A California “Teacher of the Year” winner, Jacqueline Ma, plead guilty Wednesday to lewd acts involving an 11-year-old student at an elementary school in National City, according to a report from The San Diego Union Tribune.
Ma, 35, is expected to be sentenced to 30 years to life in Chula Vista Superior Court, according to the same report. Her hearing is scheduled for May 9.
Court documents show authorities charged her with 19 felony counts, all having to do with lewd misconduct involving multiple minors.
The former teacher of the year plead guilty to two counts of lewd acts with a child under age 14, with duress, and also admitted to a lewd act involving a second child under 14, San Diego County Deputy District Attorney Drew Hart said. The educator also admitted to a count of possessing material containing a minor engaged in or simulating sexual conduct.
Hart claimed Ma leveraged trust among parents, which allowed her to be in this position. He also noted that Ma, who was employed at Lincoln Acres Elementary School, was a well-respected member of the community.
Ma’s attorney, Patrick Griffin, claimed, “She has done nothing but express genuine remorse from the beginning of this,” the outlet reports.
In August 2022, she was awarded San Diego County “Teacher of the Year.” Seven months later, police arrested her.
Detective Colleen Stanich read messages where Ma and one of the students professed their love for each other at her preliminary hearing in 2023, according to a San Diego Union Tribune report from Dec. 13, 2023. One message allegedly read, “Sometimes I think you don’t understand that I am a kid still and this is my only real relationship.”
Judge Maryann D’Addezio, who presided over the hearing Wednesday, echoed Hart, saying the evidence was “overwhelmingly clear that the defendant took advantage of two children.”
Prosecutors alleged that the relationship between Ma and the students lasted several months. Over this time period, she sent multiple sexual photos and “sexually charged” text messages to the students, according to her own testimony, the outlet reported.
Ma was interviewed by Kusi News in August 2022 about being awarded “Teacher of the Year.”
“Definitely social, emotional learning, and personal confidence is something I try to push into my classroom and my students,” she claimed. “Just being that champion for those students.”
The National City Clerk Office and National City Police Department did not respond to the Daily Caller for comment at the time of publication.
