Earlier this week, I wrote about how actor-director Timothy Busfield is facing two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor and one count of child abuse, according to an arrest warrant issued by the Albuquerque Police Department (APD). He also appeared to be missing for a time, which led to the United States Marshals getting involved in the search.
They initially went to the home in New York’s Catskill Mountains that Busfield shares with his wife, Melissa Gilbert, and, of course, no one was there. People magazine reports that there were concerns that he may have “done something to himself.” The Marshals also set up a team to watch in case Busfield returned.
Now we know that the actor was actually on a little cross-country road trip to New Mexico, and he turned himself in to the police on Tuesday, claiming “I did not do anything to those little boys” and that he will “confront the lies.”
The “little boys” in question are 11-year-old child actors who appeared on the show The Cleaning Lady, which Busfield directed. Busfield and Gilbert reportedly grew super close with the boys and their parents, which the APD called part of his “grooming” process, and allegations range from “tickling” to lying in bed together watching TV to rubbing one of the boys’ genitals.
Busfield didn’t deny being close with the boys and even confessed that he would often pick up a third little boy on the set and make him “giggle” to get ready for his scenes. However, he claims the twins’ parents just wanted “revenge” because another child replaced them on the show at some point.
The problem is that it’s looking more and more like Busfield has a history of getting himself into these situations.
According to TMZ, Busfield took a 28-year-old woman on a date to ArcLight theaters in Sherman Oaks in 2012. The two kissed during the movie, but Busfield reportedly decided to take things to the next level without the woman’s consent, putting his hands under her clothes and touching her breasts and genitals. The woman got upset and abruptly left, and the next day she filed a police report alleging sexual battery. Nothing ever came of it, and Busfield was never charged due to “slim evidence.” He and Gilbert married the next year.
At least that woman was of age. In 2001, he was accused of assaulting a 16-year-old girl. According to the girl’s father, his daughter “was auditioning for Busfield at B Street Theatre — a nonprofit the actor founded in Sacramento — when the actor kissed her, put his hands down her pants and touched her private parts. Busfield later allegedly begged the family not to report the allegations as long as he received therapy.”
The theater, which Busfield is no longer affiliated with, and hasn’t been since 2001, put out a statement saying that it “is aware of a report concerning Timothy Busfield regarding an incident alleged to have occurred at B Street Theatre approximately 25 years ago.”
And, as I wrote on Tuesday, in 1994, he was accused of assaulting a 17-year-old extra on the set of Little Big League. She accused the actor of “serving her alcohol, groping her, assaulting her, and attempting to sexually assault her in a trailer.” He eventually settled a lawsuit with the girl, and, according to the Washington Post, “Busfield later filed a defamation suit against the law firm that represented the girl, claiming it made up the sexual assault… A judge dismissed the lawsuit and ordered Busfield to pay $150,000 to the firm.”
Around the same time, the Star Tribune reported that “a number of women filed legal affidavits about unusual, inappropriate encounters they had with Busfield at various bars around town.”
Of course, Busfield’s attorney claims he never did any of it and will “clear his name.” Gilbert’s publicist also says that she is sticking by her husband. But three decades of allegations of inappropriate behavior isn’t exactly a good look.
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