Timothy Busfield can be released from jail while he awaits trial on child sexual abuse charges, a court has ruled.
Bernalillo County District Court Judge David A. Murphy on Tuesday rejected New Mexico prosecutors’ bid to keep Busfield detained, finding that the actor doesn’t pose an ongoing danger to the community. “Given the lack of a pattern involving children in this case,” the judge said that the risk of Busfield committing more crimes “can be remedied through different conditions of release.”
Under the order, Busfield may not contact the alleged victims or their families, discuss the case with witnesses or have any unsupervised contact with minors.
The ruling came after Busfield last week turned himself in to authorities to face two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor and one count of child abuse. He appeared at the hearing in shackles and wearing an orange jumpsuit.
Bernalillo County Deputy District Savannah Brandenburg-Koch argued that Busfield may continue abusing children if he’s released. She recounted Busfield’s “pattern” of related misconduct.
In one alleged incident in 1994, a 17-year-old extra on Little Big League, which he directed, accused him of assault, alleging he served her alcohol, groped her, and attempted to initiate sex in his trailer, according to prosecutors. In another 2012 incident, an adult woman alleged he assaulted her in a Los Angeles movie theater. Busfield allegedly slipped his hands under her clothes and touched her genitals, per court documents. Law enforcement ultimately didn’t pursue a criminal case due to “slim evidence.”
Busfield has denied allegations that he abused the children, who were allegedly touched on multiple occasions on the set of The Cleaning Lady in Albuquerque.
Brandenburg-Koch stressed that the victims’ therapist and doctor both independently reported the alleged abuse.
“It was during therapy, not the parents, that S.L. described sexual abuse by the defendant and V.L. disclosed inappropriate touching,” she said, referring to the alleged victims by their initials. “S.L. even disclosed in therapy that he was mad at his dad because he thought he knew it was going on since he had the iPad to watch his children.”
The victims’ father, Ronald Rodis, was a major subject of the hearing. Amber Fayerberg, a lawyer for Busfield, called him a “con artist” looking for a payout, pointing to a 2017 prison sentence in connection to a mortgage fraud scheme. She also cited Warner Bros. internal investigation, which cited evidence indicating that the parents wanted “revenge” against Busfield for recasting them in the fourth season of the Fox series after they aged out of their roles.
“This entire criminal complaint is making good on that promise,” Fayerberg said. “They got a civil attorney first in California, who then interacted with WB. They didn’t contact the police until WB said there’s nothing behind these allegations. Translation: We’re not giving you any money. Then they went to the police.”
Across the hearing, lawyers for Busfield looked to undermine the integrity of prosecutors’ allegations. Alan Caudillo, The Cleaning Lady‘s director of photography, testified that he never saw Busfield tickle the children or talk to them without supervision, adding that he found Rodis “creepy” and “very aggressive.”
The victims and their parents were paid roughly $1.5 million, or roughly $60,000 per episode, for appearing on the show, Caudillo estimated.
“There’s not a universe where they can prove a case beyond a reasonable doubt,” Fayerberg said.
In a statement, Larry Stein, a lawyer for Busfield, said, “We are delighted that the judge thoroughly reviewed the evidence and reached a just decision.”
