May 17, 2025 • 42 mins
Christina Formella, accussed of molesting a 15-year-old student claims the boy was a “stalker” and that new her husband knew. Her husband, however, says he was totally in the dark about the boy.
The case unfolded after a Downers Grove, Illinois, mom comes across disturbing text messages while setting up her 15-year-old son’s new iPhone using a backup from his iCloud account.
The contents prompt her to take her son straight to the police. It appears the teen is discussing a sexual encounter with a love interest—his married, 30-year-old teacher, Christina Formella.
The student informs the police that Coach Formella began sending him flirty messages on the school’s chat system after she became his tutor in the fall of 2023. He explains that their conversations shifted to text after the teacher provided him with her phone number so they could play a game together.
Records show numerous FaceTime calls between the two, with the victim stating that their relationship outside of school culminated in a rape in December.
Formella denies raping the boy or having a romantic relationship with him, asserting that she is a “good person” and that “everybody” comes after her because of her looks. She admits to developing a close relationship with the student and claims that she “cares too much about him,” but simultaneously labels him a stalker.
Formella insists she did not send the texts, arguing that her kindness towards the boy allowed him to break into her unattended phone, send the texts to himself, and then delete them from her phone to later use as blackmail.
Joining Nancy Grace today:
- Eric Faddis - Partner at Varner Faddis Elite Legal, Former Felony Prosecutor and Current Criminal Defense and Civil Litigation Attorney; Instagram: @e_fad @varnerfaddis; TikTok: @varnerfaddis
- Dr. Shari Schwartz - Forensic Psychologist (specializing in Capital Mitigation and Victim Advocacy) and Author: "Criminal Behavior" and "Where Law and Psychology Intersect: Issues in Legal Psychology;" X: @TrialDoc
- Brian Fitzgibbons - Director of Operations for USPA Nationwide Security [leads a team of investigators specializing in locating missing persons]; Instagram: @uspa_nationwide_security
- Scott Eicher - A Founding Member of the FBI’s Cellular Analysis Survey Team (C.A.S.T); Historical Cellular Analysis Expert; Former FBI agent of 22 years; Former Police Officer and Homicide Detective with Norfolk,Virginia, Police Dept. Currently with Precision Cellular Analysis,Handling Criminal, Defense and Civil Case
- Anna Sonoda - Child Sex Abuse/Grooming Expert, Clinical Social Worker, Former Therapist for Convicted Sex Offenders, and Author of "Duck Duck Groom"
- Sydney Sumner - CrimeOnline Investigative Reporter
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Well, I believe I've heard
it all.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
A female teacher's bombshell claim about her own husband.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
This as she has been charged.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
With a sex attack on a teen boy student. Now
she's dragging her husband into this. I'm Nancy Grace. This
is crime Stories. Thank you for being with us.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
You heard me.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
A married Illinois school teacher accused of sex assaulting a
teen boy she was tutoring, tells cops the boy was
her quote stalker and that her husband knew all about
the boys quote obsession. Well, her behavior and her text
messages seem to tell a very different story.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Okay, what do we know about the incident.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Involving teacher Christina Formella, age thirty old?
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Inns to know better?
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Christina Formela is a Concordia University grad and former soccer
team star. Now she's a special ed teacher and soccer
coach at Downers Grove High School in Illinois. Good Bye
for Mela's world comes crashing down when a dark secret
is revealed at a routine traffic stop.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
A dark secret.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
I don't know that I would call alleged sex abuse
on a child a miner that is your student I
don't know that I would call that a secret.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
I think more appropriately, I would call it a felony.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
But caught on tape the married special ed teacher, for
peace sake, they were practically still on their honeymoon.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
They'd only been married less than.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
A year, I believe caught on bodycam threatening to throw up. Well,
after I learned about this case, in investigated it myself.
I don't want to throw up too. But let's take
a look. A lot of people have claimed she is
so called glamor a special ad teacher.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
She's not glamorous.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
To me, I have prosecuted so many child rape and
child sex abuse cases. She looks like she's uh, straight
from hell to me on police body cam?
Speaker 4 (02:16):
How you doing?
Speaker 5 (02:18):
Also goes on with Donar's girl.
Speaker 6 (02:19):
Does you have your license on you?
Speaker 4 (02:23):
Yeah? I'm explaining.
Speaker 5 (02:23):
I'm sure you're confews explaining to th door your Christina, okay,
Christange to my favorite. You step on the car for me.
I know your confews. I explain everything to you. You
don't have anything on you. You can grab whatever you need.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Whatever I need.
Speaker 5 (02:39):
Yeah, whatever you need to get your phone, your your
first year go and grab it.
Speaker 7 (02:42):
Is she going somewhere.
Speaker 5 (02:43):
Yeah, we're gonna explain everything to you.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Guys, go and grab out.
Speaker 8 (02:47):
We're not going anywhere right now.
Speaker 5 (02:49):
Of course, of course.
Speaker 7 (02:51):
I understand what's going on here.
Speaker 5 (02:53):
I get Yeah, you can go to grab your thanks.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Can you come with me?
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (02:56):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (02:58):
You stay there for right now?
Speaker 5 (02:59):
Is here to stay there for?
Speaker 4 (03:00):
Yes?
Speaker 9 (03:00):
You can?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Uh uh straight out to Brian Fitzgibbons, joining us Director Operations,
USPA Nationwide Security, leading a team of investigators every single day.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Why are they being so solicitous to her?
Speaker 2 (03:16):
She is charged with molesting a minor, a teen boy,
and I believe still lying about it, claiming it only
happened once. Uh okay, But that said Fitzgibbons, what happened
to licensed registration?
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Why are they.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Saying, I'm sure you're confused. I'll explain everything. You're Christina?
What are they on a first night basis?
Speaker 6 (03:39):
So here's the deal, Nancy. I believe that that police
officer actually did a very excellent job with this contact
with Christina.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Formela Number one.
Speaker 6 (03:50):
He secured that cell phone, which is going to be
a key piece of evidence in this case, and he
got that without without a fight from her. So he
ds related the situation and secured the cell phone, which
is going to be the number one appropriate piece of
evidence here.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Mis Gibbons, I actually agree with you. I agree with you. However,
I believe they're being overly solicitous to what police say.
What prosecutors say is a child molester. Mis Gibbons. You're
not bending over backwards for Mela Christina from Mela because
(04:27):
she's attractive.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Are you? You know it has been argued in.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
The past by other teachers now convicted of child abuse
that they were too pretty for jail.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
You're not on that boat, are you? Certainly not? Nancy.
Speaker 6 (04:40):
What I saw there was the officer doing everything to
make sure he preserved that key piece of evidence. I
think he knew exactly what he was doing here.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
And you're right, Christina for Mela, special ed teacher now
charged with child sex abuse with a student, a teen
boy just married. By the way, Oh here she threatens
to throw up.
Speaker 7 (05:08):
Less sir, you have a ship down there. Sure you
don't want to tissue or something? All right?
Speaker 4 (05:23):
Shot?
Speaker 7 (05:24):
You grab like a bag on there?
Speaker 10 (05:31):
Can you get like a bag? Say she gets nauseous?
Speaker 9 (05:34):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (05:34):
I don't know. Do we have any of those emisids?
Bags like going around the spot. I think she was
something better than.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
Here.
Speaker 7 (05:46):
You stay with their ad.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
I think I'm I'm going to hyperventilate right now watching
her hold on just a moment to Scott Iiker joining me.
He's joining us later regarding a cell phone analysis, but
he was the founding member, a founding member of the
FBI Cellular Analysis Survey Team. But for this question former
police officer, home side detective with Norfolk, Virginia Police Department
(06:21):
twelve years Scott I thought there were being again overly
solicitous to who are.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Going you need a tissue? Do you need a vomit bag?
Speaker 2 (06:30):
But I assume you've been in the back of a
cruiser before, Scott Iiker, Well, I've.
Speaker 11 (06:35):
Been in the back of a cruiser, but not in
her position. You can see what's starting to come over her.
She started to realize what she's done and she's been caught,
and that would make me nauseous too. If I was
in her position and I can see.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Like her, will put you mean she's not sorry she
did it, she just doesn't want to go to Hillfort.
I was getting to the vomit bag. They have to
work in that cruiser. I have been there when patrol
men and patrol women have to literally hose out the
(07:13):
back seat of a cruiser. There's drugs, there's vomit, there's urine,
there's feces, there's spit where they try to spit at
the officers. The back seat is like has matt to
the max. So that's why I believe they're offering her
a vomit bag.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
You know, like the kind you get on a plane.
