Christina Formella Downers Grove High School teacher initiated sexual relationship with 15 year old victim via school messaging platform, charging documents reveal. Teacher developed feelings for teen victim.
And it gets seedier… The married Illinois special ed teacher accused of molesting a 15-year-old student allegedly began messaging her teen victim on a digital school platform – which quickly escalated to a sexual encounter during a tutoring session in a classroom, new court documents reveal.
Downer Grove High School teacher Christina Formella, who was also the alleged victim’s soccer coach, started tutoring the boy in private sessions after he broke his collarbone, documents obtained by TMZ showed.
The female educator, then 28, according to newly released court documents started sending the 15 year old flirtatious messages on a school messaging platform, along with giving the boy her phone number, ‘so they could play a game together.
Christina Formella kept a Notes app memoir accusing teen victim of cheating on her and breaking up
Downers Grove teacher began to develop feelings towards her teen victim
Soon after Formella allegedly began sending her alleged teen victim, salacious texts.
The pair allegedly Facetimed each other as they began ‘developing feelings’ (because teen boys are always ready to develop feelings for authority figures in position of power and trust) for one another – until one morning in December 2023 they allegedly had sex in a classroom before school, court documents revealed.
Formella shut the door behind them, according to prosecutors, as teacher and student began to undress each other before having sex.
That was the only time the two had sex, according to the documents, with both later telling each other that they’d done something wrong. They didn’t speak after February 2024.
Formella has maintained that she is the victim of blackmail – telling police she was being targeted for being ‘good-looking.’
Do you suppose?
‘She claimed that one day, [the boy] had grabbed her phone unattended, had entered her passcode … had sent the message to his phone, had then deleted the message from her phone, and had saved it to his phone as blackmail,’ previously obtained court documents showed.
Illicit text messages from teacher found on 15 year old boy’s phone
‘[Formella said] everybody comes after her because she is good looking and she is just a good person who cared too much about [the boy],’ the documents added.
The alleged affair was discovered in mid-March when the boy’s mother was setting up a new phone for him only to come across inappropriate texts between her son and his teacher.
‘I love you sooooo much baby… Even though this morning was short, it was perfect,’ one of Formella’s alleged texts read, ‘I love having sex with you.’
Formella was arrested on March 16, just days after the boy’s mother found the illicit messages.
But there was more to come.
Police bodycam footage from Formella’s arrest showed Formella visibly unnerved as cops pulled her and her newly married husband over (oh dear…) and detaining her.
Video shows the ‘busted teacher’ bursting into breathless tears after being told of charges against her. ‘Oh my God. What the f–k?’ she said, holding her face in her hands. “I feel like I’m gonna throw up.”
‘BUT I’M GOOD LOOKING !!’
Formella was released after her arrest on the condition that she have no contact with minors. The educator faces two counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault.
She was placed on paid leave from Downers Grove High, where she’s taught since 2020.
Shared photos on social media (since gone viral) show the alleged sexual predator with her college sweetheart, a star baseball player at Concordia University who Formella went on to join.
Photos from their wedding — just last summer — show the pair kissing in a pool surrounded by their loved ones.
Welcome to a brave high school campus …
