West Wing Actor Timothy Busfield Arrest Warrant issued for Alleged Child Sex Abuse

Timothy Busfield, known for his role as Danny Concannon on The West Wing, is facing two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor and one count of child abuse.

In an arrest warrant issued by the Albuquerque Police Department and obtained by PEOPLE on Friday, Jan. 9, authorities allege that Busfield, 68, engaged in unlawful sexual conduct with two 11-year-old siblings, whose identities were withheld from the public.

One of the minors alleged the incidents began when he was 7 years old.

An investigation began on Nov. 1, 2024, after a doctor at the University of New Mexico Hospital (UNMH) alerted police about alleged sexual abuse.

While speaking with officer Marvin Kirk Brown, who issued the warrant, the victims’ parents said the minors were child actors who met Busfield on the set of the FOX series The Cleaning Lady, where Busfield served as a director, according to the arrest warrant.

Reps for FOX did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

The television program ran from January 2022 until June 2025. 

When Busfield joined the series, he allegedly “grew closer to the boys,” the children’s parents said, per the arrest warrant.

“It was reported that Timothy would tell his children to call him ‘Uncle Tim,’” the warrant alleged. Their parents told the officer “that they both discovered that there were allegations against Timothy of sexual assault against both women and minors.”

After the father was told that “there had been multiple rumors that Timothy had been ‘handsy’ with women,” the siblings’ mother asked her sons, “Who were eleven years old at the time, if anyone had ever touched them in a manner that made them feel uncomfortable. The children allegedly responded by asking, ‘You mean like Uncle Tim?’ ” according to the warrant.

The parents were advised by an attorney to take the children to UNMH, where they say professionals suggested the boys “were groomed,” per the warrant.

Officer Brown said the siblings had not disclosed any sexual contact at this time, but both claimed Busfield “would tickle them on the stomach and legs.”

It was then determined that the case did not meet their acceptance criteria at the time.

On Oct. 3, 2025, the mother filed a police report and told Child Protective Services that “her children both disclosed that there was sexual abuse by Timothy from around November 2022 to Spring 2024.” However, according to the warrant, she was told that because physical abuse had not occurred, nothing could be done.

The mother told authorities on Sept. 2, 2025, and Sept. 22, 2025, SL told his counselor that Busfield inappropriately touched him.

When one of the victims was 10 years old, his therapist diagnosed him with moderate post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety following claims of “inappropriate touching.”

The therapist said the child began “having nightmares about the director touching him and waking up scared,” and claimed Busfield “had touched and rubbed his penis 3 or 4 times and appeared to be ashamed,” per the warrant.

He also suffered from bed-wetting and other behavioral issues, the warrant alleges.

“After the sets were over, [victim] said he was scared and speed-walked to his father and hid behind his dad,” according to the warrant, which added, “[Victim] said he was afraid to tell anyone because Tim was the Director, and he feared Tim would get mad at him.”

The warrant alleges that the victim told authorities he did not come forward “because he did not want to be mean to” Busfield.

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Their mother claimed, the warrant alleges, that the crew used to distribute iPads so that parents could watch their children from another area during filming, but that once Busfield was hired, this practice stopped.

While speaking to an investigator, the mother claimed that “Timothy said we don’t really like that parents had iPads while on set, and that it was not a standard process, and that they do not encourage it,” per the warrant. 

According to the warrant, Busfield allegedly told police that the parents were upset their sons had been replaced with a younger actor who auditioned. Shortly after, he got a call from Warner Bros. informing him they were investigating a complaint.

“Timothy said Warner Brothers,, had an outside investigation through another firm, do an investigation. Timothy was told there were complaints about him from the boys. Timothy acknowledged that the boys involved were [Victim 1] and [Victim 2]” the document stated.

Reps for Warner Bros. did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

The actor also alleged that he’d been told by an actress on the show that the mother of the alleged victims “wanted revenge,” per the warrant.

When asked by investigators if he ever picked up or tickled the boys, Busfield allegedly said it was “highly likely that he would have” because he wanted “a playful environment.”

“It’s not allowed at all,” Busfield allegedly told investigators of touching on set. “There is no, there’s no protocol. I mean, I’m always around people, right? It would be, you know, in front of the parents.” 

“There would never be a weird moment about it. I don’t really remember picking those boys up,” he continued, per the warrant. “I remember picking up the boy who followed them. I’d pick him up, and he’d be giggling, and that would sort of get him ready to act.”

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However, Busfield allegedly said he and his wife, actress Melissa Gilbert, had a relationship with the boys and their parents “outside of work,” even buying them “Christmas gifts and were together on several social functions.”

Throughout the investigation, a production assistant also alleged that SL would be unsupervised and his on-set teacher would not keep track of the child, which was noticeable because the minor once rode a skateboard through a live set. 

The officer said in the warrant that after speaking to several people from the production, “I believe Timothy had the opportunity to be alone with SL while he was lying in the bed on the TV set.”

After receiving the results of the internal investigation by Warner Bros., it was documented that an individual “claimed to have witnessed the incident in the Hair and Make-Up trailer, executive producer/director Tim Busfield entered and kissed a minor male on the face as the minor was getting a haircut” in December 2024.

“In my training and experience, pedophiles often infiltrate families under a trusted role, like Timothy, who, as a producer, exploited the hectic film sets to tickle and touch SL on his penis and buttocks, masking it as play,” officer Brown wrote in the warrant.

“He would invite the family to off-set gatherings, with his wife buying Christmas gifts to foster closeness, making SL feel special and dependent— classic grooming to erode boundaries, isolate the victim, and silence suspicions by blending abuse into normalcy,” Brown continued. “This dual tactic, charming parents while secretly violating the child, builds a web of complicity that is hard to unravel, delaying detection, as families trust the abuser’s facade.”

Busfield has also faced prior sexual assault allegations dating back to 1994, according to the warrant. 

Reps for Busfield and Gilbert did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.