← Amy Robach & T.J. Holmes Present
Amy Robach & T.J. Holmes Present
NEW: Imprisoned Actor Timothy Busfield Takes Aim At Accusers: "History of Fraud and Dishonesty"
00:22:29
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Amy Robach
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Amy Robach
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T.J. Holmes
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- [03:04]
T.J. Holmes
Hey there folks. It is Sunday, January 18, and just doing a little Sunday reading. And actor Timothy Busfield is defending himself. He is making his case for why he should be out of jail, but also making his case of why no charges should be brought against him at all. In a new filing, he says the parents of the kids accusing him are fraudsters and absolutely full of shit. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ Roach. They don't hold back. In this new filing, they flat out say these parents are fraudsters. They have a pattern of this. And here is our evidence.
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Amy Robach
This was remarkable Sunday morning reading. I have to say, I looked at you and I said nothing like a Sunday morning court filing. But this was like none other. I was, I couldn't put it down. I was fascinated. These are serious allegations that he is leveling at the page parents of the twin boys who he stands accused of sexually. It's not assault, it's two counts of.
- [04:08]
T.J. Holmes
Improper contact with a minor is what I call contact.
- [04:10]
Amy Robach
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.
- [04:29]
T.J. Holmes
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 you hear the other side and go, oh, wait a minute, they're right actually. And this is what we, 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 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, 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.
- [05:30]
Amy Robach
Yeah, they wanted pretrial detention and they said they did not think that he given his grooming methods. 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.
- [06:02]
T.J. Holmes
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. Ropes. They said in that initial filing the prosecution like he shouldn't be. Any child within proximity of this guy is in danger.
- [06:22]
Amy Robach
The language strong. I mean, we were jaws dropped reading what the prosecution was saying and speaking about this very familiar, seemingly likable guy. But you know what? He. You mentioned his. His prominent roles. He is a prominent wife. Melissa Gilbert, who is of course from the famed show Little House on the Prairie. She played Laurie Ingalls Wilder as America's sweetheart. Truly in the 80s and 90s. She not just is standing by her man, she is defiantly defending him.
- [06:55]
T.J. Holmes
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.
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Amy Robach
Absolutely.
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T.J. Holmes
Absolutely iconic. But they've been married. This is their both their third marriage.
- [07:14]
Amy Robach
More than a decade.
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T.J. Holmes
Okay.
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Amy Robach
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 test. 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, Amy, he put forth a ton of evidence, all just to say, hey, I don't want to be behind bars while I await this trial.
- [07:46]
T.J. Holmes
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 on 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 Rose, 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.
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Amy Robach
And then it goes on to say the state offers no reliable proof, only allegations advanced by witnesses with documented histories of fraud and financial exploitation, contradicted by a comprehensive studio investigation and refuted by witnesses and objective risk assessments. The Constitution does not allow liberty to be forfeited on such a foundation. And that actually makes a lot of sense. Think about it. What proof did the prosecutor's office. I mean they put proof forth a very damning.
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T.J. Holmes
Sounds bad. Oh yeah.
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Amy Robach
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 the he said or they said he said.
- [09:15]
T.J. Holmes
So what we read through here, they could also be or. Or almost ro. Be making a case here. If this was a trial, you could. They were laying out their case here, but they're laying out a case here that you don't even. You don't have enough evidence to hold him. Like even. We're not even going with guilt or innocence yet. We're saying the guy has a right to be out and 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. 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 move 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 has lodged. They are 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 point.
- [10:15]
Amy Robach
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, think about that somebody would take advantage of their position of power and abuse children or make children feel, you know, 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.
- [10:38]
T.J. Holmes
You said based on allegations. But they also make the argument is based on routine. Like, this is just what the prosecutors do. I thought that was a hell of a point to make.
- [10:46]
Amy Robach
Yeah, I didn't realize this, but they said, hey, this is not. 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, 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 in the past six months. So it is routine, it is standard for this prosecutor to just go ahead and say pretrial detention instead of looking at it on a case by case basis. Yeah, that was interesting.
