In the Timothy Busfield sexual abuse scandal, his studio appears to have covered up evidence

First, it's sad to note that the judge in the Timothy Busfield sexual abuse case released him from custody, possibly without bail, when seriously, he should remain in prison, considering the gravity of the issues involved. Though special restrictions were issued against him, it's still very disappointing Busfield was released. It's also disgraceful how quite a few of his friends and colleagues, not the least being his wife Melissa Gilbert, defended him.

With that said, it appears Warner Brothers studios, producer of The Cleaning Lady, the TV show where Busfield directed some of the episodes, tried to conceal evidence and information, and stifle witnesses, proving that long after the Harvey Weinstein scandal, there's only so many prominent managements that'll do everything possible to conceal vile incidents, no matter how serious:

New Mexico prosecutors have made headlines with allegations of child sexual abuse against actor and director Timothy Busfield. But he’s not the only one defending himself. They’ve also accused Warner Bros. Television of botching an earlier internal company investigation into the actor and impeding their own criminal probe.

Busfield is battling charges he inappropriately touched child actors while he directed the Fox series The Cleaning Lady, produced by WB TV. According to state officials, the studio’s third-party probe — prompted by an anonymous tip to the SAG-AFTRA hotline — was mishandled: Key witnesses weren’t interviewed and no one involved with it ever publicly reported the allegations. Moreover, prosecutors say, it’s hindered law enforcement’s own inquiry, particularly by slow-walking the handover of documentation.

“The delayed and limited cooperation by Warner Bros. in responding to a search warrant further underscores the institutional barriers that have historically enabled this type of misconduct to continue,” a Jan. 14 filing in the case stated.

Somehow, this fails to come as a surprise the studio would cover up any repugnant activities men like Busfield committed on the set. Also atrocious is how even the lead actress appears willing to back him up. All that just goes to show why the Cleaning Lady is something that would be best confined to the dusty shelves and not viewed in reruns ever again. Some reports I read about it strongly hint it's hostile to USA immigration officials anyway.

One unresolved issue the report does not address that was raised by New Mexico law enforcement involves a question surrounding why an iPad allowing the children’s parents to watch them was taken away. “Timothy said we don’t really like that parents had iPads while on set, and that it was not a standard process, and that they do not encourage it,” the affidavit reads.

Another involves the show’s set teacher allegedly failing to supervise the children at all times. Law enforcement was told by a production assistant, per a court filing, that “she remembered [the alleged victim’s] set teacher, Lee [Lewin], who seemed to lose track of what the child actors were doing,” saying she gave an “example that [alleged victim] was stopped unsupervised, riding a skateboard through a live set at one time.”

New Mexico prosecutors have criticized WB for belatedly providing access to its finished report and its “limited cooperation.” After reading the studio’s internal report, released in a Jan. 16 filing, the lead detective on the case moved to interview other child actors on set, eliciting an email from WB’s lawyer that read “you need to contact” his firm, Proskauer Rose, for such matters, signaling that he would be representing not only WB, but its employees as well.

If the staff didn't allow the parents to monitor what was going on with their kids, that's disturbing and telling. It pretty much says all. Nearly a decade after the aforementioned Weinstein flap, and stuff like this is still going on. Warner Brothers should be ashamed, and the higher echelons who tried to cover up any evidence should resign.