Arrest made in store robbery

TYLER – According to police, a man is incarcerated after a woman was threatened and held at knifepoint during the robbery of a Tyler Dollar General. Aggravated robbery is the charge against 62-year-old Richard Gerard Taplin. On April 25, an officer was dispatched to a Dollar General in the 2300 block of West Erwin Street. According to an arrest document, a store employee told the officer that a man, later identified as Taplin, had approached her behind the counter and held a knife up to her side. Taplin, she claimed, insisted that she open the register. The woman told the officer that she believed Taplin would stab her when he said, “If you tell them anything, I will work on you,” as two male customers started to enter the store, according to the affidavit.

Taplin then reportedly fled the scene with what turned out to be roughly $350. The affidavit also reported that, store witnesses initially believed Taplin was giving the employee a hug before realizing the woman was upset when Taplin left the store. Security footage later revealed Taplin entering the store and then approaching the woman from behind the counter. Investigators also recognized Taplin by the alias “Waco.” “He was so close I can not forget his face,” the employee said after positively identifying Taplin in a photo lineup. Taplin was taken into custody at the Smith County Jail on Saturday.