Amy Robach & T.J. Holmes Present
NEW: Imprisoned Actor Timothy Busfield Takes Aim At Accusers: "History of Fraud and Dishonesty"
18 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What allegations are Timothy Busfield facing?
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Chapter 2: What evidence does Busfield present against his accusers?
I was... I couldn't put it down. I was fascinated. These are serious allegations that he is leveling at the parents of the twin boys who he stands accused of sexually abusing.
it's not assault it's two counts of improper contact with a minor improper contact okay there you go so he's accused of fondling touching these young boys but what he's accusing their parents of and he provides in this court filing a significant amount of proof to back up what he's saying he's not just saying hey i heard this there are rumors about x y and z no he actually has proof
isn't it always fascinating? We watch a lot of court cases, but you hear one side, you go, oh my goodness, this is overwhelming. It looks bad. And then you hear the other side and go, oh, wait a minute. They're right, actually. And this is what we have had. So we have had an overwhelming, at least at this point, Robes, it's kind of been one-sided.
Tim Busfield, Timothy Busfield, the actor, has not said a whole lot up to this point. He had made a court appearance. He made that short video in which he said, I'm innocent of these charges. This is is several pages of a court filing in which he is defending himself against these allegations.
And a reminder, folks, two boys, twin boys who worked with him when he was a director on a show, The Cleaning Lady that was on Fox. This was in 2024, but the boys were seven and eight years old, claimed that he touched them, tickled them, if you will, quote unquote, and touched their butt, touched their penises. All this stuff, some awful stuff is in there. He said he is not guilty.
He is sitting in jail right now, Rose, because he made his first court appearance last week, and the judge denied bail because the prosecution said he's a threat to society.
Yeah, they wanted pretrial detention, and they said they did not think that he, given his grooming methodsā And this new allegation they put forth in their court filing from the father of a then 16-year-old, apparently this happened according to the father 25 years ago.
So all of this, they said, or at least the prosecutor's office said, amounted to, they felt like, the need for the protection and safety of the public. They needed Timothy Busfield to remain behind bars until his trial.
Some strong language. Again, most people are familiar with him. The show 30-something he won an Emmy for. That was in the 90s. But then West Wing, he had a very prominent role on that show as well. They said in that initial filing, the prosecution, like he shouldn't be any child anymore. within proximity of this guy is in danger.
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Chapter 3: How does Busfield's history influence the case?
And again, to put in context for those that don't know, because I'm one, fair enough. Don't understand the show you were talking about, but I didn't know. I wouldn't have readily known her name or the character's name. This woman is pop culture television American icon.
Absolutely.
Absolutely iconic. But they've been married. This is both their third marriage.
Yes, so more than a decade. Okay. More than... 2015, I believe. So 11 years is how long they have been married, but they talk about their love story. We'll get into what this court filing was, because it was a lot. I mean, it involved lie detector tests. It involved... He went through an analysis of his... Psychosexual analysis, is that what it was called?
I didn't even know there was a doctor who could go through what you're like sexually. So he put forth a ton of evidence just to say, hey, I don't want to be behind bars while I await this trial.
So we got you caught up. So let's start right there then, Robe. So, yes, what we're talking about, folks, is here over the weekend, his attorneys have filed a response. This is a opposition to the motion for pretrial detention. He is going to be in court on Tuesday.
That's the first time he's going to be able to make an argument for why he should not be held while this whole criminal process is going on. And so we'll go through some of this motion. And, Robe, they start...
Flat off criticizing, strongly criticizing everything the prosecution has so far done, saying, quote, the motion asked the court to imprison a man based on a story that has already collapsed under independent scrutiny. They set the stage right off the top about what they're about to go after.
Yep. And then it goes on to say, And that actually makes a lot of sense. Think about it. What proof did the prosecutor's office? I mean, they put forth a very damning narrative based on the allegations from these parents. Now, they did say the kids talked to therapists or at least a therapist, but there is no proof beyond really that he said or they said he said.
