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“It’s not uncommon that the kids did not disclose at that time, or were ready to disclose at that time to a police officer that showed up at their home,” said Bernalillo County Assistant District Attorney Savannah Brandenburg-Koch today in a New Mexico court of child sexual abuse accusations against Timothy Busfield. The actor is alleged to have repeatedly touched the “‘poop’ and ‘pee’ area” of a young boy who was an actor on the Albuquerque-filmed The Cleaning Lady.
“He does have the likelihood that he could reoffend,” the prosecutor declared of the 68-year-old Busfield, who was sitting nearby in District Judge David A. Murray’s Albuquerque courtroom. Brandenburg-Koch Tuesday, as DA David Bergman’s office has in court filings over the past week, stressed past but never charged allegations in 1994 and 2012 against Busfield, as well as another claim of over 30 years ago that came to light on January 14. All of the previous claims involved teenage girls and adult women.
“I have significant concerns about the prosecution talking as if he has already been convicted,” defense lawyer Christopher Dodd replied in his own presentation Tuesday, calling the DA’s efforts “a fallacy.” Hitting back harder, Dodd went on to say the children “flat out denied” there was any sexual abuse in their first conversation with police. “The fact is the criminal complaint in this case is slanted.”
To that, Dodd called one witness Tuesday, Cleaning Lady director of cinematography Alan Caudillo. The filmmaker had written a letter to the court in Busfield’s favor. The correspondence was included with the defense’s rejection of the DA’s motion.
Praising Busfield’s skills as a director on the episodes of the Elodie Yung-led drama over several seasons, Caudillo today in court called the boys’ parents “typical aggressive set parents.” He also said the father sometimes made him “uncomfortable” and that he heard the parents “took it very badly” when the $60,000 an episode paid children were let go from the show. When asked about the core claims of abuse, which he said he read on Deadline last week, The Hangover vet said a blunt “no,” when asked by attorney Dodd if “it was possible Mr. Busfield inappropriately touched SL on the set of The Cleaning Lady.”
Having written to the court late last week on the virtues of her husband, Melissa Gilbert was in the courtroom today with other members of the family for the hearing. Busfield looked over to her as he entered the room just at 1 pm PT. Dressed in the standard prison wear of an orange jumpsuit and shackled, Busfield immediately sat down with his Albuquerque attorneys Amber Fayerberg and Christopher Dodd.
Reading over documents in front of him and sipping water, Busfield’s hands were clearly shaking in those opening minutes in a relative silent courtroom before the judge entered. Judge Murray is expected to rule on the pretrial detention motion during today’s hearing.
Slamming the “minimal investigation” that The Cleaning Lady producer Warner Bros conducted when allegations were first made in 2024 against Busfield, the Assistant DA earlier sought to dismiss any relevance to a lie detector test Busfield successfully passed on just before he surrendered himself to New Mexico police. “Polygraph, although allowed here in New Mexico, I would ask the board give less weight to because we don’t have raw data,” she said. “Defendant didn’t provide us with that, and the polygraph does not address what this hearing is about.”
Aiming to keep the currently incarcerated Busfield behind bars on the vile claims while the case works it’s way towards trial, Brandenburg-Koch also added that “80% of children delay disclosure …it’s also very normal that kids give a little bit at a time to test the waters to see what happens.” With the thirtysomething actor and The Cleaning Lady director sitting nearby, the prosecutor told District Judge David A. Murray that the “state is requesting that this Court find the defendant dangerous and that there are no conditions of release that the court can impose to secure the safety of the community.”
Having written to the court late last week on the virtues of her husband, Melissa Gilbert was in the courtroom today with other members of the family.
Busfield looked over to her as he entered the room just at 1 pm PT. Dressed in the standard prison wear of an orange jumpsuit and shackled, Busfield immediately sat down with his Albuquerque attorneys Amber Fayerberg and Christopher Dodd.
Reading over documents in front of him and sipping water, Busfield’s hands were clearly shaking in those opening minutes in a relative silent courtroom before the judge entered.
Following a detailed arrest warrant issued January 9 that charged the Busfield with two counts of criminal sexual contact with a minor and child abuse, lawyers for the innocence declaring Emmy winner have questioned how the 2014-born brothers and ex-The Cleaning Lady actors only spoke of tickling and such touching in initial interviews with police and other authorities. It wasn’t until September of last year, months after the Albuquerque Police Department had begun what was turning into a non-starter of an investigation into claims against Busfield, the mother of the boys told the cops that “on 09/02/2025, SL reported to his counselor that Busfield “touched his penis and bottom.”
In a November 3, 2025 phone interview with Brown that is quoted in the January 9 warrant, Busfield told APD Officer Marvin Brown “the lead actress, Elodie Yung” 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.”
Putting the motivation on the children’s family to be “all about money,” as the Assistant DA herself termed it Tuesday, the defense in their January 16 filed opposition to prosecutors’ pretrial detention motion proclaimed the DA’s office “offers no reliable proof—only allegations advanced by witnesses with documented histories of fraud and financial exploitation, contradicted by a comprehensive studio investigation, and refuted by witnesses and objective risk assessments.”
Today, under questioning from Judge Murray on the suspicious move of the parents talking to lawyers before going to the authorities in 2024, Brandenburg-Koch said that no civil lawsuit has been filed. Stating “this is not about the parents history, she added that “it is my understanding that they are not filing a civil lawsuit.”
English (US) ·