In Downers Grove, Illinois, a mother found unsettling text messages on her 15-year-old son’s new iPhone when setting it up using a backup from his iCloud account. The messages led her to take her son to the police, revealing that he was discussing a sexual encounter with his 30-year-old married teacher, Christina Formella.
The teenager told the authorities that Coach Formella had started sending him flirtatious messages through the school’s chat system after becoming his tutor in the fall of 2023. Their communication shifted to texting after the teacher gave him her phone number to play a game together.
Evidence indicates multiple FaceTime calls between the student and teacher, with the student claiming that their relationship outside of school escalated to a sexual assault in December.
Formella denies raping the boy or having a romantic relationship with him, asserting that she is a “good person” and that “everybody” comes after her because of her looks. She admits to developing a close relationship with the student and claims that she “cares too much about him,” but simultaneously labels him a stalker.
Formella insists she did not send the texts, arguing that her kindness towards the boy allowed him to break into her unattended phone, send the texts to himself, and then delete them from her phone to later use as blackmail.
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- Sydney Sumner – CrimeOnline Investigative Reporter
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[Feature Photo via DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office]
