WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Prosecutors have dropped a sex charge against a Newport small business owner in connection with allegations that forced him to step down from the School Board earlier this year and give up hosting a popular community-oriented podcast.

The Windsor County State Attorney’s Office dismissed its case against Tim Beard, who pleaded not guilty earlier this year when he was charged with a felony count of sexual exploitation. Police said he had sex with a 17-year-old female at a campground in Windsor in 2017.

Beard, a well-known figure in Newport who operates a drain and sewer company, and whose YouTube podcast used to rack up tens of thousands of views, vehemently defended himself and said the criminal allegation hampered his business and tarnished his reputation in the community.

“It used to be you’re innocent until proven guilty,” Beard said on Thursday. “And unfortunately in today’s society if you’re arrested people automatically think you’re guilty.”

The reason prosecutors dropped the charge is not known. The Windsor County State Attorney’s office did not respond to messages for comment on Thursday.

A dropped charge does not speak to either the innocence or guilt of the defendant. Prosecutors are not required to give a reason to the court when seeking a dismissal; it only indicates prosecutors decided for whatever reason not to go forward with the case.

On Oct. 22, dismissal of the charge was sought and granted by the court without prejudice, meaning prosecutors reserve the right to refile it or different charges in the future.

Beard’s defense attorney, Cabot Teachout, of Norwich, declined to comment.

But the affidavit filed by police in support of the charge does not indicate the alleged victim ever made a complaint to authorities and instead says that “during an investigation” a detective with the Newport Police Department “came across information” that alleged Beard “was having a sexual relationship” with a 17-year-old female who was known to him.

Police investigators subsequently interviewed the alleged victim in January, who acknowledged under questioning that she and Beard had sex six years earlier when she was under 18 years old at a campground in Vermont, according to the affidavit.

“The decision — for both victims and prosecutors — about whether to go to trial or not is a very difficult one that encompasses many factors. We support victims and our partners in prosecution regardless of what decision they ultimately make,” Stephen Lee, Newport police chief, said, declining to discuss the specifics in regard to the case.

A month before he was arrested and charged in January, sexual misconduct accusations against Beard surfaced publicly during a vandalism spree, when four men were arrested and charged with spray painting racial slurs on vehicles and property in Springfield in December, 2023.

As later detailed in court documents, Newport police were already investigating Beard on suspicion of unlawful sexual communication with minors in New Hampshire at the time he was arrested and charged with sexual exploitation of a minor in Vermont.

The Beards’ legal problems are not over, however.

Two months after her husband had been charged, Andrea Beard herself was indicted in Sullivan County for alleged witness tampering, in which prosecutors claim she attempted to induce a family member of the man who spray painted the word “pedo” on the Beards’ vehicle not to cooperate with police in their investigation of her husband’s texting interactions with minors, according to court documents.

Andrea Beard has pleaded not guilty to the charge.

That case remains ongoing and jury selection is scheduled to begin Jan. 6, according to court records.

Contact John Lippman at jlippman@vnews.com.