Timothy Busfield was allegedly viewed with suspicion by at least one crew member on The Cleaning Lady long before the criminal case now hanging over the veteran actor and director became public.
A crew member interviewed by investigators claimed people working on the Fox drama deliberately kept their distance from Busfield, describing him as a “creepy guy” and recalling behavior they considered inappropriate.
“We’d all stay away from him,” the unidentified crew member told investigators, according to police interview records obtained and reported by RadarOnline.
The remarks have surfaced as Busfield, 69, fights to have a New Mexico indictment dismissed over allegations involving two young actors who appeared on The Cleaning Lady.
Busfield has pleaded not guilty and has repeatedly denied sexually abusing the children.
According to the crew member, concerns about Busfield extended beyond the allegations involving the boys.
The employee claimed Busfield made one female worker uncomfortable by repeatedly touching her hair and asking to play with it.
The crew member described the woman as blonde and blue-eyed and claimed Busfield’s attention toward her gave her “the creeps.”
Those statements represent the crew member’s recollection and have not resulted in separate criminal charges against Busfield.
The same worker also told investigators that some members of the production were surprised Busfield continued working around children.
“We were all kind of shocked they let him on set with children,” the crew member reportedly said.
The comments take on added significance because Warner Bros. Television previously commissioned an outside investigation into allegations involving Busfield on the series.
That investigation began after an anonymous complaint was submitted through a SAG-AFTRA hotline concerning an alleged December 2024 incident.
According to court records, the person making the complaint alleged Busfield entered a hair-and-makeup trailer and kissed a young male actor on the face while the child was getting a haircut.
The independent investigator, however, was unable to find witnesses who corroborated allegations that Busfield had engaged in inappropriate behavior with the children at the center of the later criminal case.
That distinction is important because the studio investigation and the criminal investigation reached very different stages.
Albuquerque police began investigating Busfield in November 2024 after authorities were notified by a doctor at the University of New Mexico Hospital about allegations involving two young actors.
One of the children later alleged that Busfield touched him inappropriately multiple times while the boy was working on The Cleaning Lady.
The alleged incidents were said to have taken place between 2022 and 2024, beginning when the child was approximately 7 years old.
A New Mexico grand jury indicted Busfield in February 2026 on four felony counts of criminal sexual contact with a child under 13.
Busfield pleaded not guilty.
His attorneys have maintained that the accusations are false and have attacked the way prosecutors presented the case to the grand jury.
The crew member interviewed by authorities also recalled seeing Busfield kiss a young actor on the forehead.
The worker acknowledged that the interaction was not necessarily improper but said it nevertheless caught their attention.
“When I saw Busfield kissing them on the forehead, I was like, that’s interesting,” the crew member reportedly told investigators, while also noting that different people have different comfort levels when it comes to physical affection.
The employee also raised questions about whether children were always properly supervised on the production.
According to the interview, the father of the young actors had allegedly discussed occasions when a studio teacher was not present.
California and New Mexico productions involving minors typically operate under strict rules governing working hours, education and supervision, although the specific requirements can depend on where filming takes place and the child’s age.
The crew member said they urged the father to remain vigilant.
“You guys gotta pay attention,” the employee recalled saying.
Busfield’s defense has disputed the broader picture presented by prosecutors.
His attorneys have argued that witnesses and evidence favorable to Busfield were not adequately presented to the grand jury and that the indictment should therefore be thrown out.
During a September 25 hearing in Albuquerque, Busfield’s lawyers challenged the indictment before Judge Joseph Montaño of New Mexico’s Second Judicial District Court.
The defense has also sought testimony from parents of other child actors who worked on The Cleaning Lady, along with multiple crew members, as part of its effort to undermine the prosecution’s case.
Those prospective witnesses reportedly include production workers and parents whose accounts Busfield’s attorneys say contradict portions of the state’s allegations.
Prosecutors, meanwhile, have challenged whether some of those witnesses should be permitted to testify during the dismissal proceedings.
Judge Montaño is expected to rule on Busfield’s effort to throw out the indictment by October 16.
The case has also drawn renewed attention to older allegations involving the longtime Hollywood actor.
In 1994, a 17-year-old extra who worked on the movie Little Big League accused Busfield in a lawsuit of sexual misconduct during filming the previous year.
Busfield denied the allegations.
The dispute was eventually settled privately for an undisclosed amount.
Busfield later pursued a defamation case involving the attorneys who represented the teenager. That case was dismissed, and a federal judge ordered him to pay $150,000 to the law firm.
Another woman accused Busfield of sexual battery following a 2012 encounter at a Los Angeles-area movie theater.
Busfield disputed that allegation, and prosecutors declined to bring charges, citing insufficient evidence.
None of those previous accusations establishes whether the current allegations are true.
Busfield remains presumed innocent of the New Mexico criminal charges unless prosecutors prove the case against him in court.
What happens next could significantly reshape the case.
If the judge grants Busfield’s request to dismiss the indictment, prosecutors could face a major setback. If the indictment survives, Busfield will continue toward further criminal proceedings while his attorneys challenge the evidence against him.
For now, the newly public crew-member interview offers another glimpse into what investigators were hearing as they examined Busfield’s conduct behind the scenes of The Cleaning Lady — while also underscoring how sharply the accounts of his behavior differ between witnesses, the defense and the earlier studio investigation.
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