday that Albuquerque police had issued a warrant for his arrest, alleging that he engaged in unlawful sexual conduct with the two boys. They had been child actors on the Fox TV crime drama, “The Cleaning Lady,” which Busfield produced and directed from 2022 to 2025.
On Wednesday, prosecutors in Bernalillo County filed an expedited court motion, alleging that Busfield may have used his position as a co-founder of Sacramento’s B Street Theatre to prey on a third young victim, People magazine and Deadline reported. In their motion filed Wednesday, they said that “another victim’s father” reported to law enforcement on Tuesday that Busfield had allegedly sexually abused his daughter “several years ago” in Sacramento.
“While auditioning for (Busfield) at B Street Threatre, the 16-year-old reported that (Busfield) kissed her and put his hands down her pants and touched her privates,” the motion said, according to People and Deadline.
A booking photo of actor Timothy Busfield (Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office.)
Busfield allegedly “begged the family to not report to law enforcement if he received therapy,” and the father, being a “therapist himself, thought at the time that was the best thing to do,” according to the motion.
No further details were immediately available about these new allegations. But for this reason, prosecutors said, Busfield “poses an ongoing and serious danger to children and the community. His conduct reflects a calculated pattern of grooming, lack of boundaries, and exploitation of professional authority to gain access to minors.”
Busfield has long been known in Sacramento for his role in founding B Street Theatre in Midtown Sacramento, CBS Sacramento reported. He is currently listed on the company’s website as an emeritus board member. According to the theater’s history, Busfield launched the organization in 1986 as Theatre for Children, Inc., initially focusing on touring productions for young audiences.
In 1991, Busfield and his brother, Buck Busfield launched the operation as the B Street Theatre in Sacramento, producing plays that included world, national and regional premieres. It currently operates out of The Sofia, a 49,000-square-foot facility that opened in 2018.
The organization also added the B Street Theatre Family Series in 2002, a program designed to introduce children and families to live professional theater. The theater’s website said the family series has reached more than 500,000 children and their families over the past two decades.
Prior to the filing of by Bernalillo County prosecutors Wednesday, there was no indication by law enforcement that any of the charges announced in New Mexico were connected to B Street Theatre or its operations, CBS Sacramento reported. In a statement to CBS Sacramento Tuesday, B Street Theatre said that though Busfield was its founder, he had not had an active role in its operations in any capacity since 2001. The statement also said that the charges against Busfield did not involve “any activity connected with our organization, its staff, or our programs.”
“As a professional theatre that has served Sacramento and Northern California for decades, our mission is to provide a safe, creative, and inclusive environment for artists, audiences, and families,” the statement continued.
CBS News Sacramento said it sought comment from Buck Busfield, who had long served as the company’s producing artistic director and manager up until his retirement in 2022. Buck Busfield lives in Sacramento and declined to talk to a reporter who visited his home.
In an interview with Sacramento News and Review, Buck Busfield spoke about creating a successful regional theater that has managed to stay in operation for more than 30 years and to gain a national profile. He gave some credit to his TV star brother, who helped him develop the initial children’s company and open up the original theatre on Sacramento’s B Street in 1991.
Buck Busfield told the Sacramento News and Review that the brothers chose to launch a theater company in California’s state capital for a couple of reasons, including that it was an hour’s flight from Hollywood where Tim Busfield had his acting career. Sacramento also had a dearth of live theater at the time, he said.
They found an an empty warehouse on B Street and equipped it with a stage, risers, bathrooms, dressing rooms and a lobby. “The community was ready for us,” Busfield told the publication, though he acknowledged that the theater community was “a bit hesitant thinking we were too Hollywood.”
In a video released to the media Tuesday, Timothy Busfield proclaimed his innocence as he spoke from his lawyer’s office in New Mexico. He said that he drove 2,000 miles from his home in New York to New Mexico, after learning about the warrant for his arrest.
“They’re all lies,” Busfield said about the abuse allegations. “I did not do anything to those little boys, and I’m going to fight it. I’m going to fight it with a great team, and I’m going to be exonerated.”
Busfield’s civil attorney, Larry Stein, told TMZ that there was “a revenge factor at work” in the abuse allegations. According to the criminal complaint filed with the arrest warrant, Stein said, an actress on the set claimed that the mother of the boys told her she vowed to get revenge on Busfield after her sons were cut from the final season of the show.
The New Mexico charges against Busfield stem from an investigation that opened in November 2024 when staff at the University of New Mexico Hospital called police and reported that two boys potentially were being groomed on the set of “The Cleaning Lady.”
At the time the boys did not disclose any sexual contact, though they said that Busfield asked them to call him “Uncle Tim” and said he would “tickle them on their stomach and legs,” even though they didn’t like being tickled, KTLA and the Daily Mail reported, citing the affidavit filed with the arrest warrant. Police determined that the evidence did not yet meet the threshold for charges.
Nearly a year later, in October 2025, one of the parents reported to Child Protective Services that her sons disclosed sexual abuse by Busfield from November 2022 to spring 2024, KTLA reported. One of the boys said that Busfield touched both his “genitalia” and “bottom” on several occasions while on the set of the show, the affidavit said. One of the boys also said the touching of his “private areas” first occurred when he was 7, according to the affidavit.
During a Nov. 3 phone interview with an Albuquerque police detective, with Melissa Gilbert listening in, Busfield said he had “playful” contact with the children on his set, but denied any wrongdoing, the affidavit said, according to affidavit.