A grand jury indicted actor Timothy Busfield Friday on four counts of criminal sexual contact of a child.
Busfield pleaded not guilty on all counts, The Daily Wire reported. His lawyer, Stanton “Larry” Stein, said even though the indictment was expected, it was still disappointing.
“As the saying goes, a grand jury will indict a ham sandwich,” Stein said in a statement. “What is deeply concerning is that the District Attorney is choosing to proceed on a case that is fundamentally unsound and cannot be proven at trial. The detention hearing exposed fatal weaknesses in the State’s evidence — gaps that no amount of charging decisions can cure.”
“This prosecution appears driven by something other than the facts or the law. Mr. Busfield will fight these charges at every stage and looks forward to testing the State’s case in open court — where evidence matters — not behind closed doors,” he continued.
Busfield is accused of sexually assaulting twin boys starting when they were 7 years old. The actor worked with the twins on the set of “The Cleaning Lady.” The show aired on Fox from 2022 to 2025. Busfield directed some episodes and was an executive producer.
The investigation started in November 2024.
A doctor at the University of New Mexico Hospital reported his suspicions of sexual abuse and grooming to authorities.
No charges were pressed at the time, but the case was reopened in September 2025 as one of the twins reported the alleged abuse to his doctor.
This is not the first time Busfield has faced such allegations. Allegations arose in 1994 and 2012, but the actor was never charged in relation to them.
Busfield posted a video of himself stating he was innocent before he turned himself in to the police last month.
His wife, actress Melissa Gilbert of “Little House on the Prairie” fame, released a statement about the situation in late January.
She thanked fans for their “love, patience, and support” as her husband and she went through this “extraordinarily difficult time.”
“As with all criminal proceedings, Mr. Busfield is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law,” Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman said in a statement on social media. “This case will proceed through the judicial process and is expected to move forward to trial.”