Speaker 11 (07:33):
Oh, I definitely agree. And I've had to clean out
my cruiser numerous times for those same reasons you talked about.
And that smell never goes away, I swear at the
back of the cruisers.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
No, this never ever goes away. Cops drive with the
windows down. It doesn't help joining me an all star
panel to make sense of what we're learning right now.
But I want to see that body cam one more time.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Now. You see her threatening.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
To throw up, you see her seemingly hyperventilating, crying.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Let's listen to it one more time.
Speaker 7 (08:07):
Unless sir, you have a ship down there. Sure you
don't want to tissue or something, all right? Shot, you
grab like a bag out.
Speaker 12 (08:24):
Of there, very can you get like a bag just
in case she gets nauseous.
Speaker 11 (08:33):
Yeah, I don't know, do we have any of those
amisodes bags like going around the Fox.
Speaker 7 (08:38):
I think she was something better than.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
Here. You stay with.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Eric fattis really.
Speaker 10 (08:55):
Well, Nancy. Looking at her reaction there, one could argue
it is consistent with someone who was just caught for
something they did. On the other hand, when you look
at it, she's confused, she's hyperventilating, she's crying, she's saying,
she's nauseous. All of those things could also be consistent
with someone who has been accused of something horrendous and
who didn't do it. So I'm not sure we could
really draw any firm conclusions from that video.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Fadess, she hasn't been told yet of what she is accused,
so that argument just went right down technical legal phrase
the crapper. Okay, so she's not hyperventiligning because they just
told her what she's accused of. She hasn't been told yet,
so take another swing at the ball.
Speaker 10 (09:38):
Even if she wasn't apprized of the exact nature of
the allegations, being in the back of a cop car
is distressing, surely, and even more so if a person
did not do anything criminal and they're you know, sort
of be fuddled about what in the world is happening
to me. You know, I'm not taking a personal position
on the facts, but I'm just saying that reaction has
multiple interpretations.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Okay, even if she had I'd been at that juncture
told why she was arrested, you still are standing by
your story.
Speaker 10 (10:06):
I'm just saying, in terms of a human reaction to
a very distressing situation that could be interpreted multiple ways,
and those expressions that we're seeing, those outward behaviors are
consistent with someone who has been caught for doing something horrible,
and they're also consistent with someone who is being accused
of something she didn't do. And so I just think
(10:27):
at this juncture there's just inclutions it can be drawn.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Erry Fatus question if you had been accused of child molestation,
because I'm not quite sure in this series of body
cam reactions where she knows she's been accused of where
she doesn't, if you've been accused of child molestation, you
wouldn't say I've never done that in my life, that
(10:51):
did not happen.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
I want a lawyer. You wouldn't say that.
Speaker 10 (10:55):
Me personally, as a seasoned attorney. I absolutely would say that,
but year old special education teacher and soccer coach, perhaps
that is just not front of mind to her.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Gone, she's a twelve year old little girl in the
fifth grade. It's never saying law in order. You're saying, oh,
she's just thirty years old special ed teacher.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
To be a special ed teacher, you have to go
to four years of school, four years.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Of college, plus all sorts of certifications. This is an
educated person that's been out in.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
The workforce for years.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
But you're telling me she's so naive she doesn't know
to say I didn't do that.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
I want a lawyer.
Speaker 10 (11:31):
The thing is, Nancy, that there's no playbook for how
to respond when a person is accused of something horrible.
Some people might react one way, whereas others might react
a different way. And I'm just, you know, in looking
at this without some sort of psychological evaluation, it's just
hard to say exactly where that reaction is coming from.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Crime stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
The Page County Prosecutors state that during Christina Framela's police interview,
she tried her best to portray the boy victim as
being obsessed with her because she's quote good looking.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Her words, not mine. She doesn't look good to me.
She looks like a defendant.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
She also claimed her husband was very aware of the situation.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Throughout her police interview, she tries.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
And tries to paint the boy as the stalker and
that the husband was well aware of it. Now, the husband,
Michael Formela, tells investigators.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
It was the first time he had heard anything.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
About the boy, that he knows nothing about the alleged
victim besides the fact that he's a soccer player.
Speaker 11 (12:57):
Row.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Okay, who is this woman? Chris Formela listen.
Speaker 4 (13:02):
Christina Formela is a special education teacher and soccer coach
at Downers Grove South High School, a proud Mustang since
twenty twenty for Mela graduated from Concordia University three years
earlier as an accomplished student athlete, playing as a starter
in forty nine soccer matches during her college career. That's
where Christina meets her now husband, also a student athlete,
(13:24):
a pitcher on the baseball team for Christina's senior year.
They share the number twenty two. The happy couple ties
the knot in a gorgeous summer ceremony August of twenty twenty.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Four, straight out to Crime Stories, investigative reporter Sydney Sumner. Sidney,
tell me how the whole thing unfolded? What is she
charged with? How did the whole thing start? Is it true?
According to police, these are all just Allegationia. She has
not been proven guilty. She's still presumed innocent under the law.
(13:54):
According to police, she began flirting with a teen boy,
one of her students, and that continued on a school app.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
That's correct.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
Nancy So, a mother of a Downers Grove student, went
to police. When she was setting up his new iPhone,
she discovered these messages that weren't saved on his old
phone but to his iCloud account, and she discovered these
messages seemingly discussing a sexual encounter with his teacher, Christina Formla.
(14:29):
So the boy is rushed down to the police station.
He tells officers that this started out as some innocent flirting.
I say the word innocent, but that's obviously not innocent
in this situation, but some flirting over the school messaging app.
So the school has their own specific messaging system and
(14:51):
that's where they started communicating. Once Christina Formla became this
boy's tutor in addition to being his soccer coach on
the field. So these messages then progressed to having her
phone number because she wanted to play an I message
game with him. So she gives out her phone number.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Sydney, Sidney, Wait a minute, So the teacher wants to play.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
What you know, those games in your I messages, So
on an iPhone you can start a text conversation and play.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Poolball or something. So that's what she suggested to.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
This teen boy and gave him her phone number. So
now they're texting and also facetiming. There's records of numerous
FaceTime calls in between this teen and the teacher, and
he said that culminated in a rape in December of
twenty twenty three during what should have been a before
(15:44):
school tutoring session. So they're in her classroom, she shuts
the door and there is a sexual encounter.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Okay, Sydney, I don't like what you just said.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Some you remind me of so many defendants that would
say we would. I had one judge who was the
greatest judge ever, oldest judge in the courthouse, and therefore
he wanted to maintain.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
His court calendar.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
He wanted to be on trial every other week to
prove he was fit. And he was fit, all right, doctor,
I mean Judge Luther Alverson. But we would have plea
negotiations with me, my investigator, Ernest, the defendant and his
defense lawyer to see if the case could be worked out. FYI,
it easily went to trial. That said, the lawyer and
(16:35):
the defendant would always act like Ms.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Grace, I caught a little burglary charge, like somebody threw it.
They just caught it.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Okay, you just said she shuts the door and a
child molesstation happened. Didn't you leave something out, Sidney Sumner?
Speaker 4 (16:53):
Yes, Nancy, we're calling that a rape. That's exactly what
it is. It's a statutory rape. At least, it.
Speaker 13 (17:00):
Is a sexual assault. This woman, this adult should never
have come on to this child in any way, shape
or form, especially a teacher. This is a professional relationship.
This should be a trusted relationship. And the school said
it perfectly. It's broken trust over here.
Speaker 5 (17:19):
So we do have an investigation going on.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
We have to talk to you about it at the
police department.
Speaker 5 (17:24):
Okay, So it works everything to do there it's not
my investigation. I don't know the full details. Would you
have to bring you there though? Okay, so I just
put your handcuffs and bring it to the police department,
just a don't trust Yes unfortunately, Yes, I'm willing to
go with it.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
I did it.
Speaker 5 (17:39):
Yeah, Unfortunately, we have to do it that way. To
do you a favor, we just take this.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Off, joining me an all star panel to make sense
of what we are learning tonight.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
A According to some people, gorgeous.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Thirty year old special ed teacher and soccer coach busted
on alleged under age six translation rape. If you are underage,
you cannot give consent. Also a student, a teen boy student.
Is it true Sidney Sumner that she also kept a
(18:13):
memoir of sorts a memoir detailing the sex sex with
a teen boys student Nancy?
Speaker 4 (18:23):
That is correct, though there are reports of this notes
at material so these are several writings in her notes
app One section titled manifestations is saying things out loud
in the hopes that the more you say them, the
more they will happen. And several writings in this section
(18:45):
reference to the victim.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
By name, What did you just say?