- [11:21]
T.J. Holmes
I thought it was interesting, too. They. They said, to make our point, check out this YouTube video in which, yes, they have the prosecutor's office doing some interview in which they say, yeah, this is kind of routine. This is what we do. And yeah, they use the word routine. I thought that was interesting as well. But they tell. They say this prosecutor, and this is what some of the strongest language here. Robes, making essentially an accusation that they are going for the headlines, they're going for attention and press. They said these allegations failed to stand up to scrutiny at every level and demonstrate only the state's commitment to the salacious and ultimately false narrative it placed in the national and international media. Robes, you said it. A narrative. There is a storyline that's building about him because only one side was talking. One side. And then Twitter, you know what I'm saying? It's one side is talking and then everybody's just buzzing and there's no real info. 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 a lot of. A lot that's out there.
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Amy Robach
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. You know, this was. We got. We got it all. Like, we read everything. It was so. It was salacious.
- [12:47]
T.J. Holmes
And Robes putting it in the headlines, putting in the narrative. They also attacked them for. I said the idea of the marshal's office, like, you didn't have to send the U.S. marshal Service. They made the case that, hey, we were in contact with you within hours of these charges being filed.
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Amy Robach
That's not what was said to the public.
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T.J. Holmes
Said, we were collaborating, we were working, we were doing. 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.
- [13:25]
Amy Robach
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, but they knew.
- [13:48]
T.J. Holmes
Where the suggestion is. You knew where he was. He wasn't a fugitive from justice. We were in touch with your office.
- [13:55]
Amy Robach
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.
- [14:05]
T.J. Holmes
Obviously, we know that. So the section here of their filing ropes that they spend the most time is on the allegations and who is making them. In particular, the parents. They say the state's case rests almost entirely on the accounts of two stage parents. They name them both, whose children were recast from the cleaning lady in 2024. These witnesses are not neutral observers. 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.
- [14:49]
Amy Robach
It's remarkable, actually. So the dad, Mr. Ronald Rodas, is a formal attorney, a former attorney, excuse me, 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 1500 homeowners of approximately $6 million. That is not.
- [15:24]
T.J. Holmes
Nothing small. So hard.
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Amy Robach
That is not a small thing.
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T.J. Holmes
This is not a small time crime. This is not writing a bad check here or there.
- [15:31]
Amy Robach
And then look at the mom. The mom allegation. This is insane, too. The children's mother, angel or Angel LaSalle, has an equally disturbing history. Ms. 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 a $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 ninety thousand bucks, but then had it legal, illegally repossessed, and then traded it for a point horse she put.
- [16:14]
T.J. Holmes
In her mom's name and then they couldn't touch. It's crazy.
- [16:16]
Amy Robach
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?
- [16:38]
T.J. Holmes
They had to be aware. It's impossible.
- [16:41]
Amy Robach
Like, why would that not have also then put into question their narrative?
- [16:46]
T.J. Holmes
But, Ro, you go. That I have to believe. I have to. That the prosecution knew about this. How could you possibly go through this entire public spectacle and put this man's entire career, his wife's career and the legacy all on the line and you're not quite sure. They. They gotta be. I am really hoping the prosecution knew. Knew about all this. They're not. Maybe they're not the best victims to come forward.
- [17:13]
Amy Robach
Look, I get that you might not have a convenient victim, but. But you. This throws their statements, even from a jury's standpoint, into total a nebulous place. You can't just take their word for it when they have a history of deception for money.
- [17:32]
T.J. Holmes
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, 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 another nugget here, I guess, in building their narrative that the parents weren't quite right.
- [18:03]
Amy Robach
I thought this was really interesting. So 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.
- [18:35]
T.J. Holmes
What that means against one person's observation. But still.
- [18:38]
Amy Robach
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 is no evidence that Timothy Busfield asked the children to call him Uncle Tim. In fact, they 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.
