A married Illinois teacher accused of sexually assaulting a teenager she was tutoring told cops the boy was her ‘stalker’ and claimed her husband knew about his obsession.
Christina Formella, 30, who also served as a boys’ and girls’ soccer coach, was arrested last month during a traffic stop after allegedly targeting a young student at Downers Grove South High School outside of Chicago.
Shocking police bodycam footage captured the moment she was arrested as she sat in her car next to her husband and college sweetheart, Michael.
DuPage County prosecutors claimed that during her police interview, Formella tried to portray her victim as a boy obsessed with a teacher because she’s ‘good looking’ and claimed her husband was aware of the situation.
‘Throughout her interview, [Formella] tried to paint [the accuser] as her “stalker” and claimed that her husband was aware,’ prosecutors said in court documents obtained by the New York Post.
However, her husband, Michael, told investigators it was the first time he had heard about a situation involving the boy.
‘Oddly enough, her husband told detectives that he knows nothing about [the accuser] beyond his status as a soccer player,’ prosecutors said.
The alleged assault occurred in December 2023, but the student’s mother found disturbing messages between the two earlier in March when she logged into her son’s iCloud account after she bought him a new phone.
Christina Formella (pictured), 30, was arrested last month for sexually assaulting a teenager she was tutoring in December 2023
Formella tried to portray her victim as a ‘stalker’ and claimed her husband and college sweetheart Michael (right) was aware of the situation
An investigation has alleged that the inappropriate relationship started when the student had stayed after school for a tutoring session.
Formella allegedly sent shockingly lewd messages to the boy, telling him how much she ‘loves him’ and ‘loves having sex’ with him.
The teacher has maintained that she never sexually assaulted the student and that ‘everybody comes after her because she is good-looking,’ according to court documents.
She confessed to police that she ‘cared too much’ about the student, but claimed that he broke into her phone and sent the text messages as blackmail.
‘She claimed that one day, [the boy], had grabbed her phone unattended, had entered her passcode… had sent the message to his phone, had then deleted the message from her phone, and had saved it to his phone as blackmail,’ the documents said.
In police bodycam footage, Formella appeared to be confused as an officer approached her window and ordered her to get out, saying: ‘I know you’re confused, I’ll explain everything to you.’
‘Is she going somewhere?’ her husband asked, leading the cop to ask her to pick up her belongings and walk to the back of the vehicle.
Formella turned grey as the officer explained she was the subject of an ‘investigation’, realizing she had not been pulled over for a routine traffic stop.
Shocking police bodycam footage captured the moment she was arrested as she sat in her car next to her husband
The teacher has maintained that she never sexually assaulted the student and that ‘everybody comes after her because she is good looking’
The teacher looked stunned when the officer ordered her to put on handcuffs and told her she would be interviewed at the station, telling the cop: ‘I’m so scared right now.’
‘You can’t even tell me what this is about?’ she questioned.
After sitting stone-faced and silent in the back of the cop car, Formella was seen in separate footage being led back into the vehicle following her interview with police.
She had learned that she was being charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse and criminal sexual assault against a minor, and sat back in the vehicle with her head in her hands.
Formella repeated ‘Oh my god, oh my god’ to herself as she wept from the backseat of the vehicle.
