Colonia H.S. teacher charged with misconduct Charges stem from alleged sexual text messages sent to student BY KATHY CHANG Staff Writer WOODBRIDGE - A 42-year-old Colonia High School social studies teacher was arrested last week after allegedly sending numerous sexually explicit text messages to a 17-year-old Colonia High School student and a 16-year-old student who does not attend the high school, police said. Township police with the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office arrested Karen Binder at her Manalapan residence and charged her with two separate counts of official misconduct. Binder's bail was set at $150,000 with no 10 percent option, police said. On Feb. 26, parents of a 17-year-old Colonia High School male student notified school officials about numerous sexually explicit text messages that their son had recently received from Binder, who was not the student's teacher at the time, police said. School officials immediately notified law enforcement and an investigation commenced, police said. The investigation revealed that on Feb. 22, during school hours, Binder indicated to the student that she needed to discuss something with him and requested his cell phone number, the police report said. Later that same day at home, the student began to receive numerous text messages from Binder, which conveyed her interest in performing a sexual act on him, police said. During the ongoing police investigation, police said they discovered that another 16-year-old male student, who does not attend Colonia High School, also received similar explicit text messages from Binder. Binder began text messaging the 16-year-old male when the male was in one of Binder's classes at Iselin Middle School. The messages became sexually explicit in 2006, police said. Police said probable cause for the issuance of these complaints included information gathered during the police investigation as well as the statements of both victims and several witnesses. Anyone with information related to similar incidents with Karen Binder is encouraged to contact Detective Will Trevena of the Woodbridge Township Police Department at (732) 602-7332 or Investigator Scott Crocco of the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office Sex Crimes Unit at (732) 745-3600, day or night at any time.