Speaker 2 (18:49):
The more you say something, the more likely it's going
to happen.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Yes, Nancy, this is a mantra.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
It's called manifestation that many young people participate in nowadays.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Okay, I've heard of manifestation. I didn't think anyone actually
thought it worked, but okay, so I want you to
hear what we've learned about her memoir that you kept
in the notes section on her iPhone. I hate to
give a tutorial to all the future felas out there,
but when you basically make it to do list and
(19:22):
recount all of your felonious activities on your iPhone, yeah,
you're gonna get busted.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
But you've got to hear this. Listen.
Speaker 12 (19:29):
I'm not sad. I'm being mad that I led a
sixteen year old with me like that, and Nata promised
to myself that I will never let any guide with
me like that again. Ever, in the end, we both lost.
You lost the girl who would have stuck with you
through thick and thin, who would have changed anything about
herself to make you happy. And I lost the person
I was before I met you.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
What is she talking about? Wait a minute, who WOA?
Speaker 2 (19:53):
I definitely need a shrink, But first two Anna Sonoda
joining US child sex abuse grooming expert, clinical social worker,
therapist and author of Duck Duck Groom.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Do you hear her? This is the.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Woman, the grown married woman claiming quote, I'm not sad,
I am effing mad.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
I led a.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Sixteen year old confession f with me like that, and
I made a promise to myself I will never let
any guy f with me like that again. Ever did
she put a bunch of exclamations with hearts at the bottom,
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
In the end, we both lost.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
What you lost the girl who would have stuck with
you through thick and thin, who would have changed anything
about herself to make you happy. What get a divorce
and go back in time to well she was a
minor two and I lost the person I was before
I met you.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
What is she talking about, Anna Sinoda?
Speaker 9 (20:52):
This is no girl. This is a full grown, thirty
year old woman who abused her position of power. She
groomed this young victim. And something I want to highlight
here is that predators run on gas. What does that mean?
That means do you need to have grooming access and space?
(21:12):
So she groomed this boy using flattery, kindness, and highlighting
him as her selected target, and she gained access in
her role as a tutor, as a coach, as a teacher.
And then what available space did she have? She had
an empty classroom before school started, She had isolated time
(21:33):
with this young victim. My question would be how many
others are there?
Speaker 2 (21:37):
She's acting a lot, She's got a future with this
little boy. Okay, where does her husband fit into this scenario?
Much less than police, But I want you to hear
more of what we have learned in her own memoirs
on her own cell phone.
Speaker 12 (21:52):
Listen is going to reach out to me soon and
try to fix things between us. In the meantime, I'm
going to live my best life knowing he's not the
person I thought he was, and that he is beneath
me and I will connect again soon in a positive way.
We will both get the closure we need in order
to move on in a healthy way. We will be
able to be a part of each other's lives forever.
(22:13):
We will be in each other's lives forever. We will
be able to love each other while also living our
own lives.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
What a wackadoodle. We will be in each other's lives forever.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
In caps.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
We will be in each other's lives forever. Yes, you
will when he and his mommy show up to keep
you out from getting parole. In the last days, a
school teacher's bombshell climb that her husband was well aware
of a teen boy's.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Quote obsession with her.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Well prosecutors seem to disagree because they have charged her
with a sex attack on a minor.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
He is a little boy. What is she saying?
Speaker 4 (22:55):
Yes, Nancy, So these are her manifestations. A thirty year
old teacher is man.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Wishes about a teen student. So not her.
Speaker 4 (23:05):
Husband, not wanting to further her career, not wanting to
become a better teacher, or a better coach, or a
better wife, but she wants this teenage boy to reconcile
with her. That's what's going through her mind every night.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
As I mentioned earlier, we all need to shrink right
about now. Joining us Doctor Sherry Schwartz forensic psychologists specializing
in this line of work at panthermitigation dot com and
she is an author as well, Criminal Behavior and my
favorite where law and psychology intersect.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Doctor Sherry Schwartz, thank you for being with us. What
is she talking about?
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Do you hear this, we will in all caps, be
in each other's lives forever. We will be able to
love each other while living our own lives. We need
to move forward in a help the way that ship
has sailed.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Doctor Sherry correct, and.
Speaker 14 (24:06):
What I see, what I'm hearing is something that's very dark.
Sexual predators need to keep their victims close, particularly when
their victims are minor children.
Speaker 7 (24:16):
This is her.
Speaker 14 (24:17):
Manifestation is I don't want to get caught, so I
need to keep him close. I need him to believe
that we're in love and we're this unique couple and
we're going to go forward together forever.
Speaker 15 (24:56):
In addition to the text messages, police also find several
right for Mela's notes app discussing her relationship with the victim,
naming him directly. For Mela pens what looks like a
breakup letter, calling the victim disgusting for cheating on her.
For Mela claims the victim manipulated her into maintaining their
relationship despite her attempts to break it off. For Mela
(25:17):
says she now realizes the victim was only interested in
her for sex, and notes that she is angry that
she allowed a sixteen year old to mess with her head.
Speaker 7 (25:25):
Am I in trouble?
Speaker 4 (25:26):
Like I'm I'm sol Loust right now, I'm love you
you are like I said.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Like she talked about all these ninon apps.
Speaker 8 (25:34):
Right now, you're being to fat or an investigation you
never bring you in the FIFTI and once you.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Get this, they're going to tell you in an our.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
Am I in trouble? Yeah? You are.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Now One of the most damning pieces of evidence the
state has is her Christina Fromela, thirty year old married
special ed teacher that starts quote floorty messages.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
That's not how I would put it. I would call an.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Ticon a minor, but that said flirty messages over the
school app. I see my children on the school app
all the time.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
I have personally met every one of their teachers since
they were in pre pre pre k.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
You think this mom had any idea what was happening,
hgl No.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
But you hear from Mella talking as if she has.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Somehow been quote done wrong. As a matter of fact,
her memoir that she wrote on her notes app in
her phone. You'd have to hear this.
Speaker 12 (26:39):
Listen and once again from David one called your next
girlfriend You're so predictable and disgusting. Shocker. You cheated on
me with her. All I was to you was somebody
to I'm not upset, I'm not mad, I'm not any
of that. I've just lost interest. I went back and
screenshotted every single time that I said we should break
up until after the wedding and after you graduated, and
(27:02):
every single time you came back and convinced me it
would be fine. I initiated every single breakup, only for
you to end things saying you couldn't get over it.
You ruined us us.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
You ruined us like they have a future, like they're
going to get married.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
Sidney Summer explained to me what she wrote.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Did she actually say she wanted to quote break up
with the little boy after the wedding?
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Yes, she did, Nancy.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
She explained that in very good detail for prosecutors in
the future as this case goes to trial. She specifically
mentioned both this teen boy's graduation and her own wedding,
once again establishing that timeline that the rape occurred in
December of twenty twenty three, almost a year before her wedding,
(27:52):
So she references this victim by name multiple times and
in his breakup. In this breakup letter what this reads
as with the teen boy? She also references his new
girlfriend's name, so lots of contexts to establish that this
note is about the victim.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Straight out to veteran trial lawyer, defense attorney Eric Fattis,
you mentioned earlier correctly that the defendant, the special ed
teacher Christina FROMMELA, claims the boy, the little boy, grabbed.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
Her phone, put in her code, and.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Sent himself flirty and sexulated messages that he, a little boy,
had the wherewithal to think that he would frame her
for future black mail. Now she's already put that out there,
so you, the defense attorney, are stuck with it. You
can't just erase that that's out there, so you can't
(28:54):
now look for another defense.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
You're stuck with her words.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Pretend that that's true, that the boy thought, Hey, a
year from now, I'm going to.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Try to blackmail her and frame her.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
So I'm going to send her text from her to
me that I can then say, all right, that's a
flight of fancy.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
But Eric Fattis, what about her memoir?
Speaker 2 (29:19):
What about the notes on her iPhone where she talks
about how angry she is?
Speaker 1 (29:23):
He got a new quote girlfriend and their future.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
You know, she claims they only had sex aka raped
him one time, but this shows they have been an
item for a long time since.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
Before her wedding.
Speaker 10 (29:41):
Nancy, the multiplicity of messages here, if authentic, is surely problematic.
You know, the defense is going to say that at
this day and age, sixteen year olds are pretty technologically savvy.
Some of them are more sophisticated than others. And then
on the other hand, sometimes they do irrational, erratic, weird things,
and perhaps all of that culminated in this alleged act
(30:02):
where he tried to text him from her phone to
sort of blackmailer. That's what the defense is going to argue.
