Colonia teacher arrested for alleged affair with student Sexual misconduct allegation fourth for Colonia in four years BY KATHY CHANG Staff Writer WOODBRIDGE - A 37-year-old Colonia Middle School physical education teacher and former Colonia High School junior varsity soccer coach was arrested last week after he was allegedly found with a 17-year-old female student, police said. Township police arrested Craig Yarnall, of Colonia, on Jan. 29 after an investigation by township police and the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Unit, and charged him with official misconduct and sexual misconduct, which are both seconddegree crimes. On Jan. 30, state Superior Court Judge Frederick DeVesa, sitting in New Brunswick, set Yarnall's bail at $150,000 with no 10 percent option. If convicted, Yarnall, who is married and is a World Natural Body Building Federation professional body builder, could face up to 20 years in prison. Each charge against Yarnall carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. The investigation began after Police Officer Dennis Benigno, while conducting a check of Merrill Park in Iselin, noticed two suspicious vehicles parked in a dark section of the park on Jan. 27. Upon further investigation, Benigno found Yarnall with a 17-year-old female student in one of the vehicles, a 2006 Dodge Ram, and referred the matter to the detective bureau for further investigation, authorities said. After a joint investigation by the township police department and theMiddlesex County Prosecutor's Office, they established that Yarnall began engaging in a sexual relationship with the teenage student inApril 2007, when she was 16 years old, authorities said. Police had probable cause to issue the complaints against Yarnall due to a statement by a witness and the information gathered by the police investigation, authorities said. Yarnall began his employment with the Woodbridge Township Board of Education as an adaptive physical education teacher in September 2003. In that position, Yarnall taught physical education to special education students at Colonia Middle School, Iselin Middle School, Woodbridge Middle School and John F. Kennedy Memorial High School in Iselin, authorities said. In September 2005, Yarnall began his current position as a physical education teacher at Colonia Middle School. For a year (September 2005 to September 2006), Yarnall served as a junior varsity soccer coach with the Colonia High School girls soccer team, authorities said. Yarnall was suspended with pay by the Board of Education, authorities said. Yarnall's arrest comes after four sex allegation incidents, three involving Colonia High School teachers, in the past four years. The three are no longer employed by the school district. In February 2007, Karen Binder, 42, of Manalapan, a Colonia High School social studies teacher, was arrested and charged with two separate counts of official misconduct after allegedly sending numerous sexually explicit text messages to a 17- year-old Colonia High School student and a 16-year-old student who did not attend the high school. The status of Binder's case was not known at press time. In December 2006, Michael Petak, 31, of Marlboro, a Colonia High School social studies and economics teacher and the head coach of the girls varsity soccer team, was arrested and charged with official misconduct, witness tampering and attempted tampering with physical evidence in connection with an inappropriate relationship he was having with a 17-year-old student. Petak was placed on probation. In November 2004, five Colonia High School seniors - an 18-year-old and four 17-year-olds, all members of the boys soccer team - were arrested and charged with assault in connection with assaulting two 16-year-old teammates in the locker room prior to a game. Shahryar Shroff, who was 18 years old at the time of the incident, was charged as an adult with criminal restraint and assault. One of the 17-year-olds was charged as a juvenile with the same offenses as Shroff. The other three juveniles were charged with aggravated criminal sexual contact, criminal restraint and conspiracy. One of the juveniles was also charged with making terroristic threats after he allegedly threatened one of the victims. All five students were placed on probation. About two weeks after the locker room incident, a Colonia High School shop teacher, Edward Billings, who was 33 years old at the time, of Iselin, was arrested for purposely touching the buttocks of a 16-year-old female student. Billings was charged with criminal sexual contact with the student and he was placed on probation. The investigation into the Yarnall case against Yarnall is ongoing. Anyone with information related to the investigation is encouraged to contact Detective Michael Dacrosta or Detective Michael Ng of the Woodbridge Township Police Department at (732) 634-7700, or Investigator James Mullin of the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office Sex Crimes Unit at (732) 745- 3600, anytime day or night.