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Social Media Manager: Samantha McCarthy
Email: smccarthy12@umassd.edu
This past Monday, Downers Grove South High School teacher Christina Formella pleaded not guilty in court on two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse and one count of criminal sexual assault against a minor.
The alleged abuse began in December of 2023 between Formella and a 15 year-old student. Formella was 28 at the time.
The situation was later addressed when the boy’s mother found text messages allegedly describing sexual encounters between the two of them.
“I love you sooooo much baby… Even though this morning was short, it was perfect,” Formella allegedly texted the student. “I love having sex with you.”
Formella claimed the student took her cell phone during class, sent the messages, and deleted them from her cell phone to use as “blackmail.”
The teacher had been in the school’s special services department since August of 2020. She also coached boys’ and girls’ soccer. At the time, Formella was the boy’s tutor and soccer coach.
Denying the allegations, Formella made the claim that “everybody comes after her because she is good looking and she is just a good person who cared too much about (the boy)”, according to court documents.
Another substantial piece of evidence in this case is Formella’s ‘Notes’ app on her cell phone, where she allegedly relayed her frustrations about the situation.
She wrote that the victim “cheated on me” and also called him “disgusting” when talking about the ending of the alleged relationship.
“We will never ever be together again. I’m not a second choice. I’m the best thing you’ll ever have even with all of my mistakes,” she allegedly wrote.
Another section was titled “Manifestations,” where she allegedly wrote that she expected the victim to “reach out” soon to “try to fix things between us.”
“In the meantime, I’m going to live my best life knowing he’s not the person I thought he was and that he is beneath me,” Formella allegedly wrote.
Before her trial, she was released from jail on the conditions that she could not enter Downers Grove South High School or have any contact with any persons under the age of 18.
Formella’s husband, Michael, who she began seeing at Concordia University before getting married last summer, six months after the alleged abuse, was unaware of the situation.
Her husband was with her when she was detained at a traffic stop, asking, “Is she going somewhere?”
Formella blamed the victim for tearing apart her marriage in her “memoir,” allegedly writing, “I went back and screen shotted every, single, time that I said we should break up until after the wedding and after you graduated. And every single f— time you came back and convinced me it would be fine. YOU ruined us. I warned you we should never have started dating a long long long fking time ago and you gas lit me and convinced me it was fine.”
Formella made her appearance in court on April 14th. She has been placed on paid administrative leave from school. Extension of media coverage was objected by the victim’s family, so not much beyond her plea of not guilty is known.
“We are heartbroken for the victim and also for the hundreds of students, staff and [families] who trusted this teacher and feel betrayed by this terrible situation,” Don Renner, president of the Board of Education of Community High School District said. “Our top focus now is to support the victim and their family.”
As this story is still unfolding, the community and school district have taken time to acknowledge the impact this instance has had.
“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,” Arwen Lyp, principal at Downers Grove stated.