When it comes to the memoir I think the defense
is going to say that there's some murmurs about, at
least according to Formela, that that references to sexual activity
in the memoirs actually relate to the husband and not
to the time.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
So what.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Did you just say that everything is about the teen
boy except accept what she's talking about sex and then
that's about the husband in the same paragraph.
Speaker 10 (30:37):
That is what the defense has reported. That is what
I've read and reports in terms of what is being
referenced in these memoirs. The allegation is that this was
kind of an outlet for her anxiety. Is how she
put it, I believe, And you know, sometimes people write
stuff down and sometimes there's overlap and ideas we get conflated,
(30:58):
and perhaps that is the direction her defensible doe to
try to explain what's in this memoir as it compares
to the text messages on the iCloud server.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
According to charging documents, a married Illinois school teacher sex assaulted.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
A teen boy she was tutoring, but now.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Tries to change the narrative, claiming the boy was her
stalker and.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
That her husband knew all about it.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
Well, that's not what the husband says, and that's not
what prosecutors say, Brian. Can we believe anything? Christina Formella says.
You have the text messages back and forth between her
and the child victim, you have her memoir, and then
you have her and the ability she possesses to put
(31:55):
on an Oscar worthy performance.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
Can I ask you?
Speaker 5 (32:01):
Of course, Yeah, it's not like I said that.
Speaker 8 (32:03):
My investigation obviously for here for a reason, So go
and turn her off for me, so right now being detained,
and there is a time that needs to talk to
you at the police department.
Speaker 5 (32:24):
So we'll let your husband know he can just come
to the police armer as well if he wants to
wait for you there.
Speaker 9 (32:30):
I'm like, I get it.
Speaker 5 (32:32):
You had a lot of questions. Scared, Yeah, everything's okay.
We just need to talk to you at the poetry
that's all.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
I am like, so scared.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
That's nothing that can hold a candle to what this
boy's mother felt when she saw those messages saved in
the iCloud Brian, certainly.
Speaker 6 (32:50):
And you said it well, Nancy, that the defense has
already put out this conspiracy theory that the teen boy
was texting himself from her phone, and they're going to
have to produce evidence that supports that, all right, data
from the boy's cell phone data, other data from her phone,
from other minor witnesses that would have seen or heard
(33:14):
about this conspiracy. So I don't think we can believe
much of what she's saying right here.
Speaker 5 (33:20):
Once you're the police department, you'll talk to detective and
hostline difference.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
Yeah, but you can't even give me like an I
at the.
Speaker 5 (33:26):
Moment, that's an investigation that I can't really tell you
right now.
Speaker 4 (33:29):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 5 (33:30):
I wish I could tell you more.
Speaker 7 (33:32):
Excuse me?
Speaker 4 (33:33):
Is my husband coming with Yes, he's taking.
Speaker 10 (33:35):
Phone over down more day time for him.
Speaker 5 (33:38):
We're just going down and grow the ten minutes away.
Speaker 4 (33:40):
No, I know, but I really would prefer that my
husband's with me.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Of course, may I want to rethink that about how
your husband learns his wife is charged with sex abusing
a boys student.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
Back to did sheery issues?
Speaker 2 (34:01):
I want you to hear one more excerpt from Christina
Frommela the Special Ed Teachers Memoirs. She wrote in her
own iPhone Listen.
Speaker 12 (34:11):
I warned you we should have never started dating a long, long,
long time ago, and you gas lit me and convinced
me it was fine every single time because that's who
you are. We will never ever be together again. I'm
not a second choice. I'm the best thing you'll ever have.
Even with all my mistakes, you once again waited and
strung me along until it was convenient for you. It
(34:31):
broke me last time. This time it changed me.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
You know, Aniston Noda.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
I don't know if you have encountered other child molesters
that believe they have a relationship with the child.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
But that's what this sounds like.
Speaker 9 (34:44):
I'm having to hold my tongue over here, Nancy. She
is working so hard to justify her own actions, which
is classic predator behavior dating. She has the audacity to
use the word dating. There is no way this is
anywhere near dating. This is grooming. This looks like flattery,
favoritism forbidden fruits.
Speaker 10 (35:04):
You entice a.
Speaker 9 (35:04):
Young boy with the possibility of sexual contact, that doesn't
mean that he was the mastermind behind her plan. I
am just shocked, But I do want to pinpoint some
exceptionally positive things about this case. The mom in this
case needs a gold medal. She checked the self on information,
she followed up. She then reported it to police, and
(35:28):
the police investigated and it led to an arrest. That
is a best case scenario. Unfortunately, that's a rarity in
these sorts of cases. But those individuals deserve recognition for
acting on that child's best behalf.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
You know, this is bringing to mind another case Mary
Kay Laturno, who continued to milest Veali Flau. I believe
at that time he was about twelve years old. Years
past and when she got out of jail.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
They actually got married and had a family.
Speaker 11 (36:00):
Listen for anybody first time figure out what love is
for the first time, you know, that's all you know.
Speaker 13 (36:07):
So for what I know that it was back then, Yeah,
I would say that.
Speaker 9 (36:11):
That was real love.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
That of our friends at New seven Again.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
Villi Flau was twelve years old when she began raping him.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
They went on to have a family together.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
In this case, it sounds as if for Mela believes the.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
Two have a future together.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
Let me go to Scott Iiker joining as founding member
FBI Cellular Analysis Survey Team, former police officer, homicide detective
as well. I want to talk to you about the
defense and we heard fattest trying to explain it amazingly
with a straight face. Scott Iiker, howe or can we
(36:53):
prove that the boy did not send the messages from
her phone to himself to frame her or to use
his blackmail at some unknown future day?
Speaker 1 (37:06):
Is that possible?
Speaker 11 (37:07):
It is. There's several different ways you can validate this
information or disprove what the defendant is saying. We've got
the records from the phone company, We've got the extraction
information from the phone, We've got the school app that
you're talking about. We also can look at in the
specific part which you mentioned, which is did he send
messages from her phone? We can look at where their
(37:29):
two phones were at the time. Was his phone in
the same location as hers? That might indicate that he
sent those text messages from her phone. But if he's
somewhere else, there's no way he could have sent those messages.
So a lot of different ways we can look at
this and tear that defensive part. And it's not really
easy to break into someone's phone then go through their
(37:52):
app and then copy that and then send it to
someone else.
Speaker 7 (37:56):
I'm sure you don't want to issue or something.
Speaker 4 (37:59):
All right?
Speaker 16 (38:05):
Set there, we are learning that the special ed teacher
turned child molestation defendant is claiming she's too quote.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
Good looking for jail and that she has been targeted
because she's so pretty.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
Not the first time I've heard that argument. So why
do you think you've got all the attention? I don't know,
I'll say it. Do you think it's because you're pretty?
I think so. In sex sells.
Speaker 2 (38:40):
Okay, that's our friends at NBC, and you were hearing
Deborah Lefay, convicted from a listing a student, claim she
was targeted because she is quote so pretty okay Sidney Sumner.
Is that claim being made in the current case by
Christina Fromella, Yes.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
It is so.
Speaker 4 (39:00):
Her whole defense to this is again relying on that
blackmail idea that this teenage boy broke into her phone
sent these text messages to himself to make it look
like there was a conversation between the two of them,
and she says that that happened because she cared about
him too much and she is good looking, so she
(39:23):
claims she is.
Speaker 1 (39:24):
A good person who just maybe got.
Speaker 4 (39:26):
A little bit too close to a student, but she
did not rape him, and she is.
Speaker 1 (39:31):
Only being targeted because she is so pretty Sidney.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
She is also claiming that the quote sex translation rape
only occurred one time, but according to the text messages
and her own notes in her note area of her
iPhone show that a relationship lasted for a really long
(39:55):
time and she wanted it to go on, except the
little boy got a girl friend his own age.
Speaker 4 (40:01):
So Nancy the defendant for Mella, she is claiming that
they did not have sex in any way, shape or form.
She is claiming that that text message exchange was not
discussing something that.
Speaker 1 (40:13):
Happened, but was blackmail to try and roper into having
sex with him in the future.
Speaker 4 (40:18):
The victim told police that the encounter in December of
twenty twenty three, that rape is the only encounter between them.
So that's what the victim told police. But again, this
victim got caught by his mother in an embarrassing situation.
So is he telling the full truth? Because if he
had any kind of romantic feelings for this woman for
(40:41):
his teacher, he likely does not want to see her
go down the same way Billy Fullove did. So it
is one hundred percent possible that this abuse was much more.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
Extensive and ongoing than police realize. Is she out on bond?
Speaker 2 (40:58):
Yes, she is two daughter Sherry sh joining US forensicance psychologists.
