Posted on 05/11/2025 5:47:10 AM PDT by Red Badger
A former San Diego County Teacher of the Year who pleaded guilty to sexually abusing two of her sixth-grade students was sentenced Friday to 30 years behind bars.
The sentence was part of the deal Jacqueline Ma, 36, struck in pleading guilty Feb. 5 to two counts of forcible lewd acts with a child under age 14 and also admitting to a lewd act with a child under age 14. Both children had been students at Lincoln Acres Elementary School, where Ma was a teacher.
Ma also pleaded guilty to a count of possessing material containing a minor engaged in or simulating sexual conduct.
The District Attorney’s Office said she groomed boys with “gifts, food and special attention and even completed their homework for them.”
Before handing down the sentence, Chula Vista Superior Court Judge Enrique Camarena said Ma had cultivated the sexual relationships in plain sight over an extended period, but she was protected from scrutiny due to her status as an award-winning teacher.
“This isn’t just a one-day accident, mistake, bad judgment or evil act,” Camarena said. “(The sentencing) encompasses punishment for a prolonged pattern of child sexual abuse.”
Before her sentence was read, Ma was allowed to address the public and her family, who were filling a row of seats in the gallery. With her hands in cuffs, the former teacher apologized to the victims and their families, and said she had “disgraced the teaching profession.”
“I abused my authority, I exerted my power and control over them, and I deceived them,” Ma said through tears. “Boys this age should be playing outside, feeling carefree … I ripped away their childhood.”
Ma went on to call her crimes selfish, said she manipulated the two boys and their families, and that her actions would be traumatizing for the victims and her community for years to come.
“I lied to their faces while secretly abusing their sons,” Ma said. “I just pray for extra protection and strength for all those (affected).”
Deputy District Attorney Drew Hart said after the hearing that although Ma took accountability and expressed remorse in the courtroom, he felt the sentencing was appropriate.
Hart said the mother of the 12-year-old victim did not have a statement for Ma. The mother of the 11-year-old victim directed the prosecutor to tell Ma that she had trusted the former teacher and had been left speechless by her crimes.
“These parents knew Ms. Ma. They knew who she was, and they trusted her,” Hart said. “And so finding out not just that their child was abused, but finding out that they were abused by someone whom they trusted with their children and to care for their children, was incredibly devastating.”
In addition to paying thousands of dollars in fines and registering as a sex offender, Ma will be required to serve all 30 years of her sentence before a parole board allows her out of custody, Hart said.
Ma had taught fifth and sixth grades in the National School District since 2013. In August 2022, she was one of five teachers in the region selected as a San Diego County Teacher of the Year.
She was arrested seven months later. In March 2023, the parent of a 12-year-old boy reached out to National City police to report a suspected inappropriate relationship with their son.
Prosecutors said Ma had been using video game chat rooms and a family tablet to communicate with the 12-year-old. Hart said the physical relationship between the two began in late 2022, a few months before the messages were found by the boy’s parents.
The boy’s parents reportedly did not allow him to have social media or his own electronics. But investigators learned Ma was able to get access to him by setting up an unsanctioned after-school program and talking with him through a school chat application.
The sexual assaults occurred in Ma’s classroom over three months while the boy’s parents thought he was enrolled in an after-school basketball program, prosecutors said.
The investigation into Ma revealed a second suspected victim — a boy who was 11 years old when prosecutors say she sent him sexually charged messages in 2020, according to testimony at her preliminary hearing.
The 11-year-old boy was reportedly approached by Ma in 2020, but he fled the room, Hart said.
Trauma? 30 years for trauma?
Punishments should have some sense of proportion. 10 years in prison and permanently being labeled a sexual predator seems to me to be enough.
Would it be enough if it was YOUR kid?
Lifetime of trauma, possibly therapy. You’d want a mild 10 year sentence and “registry” for an offender of your kid?
Dim....
Well I think sexual abuse of children should be death penalty so
Oh, the trauma….
she groomed boys with “gifts, food and special attention and even completed their homework for them.”
Boys get over it. Thousands in fines, 10 years in prison, loss of your profession, and lifetime labeling as a predator is not “nothing”.
Well, that would be better. At least we wouldn’t have to pay for them to be in jail for 30 years.
Yes. If it were my son, that would be enough for me.
If these were 16 or 17 year-old high school students, that’s one thing.
But these were 11 year olds.
Hey , teacher, leave those kids alone !
True. I’d accept less punishment if the boys were 16-17.
30 years is a very long time. I’ve seen cases that resulted in death, not trauma, that get far less than that.
What she did was horrible. Severe punishment is completely justified. I’m just questioning the relative balance in sentencing vs other offenses .
There was a rather attractive woman I had known as a friendly acquaintance for years that tended to have a sort of trendy formal style regardless of what I saw her doing and also always in full makeup. She became a friend to my girlfriend and the girls decided that one weekend morning they were going to pick an adventure for all of us to go on together. That morning that we picked them up was the first time I saw her with short casual clothing and no makeup. Her skin had the same pattern in shape and near color as a reticulated giraffe.
More just like all the teachers.
You have something against Catholics? Watch your mouth ahole
Not the least bit unusual. A former teacher of high school science, whose teaching skills were tremendous, who was teacher of the year in his state, was a chicken hawk. In the end, he was murdered by some kids he’d picked up at a mall.
Sometimes I think authorities go too far pretending to care about kids while simultaneously slaughtering them in utero and mutilating them as toddlers for a sick ideology. It doesn’t balance the scales.
Teacher of the year is a teacher-selects-teacher event. Nobody consults the students regarding that prize.
Your 11 or 12 year old son being groomed is okay with you cuz it was a chick offender??? Would you feel the same if a male teacher groomed your daughter at that age? Grooming kids at any age or gender leads to all sorts of problems for the victims. Many issues don’t even show up until adulthood. Don’t even get me started on potential trafficking.
Man, perverse sickness and those that excuse it are everywhere these days, Dim. Thanks for helping protect all kids from sexual abuse and excusing the perpetrators. 🙄
Suggesting 10 instead of 30 years is a LONG way from excusing these actions.
You’re really a one-trick pony aren’t you? I can see why you say “Dim” all the time.
Details: Nicole Valdivia, 37, drove drunk and crashed into a parked car, killing 8-year-old Genesis Avalos, who was playing outside. Valdivia’s BAC was 0.24% (three times the legal limit), and she was speeding.
Charge and Sentence: Charged with gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated. In 2020, she was sentenced to 6 years in state prison after pleading guilty.
In another case, in California in 2023, a repeat offender drunk driver killed TWO children (12 years and 1 yr old) while driving drunk... He's elgible for parole in 15 years.
People can KILL your kids, and get 6 years. Isn't that much worse than being groomed? It's a matter of perspective.
Prison is too good for child sex abusers. They’ll have sex with anything, and prison will be just another playing field to them. They need to be executed.
There is no ‘cure’ except a lead slug..................
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