WEST Wing actor Tim Busfield has made his first court appearance after being charged with child sex abuse crimes.
The 68-year-old star was officially charged with two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor (child under 13) and one count of child abuse.
Yesterday, Busfield stood in court in an orange jumpsuit while he listened to the allegations that he engaged in unlawful sexual conduct with 11-year-old twin boys.
The judge has confirmed his pretrial detention hearing will take place in the next five business days.
January 29 has been decided as the deadline for his preliminary hearing.
A warrant was issued on January 4 for the star, who played senior White House Correspondent Danny Concannon in the American drama series.
His location was unknown for several days after the allegations went public, but he turned himself in to officials in New Mexico on Tuesday January 13, Albuquerque Police confirmed to The U.S. Sun.
Disturbingly, one of the victims alleged that the incidents began when he was just 7 years old.
In the immediate hours before his surrender to police Busfield spoke out about the allegations he labelled “lies”.
In the video obtained by TMZ, he said: “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 denying the heinous allegations, claiming “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.”
However, officials in New Mexico claimed the boys were groomed on the set of The Cleaning Lady, a show where Busfield served as a director.
According to a copy of the warrant obtained by The U.S. Sun, Busfield touched one boy three times on private areas over his clothes when he was seven.
Then the star touched him five or six times when the boy was eight.
The child reportedly didn’t tell anyone about the alleged abuse because he feared Busfield – who he apparently called “Uncle Tim” – would get mad.
A second boy claimed Busfield inappropriately touched him over two years, without specifying where, as he worked on the show that ran until 2025.
The alleged abuse took place between November 2022 and spring 2024.
Disgraced Busfield has more than 700 credits as an actor, director and producer to his name.
He won an Emmy for his role as Elliot Weston on Thirtysomething in 1991 and starred as Danny Concannon in several series of the West Wing.
A tenacious and determined Washington Post reporter, Concannon offered an outside perspective on the White House, often challenging the administration’s transparency.
In 2013 he married fellow actress Melissa Gilbert.