You know, if this were reversed and the alleged abuser
was a man and the victim was a fifteen year
old little girl, he would be under the jail.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
Why the difference, Well.
Speaker 14 (41:16):
The difference is because there's a stereotype that because this
is a teenage boy, that this is their fantasy. So
somehow it's not as serious or troubling a crime when
it's an older woman with a teenage boy. Especially a
pretty older woman.
Speaker 1 (41:33):
But this is false.
Speaker 14 (41:34):
We know that the harm is the same regardless. This
is a minor child. She had an obligation to behave
ethically and adhere to boundaries. She never should across a boundary.
Speaker 2 (41:46):
You know, Lady Justice is blind for a reason. Crossing
boundaries yes. Unethical yes, but as a former prosecutor of
violent felonies, just crossing boundaries, It's not just an ethical
this is a crime. Lady Justice does not make a
(42:08):
note of whether the victim is a little boy or
a little girl, or whether the defendant is a stereotypical
child molester stalking a playground and a trench code and
a pair of socks, or a pretty young special ed
teacher age thirty the defendant the alleged victim fifteen.
Speaker 1 (42:32):
Let's think about that.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
We wait as justice on friends, Goodbye friend,
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Well, I believe I've heard
it all.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
A female teacher's bombshell claim about her own husband.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
This as she has been charged.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
With a sex attack on a teen boy student. Now
she's dragging her husband into this. I'm Nancy Grace. This
is crime Stories. Thank you for being with us.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
You heard me.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
A married Illinois school teacher accused of sex assaulting a
teen boy she was tutoring, tells cops the boy was
her quote stalker and that her husband knew all about
the boys quote obsession. Well, her behavior and her text
messages seem to tell a very different story.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Okay, what do we know about the incident.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Involving teacher Christina Formella, age thirty old?
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Inns to know better?
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Christina Formela is a Concordia University grad and former soccer
team star. Now she's a special ed teacher and soccer
coach at Downers Grove High School in Illinois. Good Bye
for Mela's world comes crashing down when a dark secret
is revealed at a routine traffic stop.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
A dark secret.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
I don't know that I would call alleged sex abuse
on a child a miner that is your student I
don't know that I would call that a secret.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
I think more appropriately, I would call it a felony.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
But caught on tape the married special ed teacher, for
peace sake, they were practically still on their honeymoon.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
They'd only been married less than.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
A year, I believe caught on bodycam threatening to throw up. Well,
after I learned about this case, in investigated it myself.
I don't want to throw up too. But let's take
a look. A lot of people have claimed she is
so called glamor a special ad teacher.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
She's not glamorous.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
To me, I have prosecuted so many child rape and
child sex abuse cases. She looks like she's uh, straight
from hell to me on police body cam?
Speaker 4 (02:16):
How you doing?
Speaker 5 (02:18):
Also goes on with Donar's girl.
Speaker 6 (02:19):
Does you have your license on you?
Speaker 4 (02:23):
Yeah? I'm explaining.
Speaker 5 (02:23):
I'm sure you're confews explaining to th door your Christina, okay,
Christange to my favorite. You step on the car for me.
I know your confews. I explain everything to you. You
don't have anything on you. You can grab whatever you need.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Whatever I need.
Speaker 5 (02:39):
Yeah, whatever you need to get your phone, your your
first year go and grab it.
Speaker 7 (02:42):
Is she going somewhere.
Speaker 5 (02:43):
Yeah, we're gonna explain everything to you.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Guys, go and grab out.
Speaker 8 (02:47):
We're not going anywhere right now.
Speaker 5 (02:49):
Of course, of course.
Speaker 7 (02:51):
I understand what's going on here.
Speaker 5 (02:53):
I get Yeah, you can go to grab your thanks.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Can you come with me?
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (02:56):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (02:58):
You stay there for right now?
Speaker 5 (02:59):
Is here to stay there for?
Speaker 4 (03:00):
Yes?
Speaker 9 (03:00):
You can?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Uh uh straight out to Brian Fitzgibbons, joining us Director Operations,
USPA Nationwide Security, leading a team of investigators every single day.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Why are they being so solicitous to her?
Speaker 2 (03:16):
She is charged with molesting a minor, a teen boy,
and I believe still lying about it, claiming it only
happened once. Uh okay, But that said Fitzgibbons, what happened
to licensed registration?
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Why are they.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Saying, I'm sure you're confused. I'll explain everything. You're Christina?
What are they on a first night basis?
Speaker 6 (03:39):
So here's the deal, Nancy. I believe that that police
officer actually did a very excellent job with this contact
with Christina.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Formela Number one.
Speaker 6 (03:50):
He secured that cell phone, which is going to be
a key piece of evidence in this case, and he
got that without without a fight from her. So he
ds related the situation and secured the cell phone, which
is going to be the number one appropriate piece of
evidence here.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Mis Gibbons, I actually agree with you. I agree with you. However,
I believe they're being overly solicitous to what police say.
What prosecutors say is a child molester. Mis Gibbons. You're
not bending over backwards for Mela Christina from Mela because
(04:27):
she's attractive.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Are you? You know it has been argued in.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
The past by other teachers now convicted of child abuse
that they were too pretty for jail.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
You're not on that boat, are you? Certainly not? Nancy.
Speaker 6 (04:40):
What I saw there was the officer doing everything to
make sure he preserved that key piece of evidence. I
think he knew exactly what he was doing here.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
And you're right, Christina for Mela, special ed teacher now
charged with child sex abuse with a student, a teen
boy just married. By the way, Oh here she threatens
to throw up.
Speaker 7 (05:08):
Less sir, you have a ship down there. Sure you
don't want to tissue or something? All right?
Speaker 4 (05:23):
Shot?
Speaker 7 (05:24):
You grab like a bag on there?
Speaker 10 (05:31):
Can you get like a bag? Say she gets nauseous?
Speaker 9 (05:34):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (05:34):
I don't know. Do we have any of those emisids?
Bags like going around the spot. I think she was
something better than.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
Here.
Speaker 7 (05:46):
You stay with their ad.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
I think I'm I'm going to hyperventilate right now watching
her hold on just a moment to Scott Iiker joining me.
He's joining us later regarding a cell phone analysis, but
he was the founding member, a founding member of the
FBI Cellular Analysis Survey Team. But for this question former
police officer, home side detective with Norfolk, Virginia Police Department
(06:21):
twelve years Scott I thought there were being again overly
solicitous to who are.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Going you need a tissue? Do you need a vomit bag?
Speaker 2 (06:30):
But I assume you've been in the back of a
cruiser before, Scott Iiker, Well, I've.
Speaker 11 (06:35):
Been in the back of a cruiser, but not in
her position. You can see what's starting to come over her.
She started to realize what she's done and she's been caught,
and that would make me nauseous too. If I was
in her position and I can see.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Like her, will put you mean she's not sorry she
did it, she just doesn't want to go to Hillfort.
I was getting to the vomit bag. They have to
work in that cruiser. I have been there when patrol
men and patrol women have to literally hose out the
(07:13):
back seat of a cruiser. There's drugs, there's vomit, there's urine,
there's feces, there's spit where they try to spit at
the officers. The back seat is like has matt to
the max. So that's why I believe they're offering her
a vomit bag.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
You know, like the kind you get on a plane.
Speaker 11 (07:33):
Oh, I definitely agree. And I've had to clean out
my cruiser numerous times for those same reasons you talked about.
And that smell never goes away, I swear at the
back of the cruisers.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
No, this never ever goes away. Cops drive with the
windows down. It doesn't help joining me an all star
panel to make sense of what we're learning right now.
But I want to see that body cam one more time.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Now. You see her threatening.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
To throw up, you see her seemingly hyperventilating, crying.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Let's listen to it one more time.
Speaker 7 (08:07):
Unless sir, you have a ship down there. Sure you
don't want to tissue or something, all right? Shot, you
grab like a bag out.
Speaker 12 (08:24):
Of there, very can you get like a bag just
in case she gets nauseous.
Speaker 11 (08:33):
Yeah, I don't know, do we have any of those
amisodes bags like going around the Fox.
Speaker 7 (08:38):
I think she was something better than.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
Here. You stay with.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Eric fattis really.
Speaker 10 (08:55):
Well, Nancy. Looking at her reaction there, one could argue
it is consistent with someone who was just caught for
something they did. On the other hand, when you look
at it, she's confused, she's hyperventilating, she's crying, she's saying,
she's nauseous. All of those things could also be consistent
with someone who has been accused of something horrendous and
who didn't do it. So I'm not sure we could
really draw any firm conclusions from that video.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Fadess, she hasn't been told yet of what she is accused,
so that argument just went right down technical legal phrase
the crapper. Okay, so she's not hyperventiligning because they just
told her what she's accused of. She hasn't been told yet,
so take another swing at the ball.
