Sacramento theater investigated Timothy Busfield 25 years before girl’s abuse revealed

Sacramento’s venerated B Street Theatre said Wednesday that it conducted an internal investigation into a reported “incident” involving its co-founder, TV actor Timothy Busfield, in 2001 — a revelation that has come to light 25 years later, after the “West Wing” alum was publicly accused this week of sexually abusing a 16-year-old girl during an audition at the theater and criminally charged in New Mexico for allegedly grooming and molesting twin boys who appeared in a TV show he directed.

In the wake of the 2001 B Street Theatre investigation, which appears to be related to the alleged abuse of the 16-year-old girl, Busfield withdrew from having any role in the operations, leadership or artistic programming of the company, which he originally founded in 1986, a spokesperson for B Street Theatre said in a statement to this news organization.

“B Street Theatre retained legal counsel at the time to conduct an internal investigation, and Mr. Busfield has not had any role in the organization since 2001,” Liz Baidoo, B Street Theatre’s associate executive director, said in a statement. She said the company could not provide any further information about the incident, because of “the ongoing investigation” related to the criminal case unfolding in New Mexico.

However, Baidoo emphasized that Busfield was “not involved in our current operations, staff, leadership, or programming.” She also said: “Although he is listed as an emeritus board member, he has not participated in theatre governance or attended a board meeting since that time.”

The allegations involving the 16-year-old girl in Sacramento were revealed in a court motion that was filed by New Mexico prosecutors Wednesday. Prosecutors in Bernalillo County are seeking to have the 68-year-old actor remain in custody and not make bail after he surrendered in New Mexico Tuesday. Busfield, the husband of “Little House on the Prairie” star Melissa Gilbert, is being held on charges that he had unlawful sexual contact with twin brothers. They had been child actors on the Fox TV crime drama, “The Cleaning Lady,” which Busfield produced and directed from 2022 to 2025.

On Wednesday, Busfield briefly appeared in court virtually from the Metropolitan Detention Center outside Albuquerque, where he is being held. A judge said the actor, looking solemn and dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit, must remain in custody at least until another court hearing within five days.

The prosecutors’ motion alleges that Busfield may have used his position as a co-founder of the B Street Theatre, and well as the brother of Buck Busfield, the company’s former manager and artistic director, to prey on another young victim. They said that the alleged victim’s father reported the abuse to New Mexico authorities this week, saying that that Busfield had allegedly groped his daughter in Sacramento.

“While auditioning for (Busfield) at B Street Theatre, the 16-year-old reported that (Busfield) kissed her and put his hands down her pants and touched her privates,” the motion said. According to the motion, the father did say that this alleged groping occurred “several years ago,” not 25 years ago as described by the B Street Theatre. It’s not immediately clear why there is this time discrepancy and Baidoo said she could not comment further.

When contacted about the allegations involving Busfield at B Street Theatre, a spokesperson for the Sacramento police department told this news organization they were “not aware of a report to our department regarding the allegations related to Timothy Busfield.”

Indeed, the father of the 16-year-old said the family agreed not to report the incident to police after Busfield “begged” them not to, according to the Bernalillo County prosecutors’ motion. The father, being a “therapist himself, thought at the time that was the best thing to do,” according to the motion.

Because of this alleged abuse in Sacramento, prosecutors said that Busfield should not be allowed to make bail. In their motion, they said he “poses an ongoing and serious danger to children and the community. His conduct reflects a calculated pattern of grooming, lack of boundaries, and exploitation of professional authority to gain access to minors.”

In a video released to the media Tuesday, Timothy Busfield proclaimed his innocence to the charges filed in New Mexico as he spoke from his lawyer’s office. He said that he drove 2,000 miles from his home in New York to New Mexico, after learning about the warrant for his arrest.

“They’re all lies,” Busfield said about the abuse allegations. “I did not do anything to those little boys, and I’m going to fight it. I’m going to fight it with a great team, and I’m going to be exonerated.”

Busfield’s civil attorney, Larry Stein, told TMZ that there was “a revenge factor at work” in the abuse allegations. Stein referred to the affidavit filed with the arrest warrant, which said that an actress on the set claimed that the mother of the boys told her she vowed to get revenge on Busfield after her sons were cut from the final season of the show.

Meanwhile, Busfield has long been known in Sacramento for his role in founding B Street Theatre in Midtown Sacramento, CBS Sacramento reported. As of Wednesday, he was listed on the company’s website as an emeritus board member. According to the theater’s history, Busfield launched the organization in 1986 as the Theatre for Children, Inc., initially focusing on touring productions for young audiences.

In 1991, Busfield and his brother, Buck Busfield launched the operation as the B Street Theatre in Sacramento, producing plays that included world, national and regional premieres. It currently operates out of The Sofia, a 49,000-square-foot facility that opened in 2018.

The organization also added the B Street Theatre Family Series in 2002, a program designed to introduce children and families to live professional theater. The theater’s website said the family series has reached more than 500,000 children and their families over the past two decades.

Following Busfield’s surrender in New Mexico, CBS News Sacramento said it sought comment from his brother, who had long served as the company’s producing artistic director and manager up until his retirement in 2022. Buck Busfield lives in Sacramento and declined to talk to a reporter who visited his home.

In a 2022 interview with Sacramento News and Review, Buck Busfield, spoke about creating a successful regional theater that has managed to stay in operation for more than 30 years and to gain a national profile. He gave some credit to his Emmy-winning brother, who helped him develop the initial children’s company and open up the original theater on Sacramento’s B Street in 1991. Buck Busfield said they chose to launch a theater company in California’s state capital for a couple of reasons, including that it was an hour’s flight from Hollywood where Tim Busfield had his acting career. Sacramento also had a dearth of live theater at the time, he said.