An ex-special education teacher who was removed from her position is accused of raping a former student. She has tried to shift blame for the accusation by stating that her appearance played a role and is now asserting that she is a victim of sexism.

Christina Formella, aged 30, has consistently refuted claims of having engaged in an inappropriate relationship with the young student, whose identity remains undisclosed. Prosecutors allege that she exchanged explicit text messages with the student and sexually assaulted them over 50 times.

Formella now faces a total of 55 charges, which include criminal sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual abuse, indecent solicitation of a child, and grooming.

But Formella’s family is now claiming she is just the victim of ‘sexist scrutiny,’ the New York Post reports.

‘It’s a spectacle – a public ritual that publishes women not for what they’ve done, but for how they’re perceived,’ a representative for the family told the outlet.

‘When men face accusations, we discuss evidence and procedure. When women face accusations, we attack their character, their choices and their worth as human beings,’ the family rep continued.

‘This isn’t justice – it’s gender-based persecution disguised as accountability.’

The representative for the family went on to explain that the ‘public discourse’ around Formella’s case focuses on her ‘appearance, her private life [and] even her lipstick – as if those details bear on guilt or innocence.’

He also hit out at ‘Internet caricatures’ that call Formella a ‘”predator,” “unfaithful wife” [and] “hypocrite,”‘ and claimed the coverage of the former teacher and soccer coach’s alleged crimes have turned into ‘real-world stalking’ by ‘so-called content creators.’

Formella was even once followed to church, ‘violating the sanctity of worship and terrorizing her family,’ the representative said.

‘Christina’s case isn’t being “covered” – she’s being hunted,’ he continued in a statement, adding that Formella has become the victim of ‘bullying.’

‘Reckless speculation, misinformation and theatrical coverage do nothing to serve justice and set hard-won respect for women back decades,’ the representative concluded.

Prosecutors have said Formella began an illicit relationship with the boy when he was just 14 years old and a member of the soccer team she coached at Downers Grove South High School.

Formella had taken it upon herself to privately tutor the teen before class after an injury sidelined him.

But prosecutors say the arrangement became more sinister when the special education teacher started sending the teenager flirtatious messages using the school’s messaging system.

Their exchanges eventually moved to text, with the alleged pedophile at one point telling the teen she ‘loved’ him and that he was ‘perfect,’ according to messages previously revealed in court. 

The relationship then allegedly turned physical inside her classroom in December 2023, when she was 28 and the boy was 15.

The allegations first came to light in March, after the boy’s mother stumbled upon the text messages on his phone, including one in which Formella allegedly wrote: ‘I love having sex with you’.

DuPage County prosecutors had initially believed the sordid affair culminated in a single sexual encounter following months of their inappropriate messages.

But they say further evidence revealed the pair had sex more than 50 times, most of the time in her classroom but also multiple times at the home she shared with her unsuspecting husband, Michael.

Formella even allegedly kept a ‘memoir’ on her phone during the relationship.

‘I warned you that we should never have started dating a long long long fking time ago and you gas lit me and convinced me it was fine,’ she allegedly said of the teen boy.

‘We WILL be in each other’s lives forever. We will be able to love each other while also living our own lives,’ the diary added.

Formella later claimed the writings were part of a therapeutic journaling exercise, and insisted that any sexual references in the entries were about her husband.

Yet in a message to the boy, prosecutors say, Formella said she planned to dump her husband and abscond with his family’s vast fortune.

The couple had tied the knot last year, just weeks before her alleged sordid affair with the teen reportedly fizzled out in September. 

When the allegations of Formella’s relationship then emerged earlier this year, Michael said he was left ‘completely blindsided’ by the allegations and swore he had no clue his wife was allegedly abusing an underage boy – despite their sexual activities at his house and his wife allegedly texting the teen while they were vacationing in Italy.

Still, Michael has been by his wife’s side at court hearings, as has his father, Randy Formella.

They were even pictured supporting Formella when she appeared in court earlier this week to brazenly ask a judge to slash the distance she must keep from the alleged victim. 

She has been required to keep a 5,000-foot buffer zone from the boy since her charges were upgraded last month.

That meant that she had to leave her marital home, and Christina has been holed up at her parents’ $560,000 home on a golf course ever since. 

But in a bold request on Wednesday, she asked the court to slash that distance in half to just 2,500 feet, arguing the boy often hangs out with friends near her house and even has a job in the area.

Judge Mia McPherson ultimately rejected her argument and denied the motion.