Speaker 10 (09:38):
Even if she wasn't apprized of the exact nature of
the allegations, being in the back of a cop car
is distressing, surely, and even more so if a person
did not do anything criminal and they're you know, sort
of be fuddled about what in the world is happening
to me. You know, I'm not taking a personal position
on the facts, but I'm just saying that reaction has
multiple interpretations.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Okay, even if she had I'd been at that juncture
told why she was arrested, you still are standing by
your story.
Speaker 10 (10:06):
I'm just saying, in terms of a human reaction to
a very distressing situation that could be interpreted multiple ways,
and those expressions that we're seeing, those outward behaviors are
consistent with someone who has been caught for doing something horrible,
and they're also consistent with someone who is being accused
of something she didn't do. And so I just think
(10:27):
at this juncture there's just inclutions it can be drawn.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Erry Fatus question if you had been accused of child molestation,
because I'm not quite sure in this series of body
cam reactions where she knows she's been accused of where
she doesn't, if you've been accused of child molestation, you
wouldn't say I've never done that in my life, that
(10:51):
did not happen.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
I want a lawyer. You wouldn't say that.
Speaker 10 (10:55):
Me personally, as a seasoned attorney. I absolutely would say that,
but year old special education teacher and soccer coach, perhaps
that is just not front of mind to her.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Gone, she's a twelve year old little girl in the
fifth grade. It's never saying law in order. You're saying, oh,
she's just thirty years old special ed teacher.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
To be a special ed teacher, you have to go
to four years of school, four years.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Of college, plus all sorts of certifications. This is an
educated person that's been out in.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
The workforce for years.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
But you're telling me she's so naive she doesn't know
to say I didn't do that.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
I want a lawyer.
Speaker 10 (11:31):
The thing is, Nancy, that there's no playbook for how
to respond when a person is accused of something horrible.
Some people might react one way, whereas others might react
a different way. And I'm just, you know, in looking
at this without some sort of psychological evaluation, it's just
hard to say exactly where that reaction is coming from.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Crime stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
The Page County Prosecutors state that during Christina Framela's police interview,
she tried her best to portray the boy victim as
being obsessed with her because she's quote good looking.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Her words, not mine. She doesn't look good to me.
She looks like a defendant.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
She also claimed her husband was very aware of the situation.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Throughout her police interview, she tries.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
And tries to paint the boy as the stalker and
that the husband was well aware of it. Now, the husband,
Michael Formela, tells investigators.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
It was the first time he had heard anything.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
About the boy, that he knows nothing about the alleged
victim besides the fact that he's a soccer player.
Speaker 11 (12:57):
Row.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Okay, who is this woman? Chris Formela listen.
Speaker 4 (13:02):
Christina Formela is a special education teacher and soccer coach
at Downers Grove South High School, a proud Mustang since
twenty twenty for Mela graduated from Concordia University three years
earlier as an accomplished student athlete, playing as a starter
in forty nine soccer matches during her college career. That's
where Christina meets her now husband, also a student athlete,
(13:24):
a pitcher on the baseball team for Christina's senior year.
They share the number twenty two. The happy couple ties
the knot in a gorgeous summer ceremony August of twenty twenty.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Four, straight out to Crime Stories, investigative reporter Sydney Sumner. Sidney,
tell me how the whole thing unfolded? What is she
charged with? How did the whole thing start? Is it true?
According to police, these are all just Allegationia. She has
not been proven guilty. She's still presumed innocent under the law.
(13:54):
According to police, she began flirting with a teen boy,
one of her students, and that continued on a school app.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
That's correct.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
Nancy So, a mother of a Downers Grove student, went
to police. When she was setting up his new iPhone,
she discovered these messages that weren't saved on his old
phone but to his iCloud account, and she discovered these
messages seemingly discussing a sexual encounter with his teacher, Christina Formla.
(14:29):
So the boy is rushed down to the police station.
He tells officers that this started out as some innocent flirting.
I say the word innocent, but that's obviously not innocent
in this situation, but some flirting over the school messaging app.
So the school has their own specific messaging system and
(14:51):
that's where they started communicating. Once Christina Formla became this
boy's tutor in addition to being his soccer coach on
the field. So these messages then progressed to having her
phone number because she wanted to play an I message
game with him. So she gives out her phone number.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Sydney, Sidney, Wait a minute, So the teacher wants to play.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
What you know, those games in your I messages, So
on an iPhone you can start a text conversation and play.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Poolball or something. So that's what she suggested to.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
This teen boy and gave him her phone number. So
now they're texting and also facetiming. There's records of numerous
FaceTime calls in between this teen and the teacher, and
he said that culminated in a rape in December of
twenty twenty three during what should have been a before
(15:44):
school tutoring session. So they're in her classroom, she shuts
the door and there is a sexual encounter.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Okay, Sydney, I don't like what you just said.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Some you remind me of so many defendants that would
say we would. I had one judge who was the
greatest judge ever, oldest judge in the courthouse, and therefore
he wanted to maintain.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
His court calendar.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
He wanted to be on trial every other week to
prove he was fit. And he was fit, all right, doctor,
I mean Judge Luther Alverson. But we would have plea
negotiations with me, my investigator, Ernest, the defendant and his
defense lawyer to see if the case could be worked out. FYI,
it easily went to trial. That said, the lawyer and
(16:35):
the defendant would always act like Ms.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Grace, I caught a little burglary charge, like somebody threw it.
They just caught it.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Okay, you just said she shuts the door and a
child molesstation happened. Didn't you leave something out, Sidney Sumner?
Speaker 4 (16:53):
Yes, Nancy, we're calling that a rape. That's exactly what
it is. It's a statutory rape. At least, it.
Speaker 13 (17:00):
Is a sexual assault. This woman, this adult should never
have come on to this child in any way, shape
or form, especially a teacher. This is a professional relationship.
This should be a trusted relationship. And the school said
it perfectly. It's broken trust over here.
Speaker 5 (17:19):
So we do have an investigation going on.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
We have to talk to you about it at the
police department.
Speaker 5 (17:24):
Okay, So it works everything to do there it's not
my investigation. I don't know the full details. Would you
have to bring you there though? Okay, so I just
put your handcuffs and bring it to the police department,
just a don't trust Yes unfortunately, Yes, I'm willing to
go with it.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
I did it.
Speaker 5 (17:39):
Yeah, Unfortunately, we have to do it that way. To
do you a favor, we just take this.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Off, joining me an all star panel to make sense
of what we are learning tonight.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
A According to some people, gorgeous.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Thirty year old special ed teacher and soccer coach busted
on alleged under age six translation rape. If you are underage,
you cannot give consent. Also a student, a teen boy student.
Is it true Sidney Sumner that she also kept a
(18:13):
memoir of sorts a memoir detailing the sex sex with
a teen boys student Nancy?
Speaker 4 (18:23):
That is correct, though there are reports of this notes
at material so these are several writings in her notes
app One section titled manifestations is saying things out loud
in the hopes that the more you say them, the
more they will happen. And several writings in this section
(18:45):
reference to the victim.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
By name, What did you just say?
Speaker 2 (18:49):
The more you say something, the more likely it's going
to happen.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Yes, Nancy, this is a mantra.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
It's called manifestation that many young people participate in nowadays.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Okay, I've heard of manifestation. I didn't think anyone actually
thought it worked, but okay, so I want you to
hear what we've learned about her memoir that you kept
in the notes section on her iPhone. I hate to
give a tutorial to all the future felas out there,
but when you basically make it to do list and
(19:22):
recount all of your felonious activities on your iPhone, yeah,
you're gonna get busted.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
But you've got to hear this. Listen.
Speaker 12 (19:29):
I'm not sad. I'm being mad that I led a
sixteen year old with me like that, and Nata promised
to myself that I will never let any guide with
me like that again. Ever, in the end, we both lost.
You lost the girl who would have stuck with you
through thick and thin, who would have changed anything about
herself to make you happy. And I lost the person
I was before I met you.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
What is she talking about? Wait a minute, who WOA?