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Chapter 4: What is the significance of the lie detector test results?
to be out.
Presumption of innocence.
Presumption, and you're going with just somebody's story. That's the thing they are arguing, at least, in this. The evidence here, there is not enough that justifies keeping him in jail.
Now, they go after the state a lot, Robes, in this filing, saying they have moved toward detention based not on the facts of this case or the characteristics of Mr. Busfield, but instead on the nature of the allegations that the state filed. has lodged. They're doing it not based on what we know, but just based on allegations that you have, and that's the argument they're making to a judge.
Look, we are not legal experts, but we look at a lot of legal cases, and man, they make a good argument.
They do make a good point, and that does make sense. It's not based on the evidence. It's not based on the facts. It's based on the nature. So yes, it's such an abhorrent thing to think about that somebody would take advantage of their position of power and abuse children or make children feel horrific, and be a threat or a danger to children. I get that, the nature of what the allegations are.
But he does have that presumption of innocence.
You said based on allegations, but they also make the argument it's based on routine. Like this is just what the prosecutors do. I thought that was a hell of a point to make.
Yeah, I didn't realize this, but they said, hey, this shouldn't be the standard operating procedure. The standard operating procedure should be that people should be given an opportunity to post bail and to have their freedom while they await and prepare for the charges leveled against them. But they say this particular prosecutor has asked for pretrial detention in every single case ever.
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Chapter 5: What does the psychosexual evaluation reveal about Busfield?
We know how that goes and it's gone crazy. But now he's getting a chance to defend himself and it absolutely flies in the face of a lot that's out there.
It does, and it's interesting the way they said that they put the prosecutor's office, put this narrative in the national and international media beginning on Friday when they said there was a warrant out for his arrest. That is true. Think about so many other cases where we have no details. We don't know what the allegations are.
They're protected because there are potential sexual assault victims. This was ā we got it all. We read everything. It was salacious.
and robes, putting it in the headlines, putting it in the narrative, they also attacked them for, they said the idea of the marshal's office. You didn't have to send the U.S. Marshal, sir. They made the case that, hey, we were in contact with you within hours of these charges being filed.
That's not what was said to the public.
We were collaborating. We were working. We were doing it. He did exactly what he was supposed to do, which was listen to counsel by shutting up and going and turning himself in. It was in New Mexico. He said all this was being worked out. Y'all sent marshals, beat down his door, tore his stuff down. They said it was all for show. For show. Wow.
And you know what? I was thinking about this because they also criticized him publicly for taking the time to drive all the way to New Mexico from upstate New York. But you and I have had a little bit of experience of when people are looking for you, paparazzi, getting that photograph is everything. Him walking into an airport, that would have been almost impossible. Yeah.
But the suggestion is you knew where he was. He wasn't a fugitive from justice. We were in touch with your office.
And he was headed there. He just, given his status, given the fact that you just put this out there for everybody, him walking into an airport, him getting on an airplane, that would have been horrific. Obviously.
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Chapter 6: How do the parents' backgrounds affect their credibility?
Their allegations emerged only after the loss of the twins' role and only after consultation with civil counsel creating an obvious financial and retaliatory motive. That motive must be evaluated against the couple's well-documented history of fraud and dishonesty. And Robes, they get into that alleged history of fraud, dishonesty, and even... Criminal charges.
It's remarkable, actually. So the dad, Mr. Ronald Rodas, is a former attorney who was convicted of federal conspiracy and wire fraud. They claim he was later disbarred following that prosecution for a multimillion-dollar scheme where he used his law license to deceive vulnerable victims for profit.
Federal court records establish he pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud arising from a mortgage modification enterprise that defrauded more than 1,500 homeowners of approximately $6 million. That is not nothing. That is not a small thing at all.
This is not a small-time crime. This is not writing a bad check here or there.
