California 'Teacher of the Year' sentenced to 30 years for sexual abuse of students
A former California "Teacher of the Year" was sentenced on Friday to 30 years in prison for sexually abusing two of her sixth-grade students.
Jacqueline Ma, 36, pleaded guilty in February to two counts of forcible lewd acts on a child, one count of lewd acts on a child and one count of possessing child sexual abuse material, the San Diego County District Attorney's Office said in a news release.
"This defendant violated the trust she had with her students in the most extreme and traumatic way possible and her actions are despicable," District Attorney Summer Stephan said. "Her victims will have to deal with a lifetime of negative effects and her 30-year sentence is appropriate."
Ma taught at Lincoln Acres Elementary School in National City and was the former San Diego County "Teacher of the Year" for the 2022-2023 school year.
Ma was allowed to address the public before the judge handed down her sentence, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
"I abused my authority, I exerted my power and control over them, and I deceived them," Ma said while handcuffed and crying in court. "Boys this age should be playing outside, feeling carefree … I ripped away their childhood."
Ma apologized to the victims and their families, calling her crimes selfish and that she had "disgraced the teaching profession."
"I lied to their faces while secretly abusing their sons," Ma said. "I just pray for extra protection and strength for all those (affected)."
Ma had groomed young boys with "gifts, food and special attention and even completed their homework for them," the district attorney's office said.
Ma was arrested in March 2023 after prosecutors said the parents of a 12-year-old boy discovered inappropriate messages on a family tablet between their son and Ma.
Despite the boy's parents not allowing him to have social media or his own electronics, Ma was able to communicate with him through an unsanctioned after-school program and through a school chat application, the district attorney's office said.
Ma groomed the boy for over a year before she sexually assaulted him in her classroom over a period of three months while his parents believed he was participating in an after-school basketball program, prosecutors said.
Further investigation into Ma revealed that she had targeted and sexually assaulted a second victim, an 11-year-old boy, in 2020, according to the district attorney's office.
"No child deserves what this defendant did and I hope this sentence brings a measure of justice to the victims, their families and the community that was left reeling from this defendant's crimes," Stephan said.
Ma must serve the full 30 years before she is eligible for parole, the Union-Tribune reported.
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