Authorities in New Mexico released an audio recording of director Timothy Busfield denying sexually abusing two child actors on the set of TV series The Cleaning Lady.
Police released body camera footage from a detectives’ call with Busfield in New York in November 2025, after he was accused of inappropriately touching a minor on the set of a TV series, which he was directing in New Mexico between November 2022 and early 2024.
In the audio, obtained by NBC affiliate KOB, Busfield, who faces four counts of criminal sexual contact with a child, claimed that he was never alone with the child actors accusing him of inappropriately touching them and said, “never anything of any sexual, any weird, ever with them. That’s disgusting.”
In the phone call, when asked if he’d ever “tickled” the actors, Busfield said, “Highly likely that I would have… it was, you know, a playful environment is what I wanted. The dad would make them hug me, say, ‘Go hug Uncle Tim.’”
Busfield’s wife, Melissa Gilbert, was also on the phone call and defended her husband.
“I’m going to just jump in here too as a former kid actor. It’s really important that the kids feel comfortable with the people they’re working with. It’s just standard practice to become as friendly with them as possible,” she said.
Marvin Kirk Brown with the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) filed a criminal complaint in January, following an investigation that began in November 2024, when investigators responded to a call from a doctor at the University of New Mexico Hospital. The children’s parents had gone there at the recommendation of a law firm, the complaint said.
According to the criminal complaint, an investigator with the APD said a boy reported that Busfield touched him on his private areas over his clothing on one occasion when he was seven years old and a second time when he was eight. The boy’s twin brother told authorities he was also touched by Busfield, but did not specify where, and said he didn’t tell anyone because he feared he would get in trouble, the complaint said.
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Busfield denied the allegations when interviewed by authorities last fall as part of an investigation, according to the complaint.
Brown said he first called and left a message with Busfield asking him to return his call on Nov. 3, 2025.
During their phone conversation, Brown asked Busfield if he “ever had any physical contact with these boys and if he ever picked them up and tickled them.”
“Timothy said it was highly likely that he would have,” the affidavit said. “Timothy said it was a playful environment, like he wanted. However, Timothy said that the dad, Ronald, would make SL and VL hug him, and he didn’t really want them to.”
Brown said he asked Busfield what the “protocol was for touching children and picking them up” and also asked “if it was allowed.”
“Timothy initially said, ‘It’s not allowed at all. There is no, there’s no protocol. I mean, I’m always around people, right? Uh, uh, uh, it would be, 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. Uh, 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,’” Brown recalled Busfield saying in the legal doc.
He said Busfield then stated, “‘I don’t remember those boys. No, I don’t, I don’t actually, I don’t remember it, it, if it happened, I don’t remember overtly tickling the boys ever, but it wouldn’t be uncommon for me.’”
Brown said Busfield and his wife told him they did have a relationship with the two children and their family outside of work.
“They advised that they did buy the two boys Christmas gifts and were together on several social functions,” the complaint added.
In her first sit-down interview with Good Morning America (GMA), Gilbert, 61, and civil lawyer Larry Stein spoke about the Christmas gifts she and her husband gave the children.
“Tim did not give the boys gifts. Melissa gave them gifts. Melissa gave them and every other child at a Christmas party a gift. Every child at the Christmas party, not treating them special or different than anyone,” Stein said.
When asked if Gilbert’s contention is that the parents are “just making this all up,” Stein interjected and said, “Absolutely,” and Gilbert said, “Yes.”
When asked what justice would look like in the case, Gilbert said it would include “exoneration, an apology” and “freedom from this cloud.”
In a video shared before turning himself in, Busfield called the allegations against him “lies.”
“They’re all lies and I did not do anything to those little boys and I’m gonna fight it. I’m going to fight it with a great team, and I’m going to be exonerated, I know I am, because this is all so wrong and all lies,” he said.
Busfield’s trial date is tentatively set for May 2027 in New Mexico.
— With files from The Associated Press
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