Timothy Busfield Says He Immediately Drove '2,000 Miles' After Being 'Ordered' to Albuquerque for Child Sex Abuse Charges By Virginia Chamlee

Actor Timothy Busfield says he drove “2,000 miles to Albuquerque” to surrender to police on charges of unlawful sexual conduct with minors.

The actor, 68, surrendered on Tuesday, Jan. 13,  PEOPLE confirms.

In a video obtained by TMZ and reportedly filmed at his lawyer’s office in Albuquerque, Busfield claimed, “I did not do anything wrong,” and detailed his surrender.

“Hi everybody, it’s Tim,” Busfield — who is married to Melissa Gilbert and best known for his role as Danny Concannon on The West Wing — says in the video. “I’m sure most of you know, that are watching this, that I was ordered to come to Albuquerque – I’m here now. I got the call Friday night, I had to get a lawyer. Saturday I got in the car, drove 2,000 miles to Albuquerque. I’m gonna confront these lies. They’re horrible.”

He continued, “They’re all lies and I did not do anything to those little boys and I’m gonna fight it. I’m gonna fight it with a great team, and I’m gonna be exonerated, I know I am, because this is all so wrong and all lies.”

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Busfield concluded the video by saying. “So hang in there and hopefully I’m out real soon and back to work. I love everybody for supporting me, thank you.”

The video came four days after the Albuquerque Police Department issued an arrest warrant for the actor, 68, on Jan. 9, alleging that Busfield engaged in unlawful sexual conduct with two boys, 11-year-old twins, whose identities were withheld from the public. 

The parents of the victims said the boys met Busfield on the set of the FOX series, The Cleaning Lady, after Busfield joined as a director in season 2 (which aired in 2022 and was filmed in New Mexico), and “grew closer” to the boys, according to the arrest warrant.

An investigation began on Nov. 1, 2024, after a doctor at the University of New Mexico Hospital (UNMH) alerted police about alleged sexual abuse.

Per the warrant, the boys’ mother asked her sons, “if anyone had ever touched them in a manner that made them feel uncomfortable. The children allegedly responded by asking, ‘You mean like Uncle Tim?’ ”

The parents were advised by an attorney to take the children to UNMH, where they say professionals suggested the boys “were groomed,” according to the warrant.

At the time, the children did not disclose any sexual contact, a police officer said in the warrant, but they did claim Busfield “would tickle them on the stomach and legs.” The case did not meet their acceptance criteria at the time.

The warrant details how, on Oct. 3, 2025, the boys’ mother filed a police report, telling Child Protective Services that “her children both disclosed that there was sexual abuse by Timothy from around November 2022 to Spring 2024.” At the time, according to the warrant, she was told that because physical abuse had not occurred, nothing could be done.

The mother then told authorities on Sept. 2, 2025, and Sept. 22, 2025, that one of the boys told his counselor that Busfield inappropriately touched him.

According to the warrant, Busfield allegedly told police that the parents were upset their sons had been replaced with a younger actor who auditioned. The actor further alleged that he’d been told by an actress on the show that the mother of the alleged victims “wanted revenge,” per the warrant.

When asked by investigators if he ever picked up or tickled the boys, Busfield allegedly said it was “highly likely that he would have” because he wanted “a playful environment.”

“It’s not allowed at all,” Busfield allegedly told investigators of touching on set. “There is no, there’s no protocol. I mean, I’m always around people, right? It would be, you know, in front of the parents.”

An internal investigation by Warner Bros. documented that an individual “claimed to have witnessed” an incident in the hair and make-up trailer, in which “executive producer/director Tim Busfield entered and kissed a minor male on the face as the minor was getting a haircut” in December 2024.

In the warrant, a police officer writes, “In my training and experience, pedophiles often infiltrate families under a trusted role, like Timothy, who, as a producer, exploited the hectic film sets to tickle and touch SL on his penis and buttocks, masking it as play.”

The officer added that Busfield “would invite the family to off-set gatherings, with his wife buying Christmas gifts to foster closeness, making SL feel special and dependent— classic grooming to erode boundaries, isolate the victim, and silence suspicions by blending abuse into normalcy.”

“This dual tactic, charming parents while secretly violating the child, builds a web of complicity that is hard to unravel, delaying detection, as families trust the abuser’s facade,” the officer wrote in the warrant. 

In a statement, Melissa Gilbert’s representative said she was “not making public statements at this time” and was “honoring the request of Tim’s lawyers not to speak publicly while the legal process unfolds.”

“During this period, her focus is on supporting and caring for their very large family, as they navigate this moment. Melissa stands with and supports her husband and will address the public at an appropriate time. We ask that their privacy be respected,” the statement added.

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.