A married Illinois teacher is facing charges after allegedly molesting a 15-year-old student but claims he targeted her because of her good looks. The abuse reportedly took place in December 2023. At the time, Christina Formella, now 30, worked as a special education teacher at Downers Grove South High School. Police in Downers Grove arrested Formella on March 16, 2025, the day after the boy and his mother showed up at the police station claiming Formella sexually abused him. His mother reportedly found inappropriate messages on his phone from the teacher that raised red flags.
Per the New York Post, according to court documents obtained by the Daily Mail, the victim’s mother purchased a new phone and apparently found the messages while setting up an iCloud account. Police arrested the former teacher during a traffic stop. Newly released body cam footage shows a distraught woman who appears utterly unsure of why police handcuffed her. Formella’s husband sat in the passenger seat of the vehicle during the traffic stop.
According to court documents obtained by WGN, Formella denied a sexual relationship with the student and told detectives, “Everybody comes after her because she is good-looking and she is just a good person who cared too much about (the boy).”
Formella claimed the victim allegedly planted the incriminating messages, the Post reported. “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,” court documents explained.
Formella allegedly told the victim “I love having sex with you” in text messages from 2023 when she was 28, court documents show.
“I know baby I love it so much … It feels so good … It’s so passionate … It’s so intimate … It’s so perfect,” the victim reportedly responded. “I love you so so much mama.”
In the body cam footage, Formella agrees to go with police to the station and asks them not to handcuff her. The arresting officers explain it is standard procedure. When in the back of the police cruiser, Formella said, “I feel like I’m gonna throw up.”
Following her arrest on two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse and one count of criminal sexual assault, a judge released her from jail and ordered her to have no contact with anyone under 18 and not to enter Downers Grove South High School, the Post reported.
District 99 placed Formella on leave. Arwen Lyp, the school’s principal, shared a statement with parents obtained by WGN. It reads in part:
“We are cooperating with law enforcement to investigate the allegations. Additionally, we will contact families whose students have had direct contact with Formella. If you have any information related to these allegations, please contact me or a member of our administrative or counseling team immediately.
We are devastated, and our community is reeling. An adult has been charged with the most serious of violations, and trust has been broken. Our team is here to support students who are impacted by this terrible news.”
Formella will appear in court again on April 14, per the Post.
