Report says evidence insufficient in Timothy Busfield child abuse allegations

A new independent review found not enough evidence to support separate child abuse allegations against Timothy Busfield, adding another layer to a Bernalillo County case that is still active in court. The finding does not erase the criminal prosecution already underway, and Busfield’s case remains pending.

The allegations stem from work on The Cleaning Lady in Albuquerque, where Busfield was accused in January of touching two child actors on the set. Prosecutors said the conduct was tied to filming at Cinelease Studios in Albuquerque, off Interstate 25, putting a local production site at the center of a case now drawing attention well beyond New Mexico.

The legal case advanced quickly after a Bernalillo County grand jury indicted Busfield on February 6 on four counts of criminal sexual contact of a child. A judge later released him from jail while he awaits trial, after Judge David Murphy ruled the state had not met its burden to keep him behind bars. Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman said prosecutors viewed the case as a community-safety issue and planned to seek pretrial detention. Prosecutors also said the matter was still under investigation and that additional victims had not been ruled out.

The new report sharpens, but does not settle, the larger public dispute over the allegations. Busfield’s lawyers have pointed to an independent Warner Bros. probe they say did not corroborate the accusations, while prosecutors have said the children’s disclosures to a therapist and a doctor were specific, detailed and not exaggerated. Separate reporting said Busfield denied the allegations in recorded interviews with investigators, and that he and his wife, Melissa Gilbert, described the accusations as false.

For Albuquerque and the broader New Mexico film industry, the case has become more than a celebrity dispute. It has raised questions about oversight on local sets, the response of production companies and how allegations involving child performers are handled when filming takes place at major facilities such as Cinelease Studios Albuquerque. The latest review narrows one part of the dispute, but the Bernalillo County criminal case continues to move forward.