New Mexico

New Mexico State Auditor orders special audit of Doña Ana County and Sheriff’s Office

Published

9 months ago

April 20, 2025

New Mexico State Auditor orders special audit of Doña Ana County and Sheriff’s Office

The New Mexico Office of the State Auditor initiated a special audit of Doña Ana County and the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office as the relationship between the two entities has frayed in recent months.

“The apparent lack of trust amongst County departments and staff is highly disconcerting to me and the situation appears to be at an impasse,” read a letter from the office of State Auditor Joseph Maestas.

“Consequently, all allegations of potential waste and abuse of public resources and funds, including any potential violations of laws, regulations, rules, policies and procedures in connection with the operation of the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office, to include DASO’s interactions with other County departments, elected County officials, County administrative leadership, and County staff must be fully examined and reported without any delay or avoidance,” an April 14, 2025, designation letter from the OSA to county leadership read.

In February 2025, the Doña Ana County Board of County Commissioners approved an external audit of DASO that was prompted by a petition filed by the county against Sheriff Kim Stewart, who refused to commission recent academy graduates as deputies.

The State Auditor’s office will provide oversight of the audit, at the request of both Stewart and the county, according to Maestas.

In an email sent Feb. 11, Stewart said she would not commission the cadets because she lacked the power to decommission, according to emails obtained by the Sun-News. In a Facebook post, Stewart recounted events from her perspective and also said the county’s human resources department informed her that several cadets did not pass their psychological exams.

In addition to the possibility of waste and abuse and a lack of communication and trust between the county and DASO, the designation letter also referenced a potential legal risk. There are several cases filed against the county and the sheriff for violations of the Whistleblower Protection Act, with the most recent filed by one of the deputies Stewart intended to decommission.

“After multiple requests, I was told the sheriff would not meet with anyone from county management, so I am left to put together the pieces of information that I have available,” County Attorney Cari Neill said during a presentation of legal proceedings of the writ in February. “And what appears to me to be happening is misdirection, smoke screens, confusion and deflection. Is it possible that HR got some pieces wrong? Of course. Is it also possible that the full blame is being placed on HR when HR was not fully to blame? Of course.”

While communication between the county and DASO appears to have broken down, Stewart seemingly agrees with an external audit in a March 13, 2025 letter to his office, but asking for oversight, “so that DASO and I may be treated fairly and equally.”

“Sheriff Stewart was first out of the shoot with a letter to us, basically outlining some of her areas of concern,” Maestas said. “She has issues with certain actions by human resources, and certain issues with the county legal counsel.

“She was very forceful in her letter. She did outline some of her concerns.”

Stewart did not respond to a request for comment by the Sun-News.

Maestas described the special audit as an opportunity to establish a pause in the trading of allegations between the involved parties.

“We are dealing with public safety here in a fairly large and significant county,” Maestas said. “I think it’s incumbent on all of the elected officials involved to demonstrate professionalism, tact and diplomacy in working together and establishing a good effective working relationship.

“If they don’t then the voters are going to take notice and say we elected folks that are just incapable of doing that. To avoid risking the wrath of voters, I’m confident in the county commission and administration, as well as the sheriff’s office will work together.”

The county also sent a letter to the auditor’s office requesting the state’s involvement, Maestas said.

“I’m looking forward to the audit and seeing what an auditor may find for opportunities for improvement and things where we have performed well,” District 5 Commissioner Manuel Sanchez said. “It will give us an opportunity to correct those issues and hopefully create a more productive relationship between county elected officials, the county administration and departments and DASO.

“My belief is that during an audit, they are trying to test and look at how strong our processes are and if you find something, it gives you a chance to get better and fix it. My concern is if you find the same issues year after year.”

The county will bear the cost of the audit and will be required to secure an independent public accountant from the state’s approved firm list to perform the audit.

Maestas said a special audit could normally take up to a year to complete, but he hopes to finish this particular audit sooner. The first meeting between the parties to determine to scope of the audit is scheduled for April 21, 2025.

“Part of the rebuilding of the bridge between Sheriff Stewart’s office and the county commission and county administration is jointly working on the scope of this audit,” Maestas said. “That way both sides are confident that their concerns will be addressed.”

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New Mexico

Timothy Busfield Charged With Child Sex Abuse On ‘The Cleaning Lady’s New Mexico Set; WBTV Will “Cooperate With Law Enforcement”

Published

7 hours ago

January 10, 2026

Press Room

Timothy Busfield Charged With Child Sex Abuse On ‘The Cleaning Lady’s New Mexico Set; WBTV Will “Cooperate With Law Enforcement”

A 10-year-old New Mexico boy says Timothy Busfield “touched his ‘poop’ and ‘pee’ area” during production on The Cleaning Lady, an Albuquerque District Attorney–approved arrest warrant issued today says.

“In my training and experience, pedophiles often infiltrate families under a trusted role, like Timothy, who, as a producer, exploited the hectic film sets to tickle and touch SL on his penis and buttocks, masking it as play,” the warrant from Albuquerque Police Officer Marvin Brown asserts. “He would invite the family to off-set gatherings, with his wife buying Christmas gifts to foster closeness, making SL feel special and dependent—classic grooming to erode boundaries, isolate the victim, and silence suspicions by blending abuse into normalcy.”

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Filled with accounts from two brothers of their alleged repeated experiences with the Thirtysomething alum, who was a director on the now shuttered Élodie Yung-led Fox drama from Warner Bros TV, the document charges Busfield with two counts of criminal sexual contact with a minor and child abuse. It is unclear at this point if the Emmy winner has been arrested and booked by Albuquerque Police Department.

