He insists on his innocence.

Actor and director Timothy Busfield, aged 68, found himself at the center of a legal storm when an arrest warrant was issued last Friday, accusing him of child sexual abuse. Following the issuance, Busfield seemingly vanished, eluding public view for several days.

While this drama unfolded, Busfield’s wife, Melissa Gilbert—best known for her iconic role as Half Pint on “Little House on the Prairie” and a vocal advocate against child abuse in the entertainment industry—chose to deactivate her Instagram account and remained conspicuously silent. Gilbert has previously spoken out about her own unsettling experiences in the industry, revealing she was once expected to develop romantic feelings for and kiss an adult co-star when she was just 15.

The question now looming over the situation is: if Busfield is found guilty, what did the 61-year-old Gilbert know, and when was she aware of it?

In response to the allegations, a representative for Gilbert released a statement affirming her unwavering support for her husband, saying she “stands with and supports him.”

However, as the situation progresses, some wonder if that stance will remain sustainable.

And now a new allegation has emerged. A bombshell court filing on Wednesday accuses Busfield of sexually assaulting a third child, this time a 16-year-old girl auditioning for him in Sacramento, California.

According to the filing: ‘While auditioning for the defendant at B Street Theatre’ — which Busfield founded — ‘the 16-year-old reported that [he] kissed her and put his hands down her pants and touched her privates.’

If Timothy Busfield is convicted, what did his wife Melissa Gilbert know, and when did she know it?

Busfield, the filing alleges, then ‘begged the family to not report to law enforcement if he received therapy.’

The alleged victim’s father, himself a therapist, ‘thought at the time that was the best thing to do.’

It can’t be said enough: Child predators — and again, these complaints against Busfield are allegations he denies — can’t be therapized or rehabilitated.

The only answer is to put them away for life.

We’ve also learned that in the 90s, Busfield reached a private settlement with a 17-year-old girl, who had worked as a extra on his movie Little Big League and reportedly claimed that he had sexually assaulted her. 

He subsequently sued the Minneapolis law firm that represented the girl for defamation, alleging they had invented the accusations.

In 1996, a judge dismissed Busfield’s civil case and ordered the actor to pay the firm $150,000 to cover their legal expenses. 

Now, the affidavit involving these twin boys – child actors he is accused of assaulting in New Mexico between 2022 and 2024 while he was directing the Fox series The Cleaning Lady – along with Busfield’s apparent reluctance to turn himself in, is potentially damning.

So damning, in fact, that it felt thoroughly cathartic to see heavily armed US Marshals ram their way into Busfield and Gilbert’s $300,000 ‘retreat’ in upstate New York.

The message was clear: No one is above the law, not even an Emmy-winning actor.

Busfield has since issued what he calls an explanation in a video given to TMZ on Tuesday.

His affect, in my opinion, is a little too glib, a little too friendly.

‘Hey everybody, it’s Tim,’ he says, sounding as if he’s giving an update on his latest vacation.

He then explains why he’s been missing since Friday, claiming that he had to get in a car — why? — and drive the 2,000 miles from New York to Albuquerque — again, why? — and soon this will all be over, because these allegations, he says, are all made up.

Total fabrications.

‘I’m gonna confront these lies,’ he says. ‘They’re horrible. They’re all lies.’

In a statement, Gilbert’s representative said she ‘stands with and supports her husband’. That might not age well. (Pictured: Busfield’s mugshot)

This was filmed, presumably, before he got word of the new third allegation, because he only references the two boys.

‘I did not do anything to those little boys,’ Busfield continued. ‘Uh, and, um, I’m gonna fight it… And I’m gonna be exonerated. I know I am’.

Multiple accusations spanning 30 years, in different states?

Sounds to me like he’s in for a tough time, but here’s our friendly neighborhood Tim, hubristically telling us all to ‘hang in there’ — I wouldn’t presume most of America is rooting for you, Tim — and ‘hopefully I’m out real soon and back to work.’

NBC announced days ago that it was pulling the January 15 episode of Law & Order: SVU in which he had guest-starred — SVU being the acronym for ‘Special Victims Unit’, a police division which handles sex crimes.

And the Albuquerque investigation has been going on for over a year. Police and prosecutors have apparently done their due diligence here.

According to the affidavit, the boys’ response to their mother asking if anyone had touched them inappropriately was: ‘You mean like Uncle Tim?’

‘Uncle Tim’, according to the affidavit, was what Busfield told the boys to call him.

Busfield was their boss. Even by showbiz standards — actually, especially by showbiz standards — that would be an enormous red flag.

The boys were examined at the University of New Mexico Hospital, and Dr. Tyler Christensen then called police, asking for a sex abuse investigation to be opened.

Investigators also spoke to a therapist who treated one of the boys and who claims he told her ‘the director’ had ‘touched his penis and buttocks’, had nightmares and suffered PTSD.

The other brother told investigators that ‘Mr. Tim started touching them for the first two years, and he did not want to say anything, because he did not want to be mean to him.’

Melissa Gilbert was on speakerphone with Busfield when he was interviewed by New Mexico authorities on November 3, 2025.

After he was Mirandized, Busfield said it was ‘highly likely’ that he would have had physical contact with the boys – picking them up or tickling them — and that it was their father who kept encouraging the boys to hug him, even though Busfield claimed he didn’t want to.

Then the investigator asks if there was ‘a protocol’ for a director physically engaging with child actors, or if it was even ‘allowed’.

Busfield’s answer is tortuous and potentially conflicting.

‘It’s not allowed at all,’ he begins.

Then why was he doing it?

Busfield continued: ‘There is no, there is no protocol. I mean, I’m always around people, right? Uh, uh, uh, it would be, it would be, you know, in front of the parents. There would never be a weird moment about it. There I don’t really remember picking those boys up. Uh, I remember picking up the boy who followed them.’

Then his story changes — he has no recollections of the boys in question. At all.

‘I don’t remember those boys,’ Busfield said. ‘No, I don’t, I don’t actually, I don’t, I don’t remember it, it, if it happened, I don’t remember overtly tickling the boys ever, but it wouldn’t be uncommon for me.’

So he doesn’t remember, but it wouldn’t be uncommon for him to tickle little boys, even though adults touching children on movie and TV sets isn’t allowed.

Oh, and he and Gilbert bought the boys Christmas presents and socialized with them outside of work several times — which prosecutors believe was as much a grooming of the parents as the children.

Melissa Gilbert has a lot to answer for here.

On Wednesday evening, Busfield stood before a New Mexico judge, in an orange prison jumpsuit, and was denied bail.

His wife was nowhere to be found.