Actor Timothy Busfield, who starred in the hit shows The West Wing and Thirtysomething, has been charged with child sex abuse.
The Emmy Award-winning actor, 68, made his first court appearance on Wednesday over allegations he sexually abused two boys on the set of a television series.
Busfield appeared remotely via a video link from jail a day after turning himself in – when he was taken into custody in Albuquerque on two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor and one count of child abuse.
The judge ordered Busfield to be held without bond.
Prosecutors allege Busfield groomed and sexually abused the children.
An arrest warrant was issued for Busfield on Monday, who turned himself in to the Albuquerque Police Department on Tuesday and was booked into the Bernalillo County jail without bond, said Nancy Laflin, a spokesperson for the district attorney’s office.
In a video posted online shortly before his surrender, Busfield called the allegations against him “lies” and said: “I’m going to be exonerated. I know I am.”
“I did not do anything to those little boys,” he said during the 45-second clip.
In November, he told investigators he probably had physical contact with the boys on occasion, like tickling or picking them up, but in a playful manner with others present, according to a sworn statement. He also suggested the parental claims were an act of revenge after producers decided to replace the children in the series.
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Busfield became a household name as a White House reporter on The West Wing, which ran from 1999 to 2006, after making his name playing an advertising agency executive in the 1980s ABC ensemble series Thirtysomething.
His wife Melissa Gilbert is best known for gaining fame in the 1970s as a child actor on the hit family drama Little House On The Prairie.
