A former teacher at Lincoln Acres Elementary School in National City suspected of sexually abusing two minors pleaded guilty Wednesday.
Jacqueline Ma, 35, who was named one of San Diego County’s 2022 Teachers of the Year, is slated to be sentenced to 30 years to life in state prison following her pleas to four sex crime counts, including lewd acts on a child and possessing matter depicting a minor engaging in sexual conduct.
Ma was arrested in March 2023 – less than seven months after the Teacher of the Year ceremony – on allegations that she groomed a boy and entered into a sexual relationship with him when he was 12 years old. New charges involving a second boy were soon added.
She faced up to 165 years to life in state prison prior to Wednesday’s change of plea. Sentencing is scheduled for May 9.
Police were first alerted after the mother of one of the victims reported finding messages between her son and Ma.
At a preliminary hearing, National City police Detective Colleen Stanich testified that Ma directed the boy – referred to in court as John Doe 1 – to delete some of the messages or to communicate with her in “vanish mode” so the communications would disappear.
The detective said she later spoke with Ma about her connection to the boy and Ma told her, “It’s complicated and I may have blurred the lines.”
A subsequent search of Ma’s cell phone turned up numerous text messages within a hidden application.
Many of those messages described sex acts between Ma and the boy, while others included explicit photographs of John Doe 1, Stanich testified. In other messages, Ma described being in love with John Doe 1 and being saddened that their relationship would not last because he would eventually start dating girls his own age.
Prosecutors later added charges against Ma regarding a second boy, referred to as John Doe 2.
At the preliminary hearing, prosecutors alleged Ma exchanged a series of sexually charged text messages with John Doe 2 starting when he was 11.
John Doe 2 told police that he and Ma had devised a “plan” for him to meet with her in her classroom, Stanich testified. When he entered the classroom, Ma took off her shirt and “tried to get close to him,” but the boy left the classroom because he was afraid, the detective said.
Stanich testified that Ma groomed both boys by buying them gifts, including clothes and gaming-related items.
