California 'Teacher of the Year' sentenced to 30 years for sexual abuse of 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.
Luxury Real Estate Moguls Hit With New Allegations In Sex Trafficking Case
Ma was allowed to address the public before the judge handed down her sentence, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
Read On The Fox News App
"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.
205 Arrested In Fbi Child Sex Operation, Patel And Bondi Announce
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.Original article source: California 'Teacher of the Year' sentenced to 30 years for sexual abuse of students
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Falling sequoia branch kills Los Angeles native hiking in Yosemite
A 29-year-old Los Angeles native living in Northern California was killed by a wayward sequoia branch while hiking in Yosemite National Park earlier this month. The tragedy unfolded July 19 as Angela Lin and her boyfriend, David Hua, were hiking through two dozen or so giant sequoias in the park's Tuolumne Grove, about a mile from the parking lot, SFGATE reported. Hua said they heard a loud cracking sound from above and that branches began to fall from above. 'One big branch struck Angela, and then there were a bunch of smaller ones directly behind me,' he told the outlet. After bracing for impact, Hua said he opened his eyes and saw Lin laying on her back, with blood pooling around her head. He immediately called emergency services and administered CPR until a responding park ranger took over. Paramedics declared the 29-year-old dead at the scene, telling her boyfriend that she was likely killed instantly by the branch. While Tuolumne Grove was closed for about a week, family members, friends and loved ones have been frustrated with the lack of information provided by the park service, which has not issued a statement on the fatal accident. A Yosemite public affairs official would only tell SFGATE 'the incident remains under investigation.' Ventura community mourns loss of cafe co-owner killed in Reno mass shooting After the unimaginable loss, Hua expressed concerns about maintenance, awareness of potentially dangerous trees and safety on the popular trails. Described as a kind, sincere person who had genuine and deep connections with others, the 29-year-old attended UC Berkeley and, later, the University of Texas at Austin, before ultimately taking a job at Google as a software engineer and living in Mountain View. In her memory, a charitable fundraiser has been organized, with proceeds benefitting KQED Inc., a PBS member station in the Bay Area. Lin will be laid to rest in August in Whittier in a funeral service open only to invited family and friends. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Woman, 8-month-old girl from California vanish after routine doctor visit
A 36-year-old mother of four from Sacramento County and her 8-month-old daughter vanished more than two weeks ago after a doctor's appointment in Fresno, leaving family members desperate and law enforcement without any leads. Whisper Owen, 36, and her daughter, Sandra McCarty, were last seen on July 15, according to a news release from the Fresno County Sheriff's Office. The pair left Elk Grove, where Owen and her partner live with their three other children, at around 4 a.m. that day to make the approximately 160-mile drive to Fresno. Owen's mother, Vickie Torres, told the Los Angeles Times that the 36-year-old stopped at her house before the appointment to change Sandra's diaper and then checked in with the doctor's office at 8:30 a.m. After the 8-month-old's doctor visit, Owen and her daughter visited her brother's Fresno home until about 2:45 p.m. that afternoon before once again stopping at her mother's and, eventually, leaving Fresno around 5 p.m. At around 8 p.m., a license plate reader in Atwater, approximately 65 miles from Fresno, spotted Owen's silver 2006 Chevrolet Trailblazer, where Torres believes she likely stopped to use the restroom and, maybe, get baby formula for Sandra, The Times reported. Surveillance footage from a nearby smoke shop in Atwater showed Owen changing Sandra's diaper in the parking lot about a half hour before, authorities said. No one has seen or heard from the pair since. Owen's mother said it's not uncommon for her to stay in Fresno for days at a time, so when she didn't hear from her daughter's partner the night that she never made it home, it didn't occur to her to be worried. It wasn't until three days later that Owen's partner, who has not been identified, called Torres to ask about Owen. 'So then everything started to get scary at that point,' Torres told The Times. The Fresno County Sheriff's Office said that, so far, no information has been found to explain the pair's disappearance, and as of this week, the Fresno Police Department's Missing Persons Unit said there were no new developments in the case. In a statement to The Times, the police department said investigators haven't found anything that would suggest foul play was involved. Falling sequoia branch kills Los Angeles native hiking in Yosemite Frustrated with the lack of headway in the case, Torres said she reached out to the Sacramento Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for help, though she added that they have not been responsive. Family members, including Owen's partner, have been searching the roads between Fresno and Sacramento, putting up flyers and posting information about the distressing situation on social media. Torres told The Times that Owen's other children are 'losing their minds' and that her daughter would never just run off and leave her other kids behind. Owen is described as 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighing around 145 pounds with blue eyes and brown hair, while her daughter Sandra is described as 1 foot 10 inches tall, weighing around 17 pounds with green eyes and brown hair. Officials with the Fresno County Sheriff's Department urged anyone who sees Owen and her daughter to immediately call 911. 'It just makes it really hard for me as her mother to shut my brain off and not constantly imagine what could've happened to her,' Torres told The Times. 'And that beautiful little baby. God, I hope, whatever happened, she's with her mama.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Northern California ATM bombing leads to arrest in Newport Beach
The last member of a notorious Chilean bank robbery crew that stole millions in a West Coast crime spree was nabbed last week in Newport Beach, federal officials announced. In a news release, officials with the U.S. Department of Justice said the crew made off with more than $ 4 million in cash between May and October 2024, hitting more than 29 banks and credit unions in California, Oregon and Washington while allegedly using an Airbnb in Welches, Ore. as their base of operation. A well organized and equipped team, prosecutors said they would stay in other rentals near ATMs they were targeting and were armed with sledgehammers, blowtorches, surgical masks while disguised as construction workers in vests and construction hats. Using rental cars from the black market, the South American crew were known to use signal jammers that interfered with Wi-Fi-enabled alarm systems and used spray paint to cover surveillance cameras. On Oct. 31, 2024, 11 of the 12 suspects were indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of bank robbery and conspiracy to commit bank robbery. Federal agents arrested crew members in California, Florida and Chile, while their equipment in the Oregon Airbnb was seized. Investigators recovered clothing in the rental that could be used for DNA matching and also located a GoPro camera with a memory card. Woman, 8-month-old girl from California vanish after routine doctor visit In May, agents found video files on the memory card with one of the named defendants – Camilo Guzman Sepulveda – and the 12th suspect. Using facial recognition technology, he was later identified as Diego Ananias Arellano Diaz. Arellano Diaz had been going by the alias Fabio Hernandez and had been the subject of a February arrest in L.A. County for assault with a deadly weapon on a firefighter or police officer. After his release on $75,000 bond, he disappeared for five months. He resurfaced on July 20 after police in the Bay Area City of San Ramon identified him as a suspect involved in blowing up an ATM at a Target store in the area. Though details are limited and it's unclear how law enforcement tracked him, he was taken into custody July 29 in Newport Beach. If convicted as charged, Arellano Diaz faces a maximum 25 years in federal prison. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
