Colonia teacher arrested for texting sex messages

A history teacher at Colonia High School in Woodbridge was arrested today on charges she sent numerous sexually explicit text messages to a 17-year-old student at the high school and another 16-year-old student she previously taught at Iselin Middle School.

Karen Binder, 42, of Manalapan, faces two counts of second-degree official misconduct. If convicted, she could face up to 10 years in state prison on each count.

Colonia High School officials were notified Feb. 26 by the 17-year-old's parents about sexually explicit text messages their son received on his mobile phone, police said. Binder had asked for the student's phone number four days earlier during school hours because she needed to discuss something with him, according to the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office.

Binder, who does not teach the 17-year-old, told the student in the text messages that she wanted to perform a sex act on him, police said.

The investigation led to additional information that Binder had been sending sexually-explicit text messages to another 16-year-old boy she had previously taught at Iselin Middle School, police said. The messages became sexual during 2006 and continued until recently, police said. The boy is not a student at Colonia High School, police said.

Binder is being held on $150,000 bail at the Middlesex County jail in North Brunswick.