Former Downers South teacher facing 52 new sexual charges, including grooming

A former Downers Grove South High School teacher accused of sexually abusing a student is facing 52 new charges.

Christina Formella was arraigned Tuesday on 20 counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault, plus multiple counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, indecent solicitation of a child and six counts of grooming. The DuPage County grand jury indicted her on the additional charges in May, but the indictment was sealed until Tuesday morning.

Judge Mia McPherson denied prosecutor Jaclyn McAndrew’s petition to detain Formella pretrial, saying the new information was not sufficient evidence that there were not any conditions she could impose to mitigate the threat Formella posed to the victim.

She did add several conditions, including having pretrial services install monitoring software on all Formella’s electronic devices and ordering her to wear a GPS monitor to prevent her from approaching the victim at his home, school or workplace.

“While this case is horrific in nature – it’s shocking, it’s appalling, it’s garnering lots of attention – I do believe under the SAFE-T Act I am tied to whether there are any conditions I can set to mitigate the risk she poses to [the boy] right now,” McPherson said.

McAndrew said the new evidence shows Formella started contacting the complainant when he was 14 years old and that the contact lasted about two years, longer than was thought when Formella was first charged in March.

According to the initial charges, she and the boy had sexual intercourse in her classroom at the school. McAndrew said Tuesday that the new charges allege that the abuse and assaults also happened at Formella’s home in Downers Grove, near the high school.

If convicted of all charges, Formella faces a sentence of at least 60 years in prison, McAndrew said.

McAndrew told the judge that further investigation included a second interview of the boy. It was learned that the incidents began about a month after school started in September 2023, when the boy was 14. She said Formella “lured” the boy.

McAndrew said there was sexual activity at least 45 times. She also said there was a text message about them almost being caught one time by a teacher. There was a message where Formella said one of her neighbors had been charged with the same type of crime and that she was scared she would be charged, according to the prosecutor.

McAndrew said there was evidence that at least five times, the activity happened at her home during school hours.

She also said there was evidence Formella told the boy she did not intend to marry her husband, that her husband was having an affair with her best friend and was going to leave her and that she would then have millions of dollars. McAndrew said Formella texted the boy while she was on vacation with her husband in Italy.

“She is unbelieving conniving, and she is unbelieving controlling,” McAndrew told the judge.

Rick Kayne, one of Formella’s lawyers, argued that the new information did not merit detaining her pretrial. He also asked why, if the state was really worried about the victim or others in the community, it waited until almost a month after the indictment was filed to ask for detention. He also said state law calls for conditions that mitigate the risk of danger, not eliminate the risk, and there was no evidence presented that Formella had done this with other students.

Formella had been a coach for a sports team the boy was on the fall of his freshman year.

https://www.dailyherald.com/20250617/crime/downers-south-teacher-facing-52-new-sexual-charges-including-grooming/