The Albuquerque Police Department confirmed to EW that it’s working with the U.S. Marshals Service to locate and arrest Busfield.

U.S. Marshals assisting police to locate Timothy Busfield after arrest warrant for alleged child sex abuse

The Albuquerque Police Department confirmed to EW that it's working with the U.S. Marshals Service to locate and arrest Busfield.

By Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2025. Her work has previously appeared on *Entertainment Tonight* and Popsugar.

EW's editorial guidelines

January 13, 2026 12:48 p.m. ET

Leave a Comment

Timothy Busfield in 2019. Credit:

Rodin Eckenroth/Getty

The U.S. Marshals Service and the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) are now working together to locate actor Timothy Busfield after an arrest warrant was issued for the 68-year-old, alleging that he engaged in unlawful sexual conduct with 11-year-old twin boys.

The APD confirmed to ** Tuesday that it is working with the U.S. Marshals Service to locate and arrest Busfield after issuing the warrant on Friday. The U.S. Marshals Service did not immediately respond to request for comment.

In the warrant obtained and reviewed by EW, an investigation into Busfield began in November 2024, after a doctor at the University of New Mexico Hospital (UNMH) alerted police about alleged sexual abuse. The victims' parents told APD Officer Marvin Brown that the twins were child actors who met Busfield on the set of FOX's now-canceled series, *The Cleaning Lady*, on which he directed several episodes and served as an executive producer, the warrant said.

Timothy Busfield in 2020.

Steven Ferdman/Getty

One of the boys, referred to as SL, claimed that Busfield touched his "penis and buttocks, masking it as play" on more than one occasion, police alleged in the warrant. The alleged abuse by Busfield started when the boy was 7 years old, he claimed, per the authorities.

After the father was allegedly told that "there had been multiple rumors that Timothy had been 'handsy' with women," the siblings' mother asked her sons if anyone had ever touched them in a manner that had made them feel uncomfortable. Per the warrant, the children allegedly responded by asking, "You mean like Uncle Tim?' "**

The parents claimed they were advised by an attorney to take the children to UNMH, where they said professionals suggested the boys "were groomed," according to the warrant. However, it was later determined that the case did not meet authorities' acceptance criteria at the time.

***Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.***

The victims' mother filed a police report in October 2025, telling Child Protective Services (CPS) that "her children both disclosed that there was sexual abuse by Timothy from around November 2022 to Spring 2024." But she was told that because physical abuse had not occurred, nothing could be done, per the warrant.

NBC pulls 'Law & Order: SVU' episode featuring Timothy Busfield amid child sex abuse charges

Melissa Gilbert deletes social media as husband Timothy Busfield faces child sex abuse allegations

According to the warrant, one child has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety, and feared disclosing the alleged abuse because of retaliation from Busfield.

The warrant says that Brown had a phone interview with Busfield — who is married to *Little House on the Prairie* star Melissa Gilbert — in November 2025, during which the actor claimed that his *Cleaning Lady* costar Elodie Yung told him over a year ago that "the mother of SL and VL (sic) that she wanted revenge, and I'm going to get my revenge on Tim Busfield for not bringing her kids back for the final season," per the warrant.

Shortly after the phone interview, the warrant says Warner Bros. launched an investigation into Busfield's behavior on the Albuquerque set over an anonymous SAG-AFTRA hotline complaint about him "tickling and caressing the head and body of minor boys."

Melissa Gilbert and Timothy Busfield in 2023.

VALERY HACHE/AFP via Getty

Brown noted in the warrant that after reading the independent investigation conducted by an outside law firm, Solomon Law, following the SAG-AFTRA complaint, investigator Christina McGovern "was not able to talk with anyone who would support evidence that Timothy Busfield engaged in this behavior."

Busfield faced two prior accusations of sexual assault, the warrant alleged, neither of which resulted in a criminal charge: one from a 17-year-old extra in 1994 who ultimately settled a lawsuit against the actor, and the other from a 28-year-old woman who accused him of groping her whose case was never prosecuted due to "slim evidence."

If found guilty of the alleged child abuse,, Busfield could face three to many more years in state prison. Under New Mexico's statutes, sentencing time and felony class can go up significantly in sex crimes if the crime involves children under 13 years of age — as it allegedly does in this case.**

*If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.***

- Celebrities & Creators

- Celebrity Lawsuits & Legal Troubles

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW Celebrity”