13 things about Chula Vista, California’s Jacqueline Ma

Jacqueline K. Ma is a resident of Chula Vista, San Diego County, California, United States. The city is home to Chula Vista Christian University, the Living Coast Discovery Center, North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre, OnStage Playhouse and Sesame Place San Diego.

A San Diego judge just sentenced former ‘teacher of the year’ Jacqueline Ma to 30 years to life in prison. She will be eligible for parole after 30 years.

Ma cried as she read a prepared statement admitting to sex crimes against two former students. pic.twitter.com/cMspDbe2l7

— ABC 10News San Diego (@10News) May 9, 2025

BIOGRAPHY

Ma is an Asian-American woman who used to work as a teacher. She is an alumna of Whitney High School in Cerritos, Los Angeles County, California and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in La Jolla, San Diego, San Diego County, California.

Aside from Chula Vista, Ma has lived in other parts of California including Anaheim, Artesia, La Jolla and San Diego. Here are 13 more things about her:

1. From 2007 to 2011, she attended the UCSD where she earned her bachelor’s degree in biology.
2. From September 2011 to May 2012, she was a youth leader at Jackie Robinson Family YMCA in San Diego.
3. From June 2012 to July 2012, she was a fourth-grade classroom assistant at Balboa Elementary School in Glendale, Los Angeles County.
4. From July 2012 to August 2012, she was a third-grade classroom assistant at Vista Grande Elementary School in San Diego.
5. From October 2012 to March 2013, she was a third-grade student teacher at Santa Margarita Elementary School in Santa Margarita, San Luis Obispo County, California.
6. From April 2013 to June 2013, she was a kindergarten student teacher at Kimbrough Elementary School in San Diego.
7. In June 2013, she earned her master’s degree in education from the UCSD.
8. In July 2013, she became a fifth-grade classroom teacher at Lincoln Acres Elementary School in National City, San Diego County.
9. In 2022, she, Stephanie Cluxton, Juanita Nuñez, Melissa Rains and Aimee McCoy were named named San Diego County Teacher of the Year.
10. From December 30, 2022 to March 1, 2023, she allegedly groomed and abused an underage boy.
11. In 2023, she was arrested.
12. In 2025, she was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
13. On February 2, 2025, she turned 36.

TIMELINE

After Ma’s arrest in 2023, police found evidence that years before abusing a boy from 2022 to 2023, she also groomed a boy, then 11. At her sentencing hearing in 2025, she issued an apology.

2023

• On March 6, 2023, the National City Police Department received a report that she possibly had an inappropriate relationship with a former student, then 12.
• At around 8:00a.m. on March 7, 2023, she was arrested at Lincoln Acres Elementary School on campus away from students. 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 and booked into the Las Colinas Women’s Detention Facility in Santee, San Diego County. She was released after posting $100,000 bond.
• On March 9, 2023, she was arrested again on additional felony charges and booked again into the Las Colinas Women’s Detention Facility.
• On March 16, 2023, she was denied bail.

2024

• She was set to start trial in Chula Vista Superior Court in December 2024 but in November 2024, a judge agreed to move it back to April 14, 2025.

2025

• On February 5, 2025, she pleaded guilty to possessing material containing a minor engaged in or simulating sexual conduct, a lewd act involving a second child under 14 and two counts of lewd acts with a child under age 14 with duress.
• On May 9, 2025, she was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison in Chula Vista Superior Court and required to register as a sex offender.