Timothy Busfield: West Wing actor denies latest child sex abuse allegations as colleagues offer support

Days after new allegations emerged againstWest Wing star Timothy Busfield, his colleagues and wife have submitted letters of support for the actor as his lawyers look to have him released from jail while he awaits trial.

The actor, 68, surrendered to Albuquerque police January 13, four days after an arrest warrant charged him with two counts of criminal sexual contact and child abuse in connection with alleged incidents that occurred while working on the set of Fox series The Cleaning Lady. The actor, who is married to actor Melissa Gilbert, declared in a video before his arrest: “I did not do anything to those little boys.”

At the time Busfield turned himself in, his lawyer Larry Stein said in a statement to The Independent: “Tim Busfield denies the allegations in the criminal complaint and maintains they are completely false. As a voluntary step, he submitted to an independent polygraph examination regarding those allegations and passed.”

After he turned himself in, Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bergman and Deputy DA Savannah Brandenburg-Koch filed paperwork to keep Busfield behind bars while he awaits trial, citing new allegations that the actor groped a 16-year-old girl.

According to the court filing, obtained by Deadline, the father of the newest alleged victim came forward January 13 and told police that several years ago, his teen daughter alleged that Busfield “kissed her and put his hands down her pants and touched her privates” while she auditioned at the Sacramento theatre he founded, B Street Theatre.

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Following those allegations and the actor’s first court appearance January 14, where he did not enter a plea, Busfield’s team submitted documents January 16 opposing the motion to keep him locked up before trial.

“The State’s attempt to transform responsible self-surrender into aggravating conduct only underscores the absence of genuine evidence of dangerousness,” the documents read, per Deadline.

The actor’s lawyers said Busfield should be released, and claimed “the absence of any reliable proof of dangerousness.”

The documentation included letters from Gilbert — who previously released a statement of support — as well as director Edward Zwick and several of Busfield’s thirtysomething colleagues, including Peter Horton and Patricia Wellig Olin.

“Timothy is my friend, so no doubt I’m biased,” Olin wrote, per Deadline. “But I know him well, through many years and many changing life circumstances, and he has always been a man who cares about other people – old and young. And I know in the very bottom of my heart that Timothy would never do anything to cruelly exploit or harm anyone, let alone a child.”

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Known for his roles in The West Wing and Field of Dreams, Busfield was working on season two of The Cleaning Lady as a director and executive producer when he met the two young boys who accused him of inappropriately touching them. One of the boys alleged that the incidents started when he was seven years old, according to the arrest warrant. The Fox show was cancelled last year.

Stein said in a statement that the allegations against him are an attempt by the boys’ mother to get revenge after the actors were not cast in the final season of the show.

In the days since the allegations emerged, Law and Order: SVU pulled an episode that Busfield was slated to guest star on, and the actor’s longtime agents at Innovative Artists dropped him from their roster, Deadline reported.

Busfield has maintained his innocence, denying all allegations against him. If convicted, he faces years in prison.