Speaker 2 (19:53):
I definitely need a shrink, But first two Anna Sonoda
joining US child sex abuse grooming expert, clinical social worker,
therapist and author of Duck Duck Groom.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Do you hear her? This is the.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Woman, the grown married woman claiming quote, I'm not sad,
I am effing mad.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
I led a.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Sixteen year old confession f with me like that, and
I made a promise to myself I will never let
any guy f with me like that again. Ever did
she put a bunch of exclamations with hearts at the bottom,
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
In the end, we both lost.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
What you lost the girl who would have stuck with
you through thick and thin, who would have changed anything
about herself to make you happy. What get a divorce
and go back in time to well she was a
minor two and I lost the person I was before
I met you.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
What is she talking about, Anna Sinoda?
Speaker 9 (20:52):
This is no girl. This is a full grown, thirty
year old woman who abused her position of power. She
groomed this young victim. And something I want to highlight
here is that predators run on gas. What does that mean?
That means do you need to have grooming access and space?
(21:12):
So she groomed this boy using flattery, kindness, and highlighting
him as her selected target, and she gained access in
her role as a tutor, as a coach, as a teacher.
And then what available space did she have? She had
an empty classroom before school started, She had isolated time
(21:33):
with this young victim. My question would be how many
others are there?
Speaker 2 (21:37):
She's acting a lot, She's got a future with this
little boy. Okay, where does her husband fit into this scenario?
Much less than police, But I want you to hear
more of what we have learned in her own memoirs
on her own cell phone.
Speaker 12 (21:52):
Listen is going to reach out to me soon and
try to fix things between us. In the meantime, I'm
going to live my best life knowing he's not the
person I thought he was, and that he is beneath
me and I will connect again soon in a positive way.
We will both get the closure we need in order
to move on in a healthy way. We will be
able to be a part of each other's lives forever.
(22:13):
We will be in each other's lives forever. We will
be able to love each other while also living our
own lives.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
What a wackadoodle. We will be in each other's lives forever.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
In caps.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
We will be in each other's lives forever. Yes, you
will when he and his mommy show up to keep
you out from getting parole. In the last days, a
school teacher's bombshell climb that her husband was well aware
of a teen boy's.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Quote obsession with her.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Well prosecutors seem to disagree because they have charged her
with a sex attack on a minor.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
He is a little boy. What is she saying?
Speaker 4 (22:55):
Yes, Nancy, So these are her manifestations. A thirty year
old teacher is man.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Wishes about a teen student. So not her.
Speaker 4 (23:05):
Husband, not wanting to further her career, not wanting to
become a better teacher, or a better coach, or a
better wife, but she wants this teenage boy to reconcile
with her. That's what's going through her mind every night.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
As I mentioned earlier, we all need to shrink right
about now. Joining us Doctor Sherry Schwartz forensic psychologists specializing
in this line of work at panthermitigation dot com and
she is an author as well, Criminal Behavior and my
favorite where law and psychology intersect.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Doctor Sherry Schwartz, thank you for being with us. What
is she talking about?
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Do you hear this, we will in all caps, be
in each other's lives forever. We will be able to
love each other while living our own lives. We need
to move forward in a help the way that ship
has sailed.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Doctor Sherry correct, and.
Speaker 14 (24:06):
What I see, what I'm hearing is something that's very dark.
Sexual predators need to keep their victims close, particularly when
their victims are minor children.
Speaker 7 (24:16):
This is her.
Speaker 14 (24:17):
Manifestation is I don't want to get caught, so I
need to keep him close. I need him to believe
that we're in love and we're this unique couple and
we're going to go forward together forever.
Speaker 15 (24:56):
In addition to the text messages, police also find several
right for Mela's notes app discussing her relationship with the victim,
naming him directly. For Mela pens what looks like a
breakup letter, calling the victim disgusting for cheating on her.
For Mela claims the victim manipulated her into maintaining their
relationship despite her attempts to break it off. For Mela
(25:17):
says she now realizes the victim was only interested in
her for sex, and notes that she is angry that
she allowed a sixteen year old to mess with her head.
Speaker 7 (25:25):
Am I in trouble?
Speaker 4 (25:26):
Like I'm I'm sol Loust right now, I'm love you
you are like I said.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Like she talked about all these ninon apps.
Speaker 8 (25:34):
Right now, you're being to fat or an investigation you
never bring you in the FIFTI and once you.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Get this, they're going to tell you in an our.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
Am I in trouble? Yeah? You are.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Now One of the most damning pieces of evidence the
state has is her Christina Fromela, thirty year old married
special ed teacher that starts quote floorty messages.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
That's not how I would put it. I would call an.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Ticon a minor, but that said flirty messages over the
school app. I see my children on the school app
all the time.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
I have personally met every one of their teachers since
they were in pre pre pre k.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
You think this mom had any idea what was happening,
hgl No.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
But you hear from Mella talking as if she has.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Somehow been quote done wrong. As a matter of fact,
her memoir that she wrote on her notes app in
her phone. You'd have to hear this.
Speaker 12 (26:39):
Listen and once again from David one called your next
girlfriend You're so predictable and disgusting. Shocker. You cheated on
me with her. All I was to you was somebody
to I'm not upset, I'm not mad, I'm not any
of that. I've just lost interest. I went back and
screenshotted every single time that I said we should break
up until after the wedding and after you graduated, and
(27:02):
every single time you came back and convinced me it
would be fine. I initiated every single breakup, only for
you to end things saying you couldn't get over it.
You ruined us us.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
You ruined us like they have a future, like they're
going to get married.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
Sidney Summer explained to me what she wrote.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Did she actually say she wanted to quote break up
with the little boy after the wedding?
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Yes, she did, Nancy.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
She explained that in very good detail for prosecutors in
the future as this case goes to trial. She specifically
mentioned both this teen boy's graduation and her own wedding,
once again establishing that timeline that the rape occurred in
December of twenty twenty three, almost a year before her wedding,
(27:52):
So she references this victim by name multiple times and
in his breakup. In this breakup letter what this reads
as with the teen boy? She also references his new
girlfriend's name, so lots of contexts to establish that this
note is about the victim.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Straight out to veteran trial lawyer, defense attorney Eric Fattis,
you mentioned earlier correctly that the defendant, the special ed
teacher Christina FROMMELA, claims the boy, the little boy, grabbed.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
Her phone, put in her code, and.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Sent himself flirty and sexulated messages that he, a little boy,
had the wherewithal to think that he would frame her
for future black mail. Now she's already put that out there,
so you, the defense attorney, are stuck with it. You
can't just erase that that's out there, so you can't
(28:54):
now look for another defense.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
You're stuck with her words.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Pretend that that's true, that the boy thought, Hey, a
year from now, I'm going to.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Try to blackmail her and frame her.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
So I'm going to send her text from her to
me that I can then say, all right, that's a
flight of fancy.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
But Eric Fattis, what about her memoir?
Speaker 2 (29:19):
What about the notes on her iPhone where she talks
about how angry she is?
Speaker 1 (29:23):
He got a new quote girlfriend and their future.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
You know, she claims they only had sex aka raped
him one time, but this shows they have been an
item for a long time since.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
Before her wedding.
Speaker 10 (29:41):
Nancy, the multiplicity of messages here, if authentic, is surely problematic.
You know, the defense is going to say that at
this day and age, sixteen year olds are pretty technologically savvy.
Some of them are more sophisticated than others. And then
on the other hand, sometimes they do irrational, erratic, weird things,
and perhaps all of that culminated in this alleged act
(30:02):
where he tried to text him from her phone to
sort of blackmailer. That's what the defense is going to argue.
When it comes to the memoir I think the defense
is going to say that there's some murmurs about, at
least according to Formela, that that references to sexual activity
in the memoirs actually relate to the husband and not
to the time.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
So what.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Did you just say that everything is about the teen
boy except accept what she's talking about sex and then
that's about the husband in the same paragraph.
Speaker 10 (30:37):
That is what the defense has reported. That is what
I've read and reports in terms of what is being
referenced in these memoirs. The allegation is that this was
kind of an outlet for her anxiety. Is how she
put it, I believe, And you know, sometimes people write
stuff down and sometimes there's overlap and ideas we get conflated,
(30:58):
and perhaps that is the direction her defensible doe to
try to explain what's in this memoir as it compares
to the text messages on the iCloud server.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
According to charging documents, a married Illinois school teacher sex assaulted.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
A teen boy she was tutoring, but now.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Tries to change the narrative, claiming the boy was her
stalker and.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
That her husband knew all about it.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
Well, that's not what the husband says, and that's not
what prosecutors say, Brian. Can we believe anything? Christina Formella says.
You have the text messages back and forth between her
and the child victim, you have her memoir, and then
you have her and the ability she possesses to put
(31:55):
on an Oscar worthy performance.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
Can I ask you?
Speaker 5 (32:01):
Of course, Yeah, it's not like I said that.