And then look at the mom. This is insane, too. The children's mother, Angel LaSalle, has an equally disturbing history. Miss LaSalle has multiple civil judgments entered against her for fraudulent and dishonest behavior. This is crazy. In 2011, Ms. LaSalle was sued for various claims, including fraud, conversion, fraudulent transfer, among other claims.
They're talking about $400,000 in gambling debts between the two of them. Then they get into this whole thing where she apparently sold a Bentley that she had already sold to someone else for $90,000, but then had it illegally repossessed and then traded it for a Porsche she put in her mom's name.
And then they couldn't touch. It's crazy.
Bottom line, criminal charges for check kiting in Vegas. I mean, these are two people who have a documented legal history of criminal fraudulent behavior. There's no question. I could not believe when you looked into the history of these two people. putting these allegations out there, how did the prosecutor's office not... How were they not aware of this?
They had to be aware. It's impossible.
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Chapter 7: What arguments are made regarding pretrial detention?
This is overwhelming as far as their background and their history and documentation, at least according to this filing. They also mentioned in this filing the investigation that Warner Brothers did. They completely cleared him, and they say the state knows about this investigation. It absolutely flies in the face of everything they're trying to do, and they're moving forward with it anyway.
I thought it was interesting, Robes. They threw in here as well a statement from the director of photography that he worked with just recently. Another nugget here, I guess, in building their narrative that the parents weren't quite right.
I thought this was really interesting. This was from the director of photography. He said, "...the twins' parents were odd. The father, Ronnie, creeped me out. He was pushy and manipulative. He would force the twins to give me a hug every single time I saw him on set. He thought I was important, and it seemed like he wanted me to really like the boys. I always thought it was very creepy."
and unhealthy to force a child to give someone a hug. Ronnie was very overbearing. He had a power business alpha male attitude.
But that means against one person's observation, but still.
But it's important because if you're going to have all of these allegations leveled against Timothy Busfield, you have to at least put into question the people who are making those allegations and how people regarded them. I also thought it was interesting that in this filing, they say there's no evidence that that Timothy Busfield asked the children to call him Uncle Tim.
In fact, people on the set said they only heard the father call him Uncle Tim to the boys, but that Timothy Busfield never went by that.
This is setting up a much different narrative than the one we have been getting. But stay here, folks. When we come back, at the bottom of this filing, was something that was very significant about this filing. Timothy Bustville went through two things. One, he had a polygraph.
Two, he had what's called a psychosexual evaluation that was supposed to determine his sexual attraction possibly to children. Yes, that's a thing, folks. Stay here. We'll tell you the results of those two tests. Stay here. All right, folks, we continue here on this Sunday here on January the 18th. Yes, a couple days away.
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Chapter 8: What impact could this case have on Busfield's career?
what they call a psychosexual evaluation and an able assessment, which is an objective measure of sexual interest based on visual reaction time. They're trying to see if you're attracted to children.
If you're a pedophile.
That's what it is.
I didn't know there was a test that could determine that.
It's a commonly used one, and I'm sure we go back through some SBU episodes. It's probably throughout there plenty. But first, the polygraph, which he went ahead and took.
Yes, he voluntarily submitted to that polygraph on January 13th. That was the day he turned himself in. No deception indicated. And he was asked very specific questions. He was, you know, how they do it. They can really monitor. There's a baseline. And that is significant. And the fact that he even underwent one. A lot of people won't do it. They don't trust the results. He did it.
And that says something. Also, the psychosexual evaluation and able assessment. The doctor came to the conclusion that Mr. Busfield... does not appear to have a sexual attraction to prepubescent or adolescent males or females. That's also of significance.
It's worth putting in there. These are supposed to be independent doctors who did this. They included that information. Is that relevant? Who knows? But it's in there. But this is all right now, Rope. This is not about him defending himself at a trial.
This is just about getting out of jail, which he's trying to do on Tuesday, which I was, we were kind of surprised to hear that he wasn't going to be allowed to get bond of any kind and to hear that he was a threat to any child in his proximity.
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