Timothy Busfield allegedly told authorities that there were no specific rules on the set of The Cleaning Lady for how adults should physically interact with the child actors, an arrest warrant for the actor obtained by Us Weekly claims.
The actor-turned-director, 68, is facing multiple counts of sexual abuse against a minor after being accused of touching two twin boys inappropriately on set. On November 3, 2025, Busfield was asked by Officer Marvin Brown if he’d ever had any physical contact with the children in question.
Busfield replied that it was “highly likely that he would have,” describing the set as a “playful environment.” When questioned on what the protocol was for “touching children and picking them up” on set, the actor allegedly said it “wasn’t allowed,” but then claimed there was “no protocol,” per the warrant.
“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,” he said at the time. “I don’t really remember picking those boys up. 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.”
Busfield also claimed he didn’t remember “overtly tickling the boys ever,” but noted that tickling a child “wouldn’t be uncommon” for him.
As for other on-set rules, when asked if the children’s parents were allowed to have iPads to watch their kids while they were working, Timothy said, “We don’t really like that parents had iPads” and that it was “not a standard process.” However, he claimed children were “never alone on set without the teacher, a welfare worker, or a parent.”
Timothy Busfield Steven Ferdman/Getty Images
On Friday, January 9, New Mexico police issued a warrant for Busfield’s arrest for two counts of criminal misconduct against a minor — one for each child. One of the kids alleged the director had inappropriately touched him three or four times, while the other boy claimed Busfield had touched him five or six times. The complaint said one of the boys was “very afraid” of Busfield and had been scared to tell anyone “because Tim was the director, and he feared Tim would get mad at him.”
Us has reached out to representatives for Busfield for comment.
As Us previously reported, Busfield’s wife, Melissa Gilbert, spoke out on the topic of child sex abuse mere weeks before the warrant for his arrest was issued. On November 15, while recalling her own years as a child star on the set of Little House on the Prairie, she shared a photo of herself at 15 years old kissing her costar Dean Butler, who was 23 at the time.
“So, I debated posting this but, I feel compelled to share. After seeing many women’s posts with the hashtags #iwasfifteen #imfifteen #iwasachild , I decided to google search myself at that age and see what came up,” she captioned the social media post. “And this is some of what I found…and now, at this age, at this time, I am actually nauseated.”
She continued, “Through the lens of today, this is shocking. I have no words other than to say , ‘I WAS A CHILD. I WAS FIFTEEN.’ Thank God my mom and Michael and so many others were there to make sure I was safe. Can you imagine if I hadn’t had them all? I am so fortunate (Sort of) . Many other young women aren’t.”
If you or someone you know is experiencing child abuse, call or text Child Help Hotline at 1-800-422-4453.
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