Timothy Busfield Faces New Sexual Abuse Claim; Detained Actor “Serious & Ongoing Danger,  Albuquerque DA Says, Slams Warner Bros Probe

A new allegation of sexual abuse has been made against Timothy Busfield as the incarcerated Emmy winner prepares to appear in a New Mexico court today for the first time on multiple child sexual abuse charges. Additionally, in a scathing filing Wednesday, Albuquerque law enforcement are slamming Warner Bros for “limited cooperation” in their investigation of claims of misconduct on The Cleaning Lady set.

As stated on Tuesday when the innocence insisting Busfield showed up in  to turn himself, Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bergman filed paperwork this morning to keep The Cleaning Lady director behind bars because “no conditions of release will reasonably protect the safety of any other person or the community.” A detailed arrest warrant issued January 9 charged Busfield with two counts of criminal sexual contact with a minor and child abuse. 

Detailing the defendant touching one boy’s “‘poop’ and ‘pee’ area,” the felonies, which could see Busfield in state prison for potentially decades if found guilty, came from The West Wing vet’s time behind the camera on the now cancelled Élodie Yung-led Fox drama. “I did not do anything to those little boys,” Busfield unequivocally declared Tuesday before handing himself over to local cops after supposedly driving from his home in upstate New York to New Mexico to face justice.

Busfield is scheduled to appear via video from the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center early this afternoon in what is called a Felony First Appearance hearing in front of Metropolitan Court Judge Felicia Blea-Rivera. That hearing will likely be very brief, with the actor likely entering a plea of not guilty, if his pre-surrender statements of January 13 are any indicated. The detention motion will be heard at a later date in district court. The filing of the motion actually moves the whole criminal matter to the district court until a trial verdict is reached

In the process and clearly hoping to strengthen their argument, Bergman, who is running for Governor of the Land of Enchantment, and Deputy DA Savannah Brandenburg-Koch also revealed another claim against Busfield has come to light in the past 24 hours.

“Another victim’s father, Colin Swift, reported to law enforcement on January 13, 2026 reporting sexual abuse of their daughter that occurred several years ago by the hands of the defendant in Sacramento, CA,” Wednesday’s filing states. “While auditioning for the defendant at B Street Threatre, the 16-year-old reported that defendant kissed her and put his hands down her pants and touched her privates. The defendant begged the family to not report to law enforcement if he received therapy, Colin Swift a therapist himself thought at the time that was the best thing to do.”

“The Defendant poses an ongoing and serious danger to children and the community,” the state’s motion for pretrial detention says. “His conduct reflects a calculated pattern of grooming, lack of boundaries, and exploitation of professional authority to gain access to minors,” its adds in favor of keeping Busfield locked up. “Witnesses in this investigation expressed fear of retaliation and career harm for reporting the Defendant’s conduct, further underscoring his ability to intimidate and silence others.”

As well as the allegations concerning the two 2014-born boys who starred on The Cleaning Lady over multiple seasons before being let go for having aged out of the role, the 68-year-old has been accused in two previous sexual assault allegations in 1994 and 2012. Busfield was never charged in either of those cases, which involved a 17-year-old girl and a 28-year-old woman, but he did make a payout of $150,000 in the former matter over legal fees in an unsuccessful countersuit.

Building on remarks made in the arrest warrant last week from Albuquerque Police Department Officer Marvin Brown about an internal Warner Bros probe into the initial September 2024 claims against Busfield that were expressed anonymously on SAG-AFTRA hotline last year, prosecutors ripped into the Cleaning Lady producers and studio.

“During the investigation that Warner Brother’s conducted, they failed to speak with key witnesses, VL or his parents,” they allege.

“The Defendant’s history of alleged sexual misconduct spanning more than two decades, coupled with the fear expressed by witnesses regarding retaliation and professional harm, illustrates how individuals in positions of power are able to silence victims and witnesses, allowing abuse to persist unchecked,” the DA’s office exclaimed, noting the APD investigation that has been going on since late 2024 to varying degrees. “The delayed and limited cooperation by Warner Bros. in responding to a search warrant further underscores the institutional barriers that have historically enabled this type of misconduct to continue,” they continued, citing an outside law firm report WBTV instigated and that police complained took far too long to be handed over.

Put together by the LA office of Solomon law firm, the WBTV investigation, which saw Busfield suspended for a period, examined the hotline caller’s claims there was evidence of the director/EP “tickling and caressing the head and body of minor boys” while working on the Albuquerque-filmed Cleaning Lady. Upon his own reading of the document, Office Brown noted in the arrest warrant from last week that Solomon investigator “Christina McGovern was not able to talk with anyone who would support evidence that Timothy Busfield engaged in this behavior.”

Back on January 9, after the arrest warrant was made public, WB told Deadline: “We take all allegations of misconduct very seriously and have systems in place to promptly and thoroughly investigate, and when needed, take appropriate action. We are aware of the current charges against Mr. Busfield and have been and will continue to cooperate with law enforcement.”

WB did not respond today to requests from Deadline on the remarks about them in the detention motion filing.

Complicating the issue, and providing a possible look into Busfield’s defense, in a November 3, 2025 phone interview with Officer Brown that is quoted in the warrant, the thirtysomething actor told the officer that “the lead actress, Elodie Young” told him back in late 2024 that “the mother of SL and VL (sic) that she wanted revenge, and I’m going to get my revenge on Tim Busfield for not bringing her kids back for the final season.”

To that, It was only back in September last year, after nearly a year of the discussion being mainly about tickling and head kissing, that the nature of the accusations altered. That’s when the mother of the two boys reached out to the APD again, and told them “on 09/02/2025, SL reported to his counselor that Timothy Busfield touched his penis and bottom.”