A former teacher has been sentenced to 30 years to life in prison after pleading guilty to s*xually abusing two of her former students.
Jacqueline Ma, 36, who was once honored as one of the “Teachers of the Year” in 2022, taught at Lincoln Acres Elementary School in San Diego. She pleaded guilty in February to multiple charges, including forcible lewd acts on a child and possession of child s*xual abuse material.
Ma was arrested in March 2023 after the mother of one victim reported inappropriate messages Ma had sent to her son. On May 8, 2025, she received her sentence.
San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan condemned Ma’s actions in a statement: “This defendant violated the trust she had with her students in the most extreme and traumatic way possible. Her victims will face a lifetime of negative effects, and her 30-year sentence is justified.”
“No child deserves what this defendant did,” Stephan added, “and I hope this sentence brings some justice to the victims, their families, and the community shaken by these crimes.”
According to the DA’s office, Ma groomed one student for over a year before abusing him when he was just 12 years old. When the boy’s parents limited his access to social media and electronics, Ma created an unauthorized after-school program and instructed him to communicate with her through a school chat app.
The abuse continued in the classroom for three months without the parents’ knowledge.
In 2020, Ma also s*xually assaulted another boy, then 11 years old. She gained the trust of both families through gifts, food, and attention, as well as by cultivating a respected reputation and personal involvement in the students’ academic progress.
Ma began teaching at Lincoln Acres Elementary in 2013 and was named a “Teacher of the Year” by the San Diego County Office of Education for the 2022–2023 school year.
