Christina Formella Faces Dozens of Charges for Crimes a Judge Described As "Horrifying in Nature"

According to a press release from the DuPage County State's Attorney's Office, on March 15, 2025, a woman brought her 15-year-old son to the Downers Grove Police Department to "report inappropriate sexual contact allegedly committed by the boy’s soccer coach/tutor."

The allegations lodged against this person were described as "extremely disturbing" by DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin.

The offender was later identified as Christina Formella. The 30-year-old was arrested during a traffic stop.

Body cam footage of this incident went viral and showed Formella cooperating with police while her confused husband demanded to know what was going on. While sitting in the back of a police car, Formella repeatedly asked if her husband could come with her.

By the time she arrived at the police station, it was clear she understood the situation. She now faces multiple charges.

Formella was initially charged with one count of criminal sexual assault and two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. Three months after her arrest, prosecutors unsealed documents that show she was charged with dozens more counts of sexual abuse, per ABC 7.

The disgraced teacher has been charged with an additional 20 counts of Criminal Sexual Assault, 20 counts of Aggravated Criminal Sexual Abuse, six counts of Indecent Solicitation of a Child, and six counts of Grooming.

Between January 2023 and August or September 2024, Formella allegedly engaged in sexual acts at least 50 times with the victim. Some of the alleged sexual abuse occurred at her home, but most of it happened at the school. Formella also allegedly sent texts that showed she was grooming the victim. In some of these texts, Formella appears to be jealous of the fact that the victim has a girlfriend, per Law & Crime.

In another, the teacher says she is the "best thing" the victim will ever have.

If convicted, Formella faces up to 60 years in prison. Prosecutor Jaclyn McAndrew asked that Formella be detained under the SAFE-T Act, per the Chicago Tribune. McAndrew argued that Formella was a potential danger to others, stating that the teacher "knew what she was doing was wrong."

The prosecutor pointed to the fact that when Formella was with the victim, she allegedly had him turn off his location on his cell phone.

When the former teacher was initially granted a pre-trial release in March, it was because the state was under the impression that the alleged abuse was an isolated incident.

Formella is "unbelievably conniving and unbelievably controlling," said McAndrew. After discovering the "hundreds, if not thousands, of text messages” that supported the victim's story, McAndrew moved to have Formella detained.

Her attorney argued that she hadn't been a threat since the arrest. The request was denied by the judge.

Judge Mia McPherson said the case was "horrifying in nature" and was both shocked and appalled by what she was seeing. The judge ordered electronic monitoring software placed on Formella's cellphones, tablets, and computers, and her emails and electronic communications monitored to make sure she doesn't contact the victim.

The next trial date is Aug. 4, 2025.