Fired Special Ed Teacher, Coach Charged with Dozens of Sex Crimes Against Student — but Still Makes Yearbook

A fired suburban Chicago teacher appeared in court this week to be charged with 55 sex crimes and also made another appearance — in the yearbook of the high school where she taught.

Dismissed teacher Christina Formella’s head shot, as well as group photos of her as coach with the boys’ soccer team and girls’ junior varsity soccer team, appears in the newly published Downers Grove South High School 2024-25 yearbook.

Police initially arrested Formella in March on three charges for the statutory rape of a teenage student. On Tuesday prosecutors in DuPage County Circuit Court accused the 30-year-old educator of several dozen more offenses .

In total, she’s been charged with 55 crimes, including aggravated sexual assault, aggravated criminal sex abuse and grooming. Police said she began grooming the boy when he was 14.

If convicted, Formella could be sentenced to up to 60 years in prison.

The accused woman also surrendered her license to teach Tuesday, according to documents obtained by The New York Post from the Illinois State Board of Education.

Formella’s husband Michael, her high school sweetheart she married last August, has stood by her side during court appearances, the two reportedly holding hands on their way to court, the Post also noted.

Investigators allege she engaged in “sexual acts” with the young teen at least 45 times in a classroom at the school where she was a special education teacher and where she was tutoring the boy. She also criminally engaged the boy five times at her home during school hours, according to prosecutors.

The illicit relationship began in January 2023 and ended in September 2024 because the boy said it was wrong, prosecutors said.

The boy’s mother reportedly discovered the alleged activity through text messages on his phone.

Formella, who denied assaulting the teen and has claimed she was being blackmailed by her accuser, insisted she was being targeted because she was “good-looking.”

She pleaded not guilty Tuesday to the host of charges.

A school spokesperson told The Post the printing of the yearbooks began in March, prior to the teacher’s arrest.

Formella remains free on bail but must wear an ankle monitor.

As Breitbart News reported this week, she joins a number of teachers and school employees who have been charged with sex crimes with students this year.

Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the author of the New York Times best seller House of Secrets , which documents one of the worst cases of child sexual abuse in U.S. history, and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.