Photo: DuPage County State Attorney/Downers Grove Police Department
A married soccer coach and special education teacher who later claimed she's was being accused of sexually assaulting an underage student because she is "good-looking" attempted to portray the boy as a "stalker" to both her husband and police, the New York Post reports.
Christina Formella, 30, who worked at Downers Grove South High School in Illinois, faces one count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, one count of criminal sexual assault, and one count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, all of which are felony charges after being arrested by detectives during a traffic stop on March 16, according to a Dupage County State Attorney's Office news post. Formella, who is accused of having a months-long relationship with the teen, claimed the boy was obsessed with her because she's "good looking," according to documents filed by DuPage County prosecutors.
“Throughout her interview, [Formella] tried to paint [accuser] as her ‘stalker’ and claimed that her husband was aware,” the documents stated.
Formella's husband, Michael, a former college baseball player, appeared to be unaware of the alleged relationship.
“Oddly enough, her husband told detectives that he knows nothing about [accuser] beyond his status as a soccer player,” investigators wrote.
Diary entries found on Formella's phone also appear to blame the teenager for "ruining" her marriage, according to the documents.
“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 fking time you came back and convinced me it would be fine,” Formella wrote. “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.”
“I’m fking mad I let a 16 year old fk with me like that … in the end, we both lost. You lost the girl who would have stuck with you through thick and thin,” she wrote in a section titled "Manifestations" regarding hope that the boy would reach back out and mend their relationship.
“We WILL be in each other’s lives forever. We will be able to love each other while also living our own lives,” Formella allegedly wrote.
Footage of Formella's arrest, which took place after she was pulled over by a Downer's Grove Police officer while driving with her husband, was shared by the YouTube channel Ape Huncho.
“Oh my God. What the f**k?” Formella repeated while sobbing in the police vehicle via dashcam footage.
Formella appeared in court on March 17 and denied the sexual assault allegations, which were reported to have taken place two years earlier, claiming "everybody comes after her because she is good-looking and she is just a good person who cared too much about [the victim],” according to court documents obtained by WGN9. The teacher and student allegedly exchanged text messages professing love for each other and talking explicitly about sex they had in a classroom, which was found by the teen's mother on his iCloud account.
“I love you sooooo much baby… Even though this morning was short, it was perfect,” Formella, who was 28 at the time, allegedly wrote to the boy.
The teacher claims the boy, who was 15 at the time, got possession of her phone and sent himself explicit messages as part of a blackmail scheme. The boy's mother initially reported inappropriate sexual contact with her son's soccer coach and tutor to the Downers Grove Police Department on March 15.
Authorities allege that Formella sexually assaulted the boy while the two had been inside a classroom for a tutoring session prior to the start of the school day in December 2023. School officials confirmed to the Independent that Formella, who began working at Downers Grove South High School as a special education teacher in August 2020 and volunteered as a soccer coach for the boys and girls teams in 2021, was "immediately placed on administrative leave." Board of Education President Don Renner confirmed that the teacher was prohibited from being on school grounds.
Photos shared on social media show that Formella and her husband were married as recently as August.