A California teacher who is accused of abusing her 12-year-old student and allegedly kept trinkets with his initials, love letters stashed in her classroom and a picture of him in her wallet, has pleaded not guilty.
Jacqueline Ma, 34, a sixth-grade teacher at Lincoln Acres Elementary School in National City was arrested twice in a week on multiple charges in connection to her alleged relationship with the pre-teen, now 13.
Investigators told Fox News that as part of damning evidence mounting against the ‘San Diego County Teacher of the Year’ they also found text exchanges in which Ma became frustrated with the victim when he didn’t message back quick enough, as well as explicit images.
Ma is accused of also coercing the victim to send videos back to her and is alleged to have been ‘grooming him, giving him gifts, helping him with school and praising him’ to maintain a relationship with the child for months and ‘even more than a year,’ Drew Hart, deputy district attorney for San Diego County said.
California teacher Jacqueline Ma who is accused of abusing her 12-year-old student and allegedly kept trinkets with his initials, love letters stashed in her classroom and a picture of him in her wallet, has pleaded not guilty in court
The 34-year-old pleaded not guilty to all charges and her defense lawyer argued for the accused pedophile to be released on bond, but the judge sided with the prosecution and remanded her to Las Colinas Women’s Detention Center in Santee without bail.
Ma was first arrested on March 7 when she was charged with three counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14 and three counts of oral copulation with a child under 14 but released on bond.
The next day, she was arrested again and charged with sexual misconduct, witness intimidation and multiple counts of child pornography in connection with the same sex abuse case.
After her second arrest, National School District Superintendent Leighangela Brady described the allegations as ‘deeply troubling’ in an email to Fox News.
‘Our community learned that Jacqueline Ma, a teacher at Lincoln Acres Elementary School, was re-arrested by law enforcement as their continued investigation into allegations of inappropriate conduct with minors secured additional information to press felony charges,’ Brady said.
Ma has been placed on leave and ‘will not be returning to the campus,’ Brady added.
‘While this entire situation is indeed deeply troubling, we appreciate that law enforcement is dedicating resources to secure the facts and keeping our school district and community informed of their progress,’ the superintendent said.
‘I am grateful to our entire school community for facing this situation with a shared commitment to do all that we can to maintain our children’s education without interruption.’
Ma faces 29 years in state prison if convicted on all charges, according to prosecutors.
Her now disabled LinkedIn page said she’d been a teacher at the school since 2013.
She was named one of the ‘Teachers of the Year’ by the San Diego County Office of Education for the 2022-2023 school year.
Ma is alleged to have been ‘grooming him, giving him gifts, helping him with school and praising him’ to maintain a relationship with the child for months and ‘even more than a year,’ Drew Hart (pictured) deputy district attorney for San Diego County said
She was named one of the ‘Teachers of the Year’ by the San Diego County Office of Education for the 2022-2023 school year. Ma faces 29 years in state prison if convicted on all charges according to prosecutors
Ma was a sixth-grade teacher at Lincoln Acres Elementary School in National City
A blurb about her award reads: ‘She considers the relationships she maintains with her students her greatest accomplishments.
‘She has spearheaded a schoolwide STEM improvement plan, bringing in outside organizations, including the Salk Institute, Scripps Institute of Oceanography, the Fleet Science Center and the San Diego Zoo, and providing opportunities for students to interact with professionals doing the work to better visualize a path to a rewarding STEM career.’
Lincoln Acres Elementary School Principal Kathy Melanese said in the blurb: ‘I can’t imagine a more qualified and passionate educator to receive this honor.
‘The creativity, initiative, collaboration, and 100 percent dedication Ms. Ma has for her students and the school is immeasurable. When students leave Ms. Ma’s room, they are more confident students, more engaged citizens and more thoughtful adolescents who know they are loved.’
Police said the student victim no longer attends the school where Ma taught, and it remains unclear how the abuse started.
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