- [19:06]
T.J. Holmes
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 Busville went through two things. One, he had a polygraph. Two, he had what's called a psychosexual evaluation that was supposed to determine the 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 18th, 18th, couple days away, Timothy Busfield's supposed to be back in court to try to get out of jail where he has been held since turning himself in on to face two charges of improper contact with a minor. Robes. He filed this report, this motion to oppose pretrial detention. Gonna be heard on Tuesday. He could be getting out, but a part of this is making his case for why he shouldn't be held. We talked about making the case against the people who are bringing the charges against him and the other investigations. But a big part of this was to show one, that he took a polygraph and two, that he was evaluated by a sex therapist. If you will to determine what they call a psychosexual evaluation and an able assessment, which is an objective measure of sexual interest based on visual reaction time. But trying to see if you're attracted.
- [20:47]
Amy Robach
To children, if you're a pedophile, if.
- [20:49]
T.J. Holmes
That'S what it is.
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Amy Robach
I didn't know there was a test.
- [20:51]
T.J. Holmes
That could determine that, but it's a commonly used one. And I'm sure we go back through some SVU episodes throughout. There are plenty. But first, the polygraph, which he went ahead and took.
- [21:01]
Amy Robach
Yes, he voluntary submitted. 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. 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.
- [21:40]
T.J. Holmes
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.
- [22:05]
Amy Robach
Jesus. The way the prosecutors, I shouldn't say spun the story, but in a way, yes, it sounded like he was the most dangerous person in America and couldn't be let free or be around within, you know, a 10 foot radius of any child. That's what you felt like when you read their court filing. But it was Also of note, 75 letters of support, among them one from his wife. But a lot of former cast members, people who've worked with him over the years, people who have had children around him over the years. Melissa Gilbert goes into a long description about how he was with her then teenage son who was, you know, a teenage boy who had troubles and problems and how Timothy Busfield was, you know, a mentor to him and helped him and guided him and his love and his sweetness. And she begged the judge to protect her sweet husband. She went. She. She didn't just give a letter of support. She was effusive.
- [23:01]
T.J. Holmes
Yeah. You know these stories. What do you do? His name. We always say this, Robes, like his name is out there. What does this do to him moving forward if all of this is 100% false?
- [23:11]
Amy Robach
Yeah.
- [23:12]
T.J. Holmes
I mean, he still has been and the story is going on, and then if. What if there's something wrong? What if he has done something wrong? What if he.
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Amy Robach
We just don't know.
- [23:21]
T.J. Holmes
It's awful. Awful in a case like this. But two things Robes we talked about when he did turn himself in. One, the fact that he had driven across the country, and two, that he did that video before he turned himself in. In the prosecution's filing, they made clear. They took issue with that. I was surprised how much they went off about how much that irked them.
- [23:42]
Amy Robach
They were upset about that. But like I said, I understand the driving cross country because when you're being chased and harassed, the last thing you want to do is be in a massive public space. So I actually understand that as long as he was in communication with them. But in terms of the video, I understand that, too, because everyone's saying the worst possible things about you. I would. I mean, our biggest regret in everything even we went through, which doesn't compare to this, was that we didn't speak out, that we didn't speak up, that we didn't tell our side, that we didn't say, hey, what you're hearing is wrong. And I think that is everyone's right to be able to do that. If you stand accused of something that horrific, I have zero issue with you taking 10 minutes to say, I didn't do this.
- [24:26]
T.J. Holmes
They mentioned that in this filing, his defense team and I kind of understood it, that they made the point. You're making you all of the state, and you're saying you're opposed to the First Amendment. Like, he's had the right to speak. What are you arguing about? Like there's a problem with him defending himself and opening him personally offended. Yeah, that was a weird one, but they threw that in as well. But, folks, yes, we're off tomorrow. The country, as I should say, it's a national holiday. Courts will be closed, so not much going on, but he is going to be in court on Tuesday making an argument to get out of jail while this process goes forward. We just wanted to hop on because this was a significant update to a story that has a lot of interest right now. So we appreciate you spending some time with us, as always, for now, I'm T.J. holmes. On behalf of my dear Amy Robach, we will talk to you all real soon.
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Amy Robach
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