School Teacher Charged with 52 Counts of Sex with Student.

Downers Grove, IL – Remember that high school teacher from around here who got popped for allegedly getting too close to a student? Yeah, Christina Formella, the 30-year-old from Downers Grove South High School. Well, the State’s Attorney just piled on a whole bunch more charges – 52 to be exact.

Back in March, Formella was pulled over and slapped with some pretty serious accusations: criminal sexual abuse, criminal sexual assault, and aggravated criminal sexual abuse. The alleged victim, a 15-year-old at the time, apparently went to the cops with his parents, claiming Formella crossed the line.

The police are saying it all went down in December 2023, during a tutoring session before school. Allegedly, Formella took advantage of the situation.

Here’s where it gets interesting. The kid’s mom bought him a new phone and logged into his Cloud account. That’s when she supposedly stumbled upon some steamy text messages between her son and a number she recognized as belonging to Formella. The cops then dug into Formella’s phone records and found even more mentions of the student in her “Notes” app.

When confronted, Formella initially tried to brush it off, claiming the writings were just an “outlet for her anxiety” and that any sexy stuff was about her husband. Hmm, sounds like a weak defense.

After her first court appearance back on March 17, Formella was let out on pre-trial release with a few conditions: stay away from Downers Grove South High School and keep your distance from the victim and anyone under 18.

But the story doesn’t end there. During more interviews, the kid apparently spilled the beans about even more alleged sexual abuse by Formella. Cops now believe this whole thing started way back in January 2023 and went on until August or September 2024.

During that time, Formella allegedly sent the kid a ton of text messages that were, according to the prosecution, “grooming in nature.” They also claim she got physical with the kid about 50 times, both at school and at her place.

Now, on June 17, the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office hit Formella with 52 additional charges. We’re talking 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. That’s a lot to unpack.

Formella showed up for a status hearing, and the state tried to revoke her pre-trial release. But the judge decided to let her remain free until her next court date, which is set for August 4, 2025.

DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin is, understandably, not happy. He called the allegations “beyond disturbing” and thanked the victim for coming forward.

By: Jill Hills