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A highly-regarded elementary school teacher from California has been arrested and charged with sexually abusing a former student, according to police reports.
Jacqueline Ma, a 34-year-old sixth-grade teacher at Lincoln Acres Elementary School in National City, is facing three counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14 and three counts of oral copulation with a child under 14, according to records obtained by NBC 7 from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.
Ma's arrest came after the concerned mother of a 13-year-old former student of Ma’s contacted National City police, reporting that she suspected her child was "possibly having an inappropriate relationship" with the teacher.
On Tuesday, Ma was arrested on the school campus around 8 a.m., although district officials have stated that she was not near any students at the time of her arrest.
Ma was one of five teachers who received Cox Communication’s 2022-2023 “San Diego County Teacher of the Year” award.