11/5/2022
CREC middle school teacher in East Hartford has been arrested for having an alleged inappropriate relationship with her 13-year-old student.
An arrest warrant states that Two Rivers Middle School drama teacher Karen Vinick, 34, and a student were sleeping together under the same blanket at a school-sanctioned drama club sleepover.
The middle school principal reported the incident in June and Vinick was ultimately placed on administrative leave. She’s since been arrested on Oct. 26.
Investigators obtained video of the two at the sleepover.
The boy is seen placing a pillow and blanket next to Vinick and laying down next to her. Later on, Vinick can be seen putting her arm around the student, spooning him.
Shortly after, Vinick and the student got up and left the sleepover, going to a classroom down the hall together, according to the warrant.
In an interview, the boy told investigators that months earlier, Vinick told her that she loved him and didn’t see him as a student, but rather as someone she was interested in and liked romantically.
The boy went on to say that he felt guilty thinking that something he may have done made Vinick have romantic feelings for him, and he didn’t know how to tell her that what she was doing was wrong. The two began a relationship, but the student said Vinick made sure not to cross any lines, and they didn’t do anything physical, the warrant reads.
According to investigators, Vinick started calling and texting the boy, and between Nov. 2021 and June 2022, she called him a total of 135 times. In a phone call after their relationship ended, the boy said Vinick told him if he, “didn’t want this to go public their best course of action would be to deny anything had happened.”
When the boy told Vinick he was going to tell his mother what happened, she tried to convince him not to tell her, the warrant said.
The student told investigators that he didn’t like that Vinick, “was willing to risk her whole career and livelihood over their relationship.”
The boy knew that Vinick was married and said her husband didn’t know they were together.
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