Wilmington Teacher's Aide Called High School Student 'Baby,' Told Him She Loved Him: Prosecutors

WILMINGTON, IL —The Will County State's Attorney's Office of Jim Glasgow has filed a petition to deny pretrial release for Wilmington grooming and sexual exploitation of a child defendant Christina Saracco. The 28-year-old woman had worked as an instructional assistant at Wilmington High School.

According to the petition to deny pretrial release, the victim came to the Wilmington Police Department along with his father. The teenage boy's father had discovered a nude photograph on the victim's phone and later discovered it was Saracco, court documents indicate. Saracco was the teenage boy's teacher's aide at Wilmington High School.

The victim told Wilmington police that Saracco gave him her phone number, and then the two began conversing on Snapchat, according to prosecutors. Saracco would send him nude pictures of her breasts, call him "baby" and tell him she loved him, the court filing indicates. She would also ask the Wilmington teenager, who was 16, and the boy retained two photos of Saracco where she sent him her unclothed breasts, prosecutors allege.

The victim informed the Wilmington police that at least one of the photos was sent before his 17th birthday. In one photo, Saracco's tattoos are clearly visible, prosecutors said.

Another of the photos came from a Snapchat screenshot that came back to Saracco's account, the petition indicated.

"Defendant also would regularly send victim money and on one occasion, on May 8, 2025, purchased alcohol victim and his friends to consume," prosecutors outlined. "The people pray that this honorable court deny the defendant pretrial release."

Saracco was booked into the Will County Jail last Thursday night. She has been charged with grooming, contributing to the criminal delinquency of a minor, sexual exploitation of a child and distribution of harmful materials to a minor.

While in custody, Saracco has retained the downtown Joliet criminal defense firm of Tomczak Law Group. Attorney Jeff Tomczak and his firm will handle the arguments for Thursday's pretrial detention hearing before Will County Judge Vincent Cornelius in Courtroom 404.

Last week, the Southern Will County Cooperative for Special Education issued a statement acknowledging that Saracco was a former employee, having worked as an instructional assistant in the SOWIC program at Wilmington High School.

The organization called the accusations "an isolated incident," adding, "to our knowledge, no other students were involved or impacted."

"Since being informed of the assistant's alleged inappropriate actions away from the workplace, SOWIC has fully cooperated with all of the State and local authorities investigating this matter to ensure that (sic) the safety and well-being of its students," it said in the statement.