Timothy Busfield, the actor and director, turned himself in to the authorities in New Mexico on Tuesday and was being booked on charges of child sex abuse, the Albuquerque police said. The case involves two boys who were appearing on a television drama that he was producing in New Mexico.
Mr. Busfield, 68, went to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Albuquerque and was being booked on a warrant that was signed on Friday by a Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court judge in Albuquerque. The warrant said that Mr. Busfield had been charged with two counts of criminal sexual contact with a minor and one count of child abuse.
Neither a lawyer for Mr. Busfield nor his agent immediately replied to a request for comment.
Gilbert Gallegos, a spokesman for the Albuquerque Police Department, said earlier Tuesday that the department was working with federal marshals to take Mr. Busfield into custody because he was not in New Mexico.
A police affidavit said the offenses took place in 2022. At that time, Mr. Busfield was an executive producer and actor on the Fox crime drama “The Cleaning Lady.” The police began investigating him last year after a call from a doctor at the University of New Mexico Hospital, where staff members requested a sexual-abuse investigation and said it appeared the boys were being groomed, the affidavit said.
Both boys, who are 11 years old and related, said in forensic interviews that Mr. Busfield had touched them inappropriately, according to the affidavit. One of the boys told a therapist, a pediatrician and a forensic interviewer that Mr. Busfield had entered a bedroom on the set of the show and touched his penis and buttocks over his clothing, it said.
In October, the boys’ mother reported to child protective services that both children said Mr. Busfield had touched them between late 2022 and early 2024, according to the affidavit. One of the boys said the touching was sexual.
The affidavit described a phone interview Mr. Busfield had with investigators in which he told them that he had probably tickled the boys, and said the set was a “playful environment.” He suggested that the allegations were a form of revenge by the boys’ mother after they were not brought back for the final season of the show, the affidavit said.
Warner Bros. Television, which produced the show, said in a statement on Sunday that it was “aware of the current charges against Mr. Busfield and have been and will continue to cooperate with law enforcement.”
Mr. Busfield won an Emmy Award for best supporting actor in a drama series for his work in ABC’s “Thirtysomething,” which aired for four years beginning in 1987. He also portrayed a journalist on “The West Wing.”
He is married to the actress Melissa Gilbert. The affidavit said Mr. Busfield would invite the boys’ family to gatherings off the set, with his wife buying Christmas gifts to “foster closeness.”
Christine Hauser is a Times reporter who writes breaking news stories, features and explainers.
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