CHELSEA, Vt. — Former Saco Middle School Principal Richard “Rick” Talbot will be on probation for two years and must receive counseling after pleading no contest to inappropriately touching a student in a Vermont elementary school.

The sentence is the result of a plea agreement reached Wednesday, according to court documents from Orange County Superior Court in Vermont.





Talbot, 68, served as principal for Saco Middle from 2003 to 2012. He left to become principal of Tunbridge Central School in Tunbridge, Vermont, a kindergarten through eighth-grade school with about 120 students.

Talbot was put on administrative leave from the Vermont school on Jan. 20, 2015, and fired on March 2. A then-11-year-old student said last school year that Talbot grabbed her buttocks while hugging her, and staff at Tunbridge Central believe he was grooming students for sexual abuse.

Talbot pleaded not guilty in May to a charge of lewd and lascivious conduct in Orange County Superior Court. Under the terms of a plea agreement, Talbot changed his plea on Jan. 12 to nolo contendere, or no contest, according to court documents. Under a nolo contendere plea, a person does not accept or deny responsibility for the charges.

A two-year jail sentence has been suspended, and Talbot has been placed on probation. During the probation period, he must receive mental health counseling on sexually appropriate behavior, and have no contact with the student.

He is also prohibited from going to Tunbridge Central and from being employed by a school system.

If Talbot violates the terms of probation, he will be sentenced to jail.

The secretary at Tunbridge Central told police last year that she saw Talbot give the victim a hug in the school hallway, rub up and down her back and cup her buttocks. She also said she heard him say, “There’s my girl, there’s my girl,” while kissing her on the forehead before letting her go, according to police reports.

The student told police that Talbot’s touch was unwanted, and it made her feel “scared and uncomfortable.”

The girl told police Talbot would take her out of class to work in his office, saying that she deserved a break from classes, and close the door when the two of them were alone in the room. Talbot would give her candy and share his lunch with her, and he frequently chose her when treating students to pizza, she said.

Several female students said they were also uncomfortable with Talbot violating school rules by hugging them and giving them candy, according to police reports. They said they were afraid to say anything about Talbot because he was the principal and they were afraid he would expel them.