Taplin Is
Apparent
Suicide

A Bethel man who was charged one year ago with sexually assaulting a child was found dead last Tuesday, from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. State police reported that Frank C. Taplin, 59, was found at about 4 p.m. at a roadside pull-off in Fairlee, lying on the ground beside his vehicle.

Taplin, whose trial on felony charges of aggravated sexual assault and lewd and lascivious conduct with a child had been twice delayed, was scheduled for an early April trial in Windsor District Court.

Autopsy results are pending, but police said there were no signs of foul play.

A former Bethel selectman and a volunteer fireman, Taplin was well-known in the community. For 20 years, he and his wife operated Wilsons’s Restaurant on Route 107 in Bethel.

At the time of his arrest last March, Taplin worked for Nine East Network in Montpelier, helping coordinate youth programs with the Vermont Department of Children and Families. Court documents indicated the charges were unrelated to his work at Nine East.

He was charged after police investigated a report from school officials about the alleged assault.

An obituary for Taplin is in the B-section of this week’s Herald.