Illinois Teacher Charged with Molesting Student Claims She Was Blackmailed by 15 Year-Old

Article here. Excerpt:

'Christina Formella, a 30 year-old teacher, said she did not assault the teenager while tutoring him at Downers Grove South High School in December 2023 after the student’s mother uncovered the alleged assault through text messages on his phone.

The teacher, who is married, reportedly told investigators that the student had used her phone to send himself inappropriate text messages to “blackmail” her.

“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,” court documents detailed.

Formella has claimed that her looks and caring “too much” made her an easy target of blackmail.

DuPage County Attorney Robert Berlin said, “The allegations against Ms. Formella are extremely disturbing.”

“It is alleged that she used her position of trust and authority as a tutor and a coach to sexually assault a minor student. The type of abuse and behavior alleged in this case will not be tolerated,” the attorney continued.'