If found guilty of the charges, Busfield could face a minimum of three years behind bars.

In fact, the 68-year-old, who was accused but never charged in two previous sexual assault allegations in 1994 and 2012, could be looking at a lot longer sentence in the Land of Enchantment.

Under New Mexico statutes, prison time in sex crimes against minors leans heavily on context and circumstances in the degrees of punishment they hand out. That time and felony class can go up substantially if the crime involves children under 13 years of age — as it allegedly does here.

Named as “SL” and “VL” in the warrant, the two 2014-born boys appeared on The Cleaning Lady over multiple seasons before being let go for having aged out of the role, I hear. However, in a Nov. 3, 2025 phone interview with Busfield in the warrant, The West Wing vet told investigating Officer Brown that he “the lead actress, Elodie Young” informed him over a year ago that “the mother of SL and VL (sic) that she wanted revenge, and I’m going to get my revenge on Tim Busfield for not bringing her kids back for the final season.”

Courtesy of Fox

In interviews conducted with SL and VL on Halloween last year by a “forensic child interviewer,” and observed by Officer Brown, today’s arrest warrant says that the former told them the alleged abuse by Busfield started when he was 7 years old and on The Cleaning Lady.

“SL said that Tim touched him three to four times on his ‘poop’ and ‘pee’ area over his clothing,” the 12-page arrest warrant states of what is cited as a second incident with Busfield, very similar to a previous incident. “SL said he was very afraid of Tim and was relieved when he was off set. SL said he was afraid to tell anyone because Tim was the director, and he feared Tim would get mad at him. SL did advise that Tim touched him while he was only on set filming in Albuquerque.”

SL now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety, the warrant says. SL disclosing having nightmares about the director touching him and waking up scared,” the document adds.

It goes on: “VL explained 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. Therefore, VL did not say anything. VL said Mr. Tim would start touching him with his hands about his body while they were filming in the ‘house’. VL advised that it was about his body, but did not disclose that he was touched on his buttocks or penis area. VL said he did not like being touched, but did not say anything because he did not want to get in trouble.”

The matter actually first came to the cops’ attention in late 2024 when a doctor from University of New Mexico Hospital contacted the Albuquerque Police Department in regards to a “sexual abuse investigation.”

Noting that the boys’ father had been advised to go to the hospital by a local law firm, today’s warrant details: Officer Osborn talked with both VL and SL, who did not disclose any sexual contact at this time. However, both boys advised that Timothy Busfield, whom they referred to as ‘Uncle Tim’, would tickle them on the stomach and legs. Neither boy cared for the tickling. Officer Osborn contacted Detective Michael Brown with the Crimes Against Children Unit and determined that the case did not meet their acceptance criteria at this time.”

The matter came back to the police’s attention and became a much greater priority after the boys’ mother “advised that on 09/02/2025, SL reported to his counselor that Timothy Busfield touched his penis and bottom.”

In that same telephone conversation with Busfield in the weeks before Thanksgiving last year, the NYC-based filmmaker also dropped to Officer Brown that producers Warner Bros TV had conducted its own probe into allegations against him after SAG-AFTRA received an anonymous complaint in early 2025 of an incident on The Cleaning Lady set in December 2024. After writing up a search warrant for WB (which today’s warrant seems to mistakenly say occurred on “10/03/2025”) and several correspondences with WB attorney Richard Wessling at law firm Proskauer, Officer Brown on NYE last year got his hands on the March 31, 2025 external report put together by the LA office of Solomon Law.

Specifically the report, which saw Busfield suspended during the probe, looked into claims from the hotline caller that there was evidence of Busfield “tickling and caressing the head and body of minor boys” while working on the Albuquerque-filmed Cleaning Lady. Upon his own reading of the document, Officer Brown says in Friday’s warrant that Solomon investigator “Christina McGovern was not able to talk with anyone who would support evidence that Timothy Busfield engaged in this behavior.”

Working from what now seems to be limited accusations, the WBTV investigation viewed Busfield as “exonerated,” sources tell me.

In a statement to Deadline tonight, the Channing Dungey-led WBTV said: “The health and safety of our cast and crew is always our top priority, especially the safety of minors on our productions. We take all allegations of misconduct very seriously and have systems in place to promptly and thoroughly investigate, and when needed, take appropriate action. We are aware of the current charges against Mr. Busfield and have been and will continue to cooperate with law enforcement.”

As well as speaking to the boys’ mother and father (who seem to have instigated and then ceased a civil suit on this), plus some Cleaning Lady production assistants and Make-up and Hair department staffers, today’s warrant also details a brief back-and-forth between Officer Brown and the series star Yung, who was a producer too.

“On 11/5/2025, I contacted Elodie Yung to set up an interview. Elodie agreed to meet with me at the Northwest Substation on 11/7/2025,” Officer Brown notes in his fairly comprehensive affidavit that e Albuquerque Assistant DA Savannah Brandenburg-Koch signed off on today. “I did initially advise Elodie that Tim Busfield gave me her name and said that she may have information about this case. On 11/06/2025, Elodie left me a voicemail declining to speak with me and said that she does not want to be involved with the investigation and that she would not have any information that could assist in this case.”

Busfield’s agents at Innovative Artists did not respond late Friday to Deadline’s request for comment on the arrest warrant and the charges against their client.

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New Mexico

New Mexico Public Education Department faces $35 million shortfall

Published

19 hours ago

January 9, 2026

Press Room

New Mexico Public Education Department faces million shortfall

The New Mexico Public Education Department is facing a $35 million deficit, which it attributes to overpayments made to Gallup-McKinley County Schools, a claim the district disputes, arguing they are being wrongly blamed for the state’s funding mismanagement.

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