Speaker 8 (32:03):
My investigation obviously for here for a reason, So go
and turn her off for me, so right now being detained,
and there is a time that needs to talk to
you at the police department.
Speaker 5 (32:24):
So we'll let your husband know he can just come
to the police armer as well if he wants to
wait for you there.
Speaker 9 (32:30):
I'm like, I get it.
Speaker 5 (32:32):
You had a lot of questions. Scared, Yeah, everything's okay.
We just need to talk to you at the poetry
that's all.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
I am like, so scared.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
That's nothing that can hold a candle to what this
boy's mother felt when she saw those messages saved in
the iCloud Brian, certainly.
Speaker 6 (32:50):
And you said it well, Nancy, that the defense has
already put out this conspiracy theory that the teen boy
was texting himself from her phone, and they're going to
have to produce evidence that supports that, all right, data
from the boy's cell phone data, other data from her phone,
from other minor witnesses that would have seen or heard
(33:14):
about this conspiracy. So I don't think we can believe
much of what she's saying right here.
Speaker 5 (33:20):
Once you're the police department, you'll talk to detective and
hostline difference.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
Yeah, but you can't even give me like an I
at the.
Speaker 5 (33:26):
Moment, that's an investigation that I can't really tell you
right now.
Speaker 4 (33:29):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 5 (33:30):
I wish I could tell you more.
Speaker 7 (33:32):
Excuse me?
Speaker 4 (33:33):
Is my husband coming with Yes, he's taking.
Speaker 10 (33:35):
Phone over down more day time for him.
Speaker 5 (33:38):
We're just going down and grow the ten minutes away.
Speaker 4 (33:40):
No, I know, but I really would prefer that my
husband's with me.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Of course, may I want to rethink that about how
your husband learns his wife is charged with sex abusing
a boys student.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
Back to did sheery issues?
Speaker 2 (34:01):
I want you to hear one more excerpt from Christina
Frommela the Special Ed Teachers Memoirs. She wrote in her
own iPhone Listen.
Speaker 12 (34:11):
I warned you we should have never started dating a long, long,
long time ago, and you gas lit me and convinced
me it was fine every single time because that's who
you are. We will never ever be together again. I'm
not a second choice. I'm the best thing you'll ever have.
Even with all my mistakes, you once again waited and
strung me along until it was convenient for you. It
(34:31):
broke me last time. This time it changed me.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
You know, Aniston Noda.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
I don't know if you have encountered other child molesters
that believe they have a relationship with the child.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
But that's what this sounds like.
Speaker 9 (34:44):
I'm having to hold my tongue over here, Nancy. She
is working so hard to justify her own actions, which
is classic predator behavior dating. She has the audacity to
use the word dating. There is no way this is
anywhere near dating. This is grooming. This looks like flattery,
favoritism forbidden fruits.
Speaker 10 (35:04):
You entice a.
Speaker 9 (35:04):
Young boy with the possibility of sexual contact, that doesn't
mean that he was the mastermind behind her plan. I
am just shocked, But I do want to pinpoint some
exceptionally positive things about this case. The mom in this
case needs a gold medal. She checked the self on information,
she followed up. She then reported it to police, and
(35:28):
the police investigated and it led to an arrest. That
is a best case scenario. Unfortunately, that's a rarity in
these sorts of cases. But those individuals deserve recognition for
acting on that child's best behalf.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
You know, this is bringing to mind another case Mary
Kay Laturno, who continued to milest Veali Flau. I believe
at that time he was about twelve years old. Years
past and when she got out of jail.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
They actually got married and had a family.
Speaker 11 (36:00):
Listen for anybody first time figure out what love is
for the first time, you know, that's all you know.
Speaker 13 (36:07):
So for what I know that it was back then, Yeah,
I would say that.
Speaker 9 (36:11):
That was real love.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
That of our friends at New seven Again.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
Villi Flau was twelve years old when she began raping him.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
They went on to have a family together.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
In this case, it sounds as if for Mela believes the.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
Two have a future together.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
Let me go to Scott Iiker joining as founding member
FBI Cellular Analysis Survey Team, former police officer, homicide detective
as well. I want to talk to you about the
defense and we heard fattest trying to explain it amazingly
with a straight face. Scott Iiker, howe or can we
(36:53):
prove that the boy did not send the messages from
her phone to himself to frame her or to use
his blackmail at some unknown future day?
Speaker 1 (37:06):
Is that possible?
Speaker 11 (37:07):
It is. There's several different ways you can validate this
information or disprove what the defendant is saying. We've got
the records from the phone company, We've got the extraction
information from the phone, We've got the school app that
you're talking about. We also can look at in the
specific part which you mentioned, which is did he send
messages from her phone? We can look at where their
(37:29):
two phones were at the time. Was his phone in
the same location as hers? That might indicate that he
sent those text messages from her phone. But if he's
somewhere else, there's no way he could have sent those messages.
So a lot of different ways we can look at
this and tear that defensive part. And it's not really
easy to break into someone's phone then go through their
(37:52):
app and then copy that and then send it to
someone else.
Speaker 7 (37:56):
I'm sure you don't want to issue or something.
Speaker 4 (37:59):
All right?
Speaker 16 (38:05):
Set there, we are learning that the special ed teacher
turned child molestation defendant is claiming she's too quote.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
Good looking for jail and that she has been targeted
because she's so pretty.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
Not the first time I've heard that argument. So why
do you think you've got all the attention? I don't know,
I'll say it. Do you think it's because you're pretty?
I think so. In sex sells.
Speaker 2 (38:40):
Okay, that's our friends at NBC, and you were hearing
Deborah Lefay, convicted from a listing a student, claim she
was targeted because she is quote so pretty okay Sidney Sumner.
Is that claim being made in the current case by
Christina Fromella, Yes.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
It is so.
Speaker 4 (39:00):
Her whole defense to this is again relying on that
blackmail idea that this teenage boy broke into her phone
sent these text messages to himself to make it look
like there was a conversation between the two of them,
and she says that that happened because she cared about
him too much and she is good looking, so she
(39:23):
claims she is.
Speaker 1 (39:24):
A good person who just maybe got.
Speaker 4 (39:26):
A little bit too close to a student, but she
did not rape him, and she is.
Speaker 1 (39:31):
Only being targeted because she is so pretty Sidney.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
She is also claiming that the quote sex translation rape
only occurred one time, but according to the text messages
and her own notes in her note area of her
iPhone show that a relationship lasted for a really long
(39:55):
time and she wanted it to go on, except the
little boy got a girl friend his own age.
Speaker 4 (40:01):
So Nancy the defendant for Mella, she is claiming that
they did not have sex in any way, shape or form.
She is claiming that that text message exchange was not
discussing something that.
Speaker 1 (40:13):
Happened, but was blackmail to try and roper into having
sex with him in the future.
Speaker 4 (40:18):
The victim told police that the encounter in December of
twenty twenty three, that rape is the only encounter between them.
So that's what the victim told police. But again, this
victim got caught by his mother in an embarrassing situation.
So is he telling the full truth? Because if he
had any kind of romantic feelings for this woman for
(40:41):
his teacher, he likely does not want to see her
go down the same way Billy Fullove did. So it
is one hundred percent possible that this abuse was much more.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
Extensive and ongoing than police realize. Is she out on bond?
Speaker 2 (40:58):
Yes, she is two daughter Sherry sh joining US forensicance psychologists.
You know, if this were reversed and the alleged abuser
was a man and the victim was a fifteen year
old little girl, he would be under the jail.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
Why the difference, Well.
Speaker 14 (41:16):
The difference is because there's a stereotype that because this
is a teenage boy, that this is their fantasy. So
somehow it's not as serious or troubling a crime when
it's an older woman with a teenage boy. Especially a
pretty older woman.
Speaker 1 (41:33):
But this is false.
Speaker 14 (41:34):
We know that the harm is the same regardless. This
is a minor child. She had an obligation to behave
ethically and adhere to boundaries. She never should across a boundary.
Speaker 2 (41:46):
You know, Lady Justice is blind for a reason. Crossing
boundaries yes. Unethical yes, but as a former prosecutor of
violent felonies, just crossing boundaries, It's not just an ethical
this is a crime. Lady Justice does not make a
(42:08):
note of whether the victim is a little boy or
a little girl, or whether the defendant is a stereotypical
child molester stalking a playground and a trench code and
a pair of socks, or a pretty young special ed
teacher age thirty the defendant the alleged victim fifteen.
Speaker 1 (42:32):
Let's think about that.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
We wait as justice on friends, Goodbye friend,
Host
Nancy Grace
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