KTLA

Ex-Florida teacher gets 12 years in prison for child sex abuse after judge ignores castration request

Mark Lua is seen in a photo released by the Escambia County Jail.

A former Florida high school teacher was sentenced to 12 years in prison for sexually abusing students after the judge ignored his request to be castrated instead.

Mark Lua told a judge in Pensacola Wednesday that he wanted to raise his daughter, so he volunteered for chemical or even physical castration if that would spare him a prison sentence.


The 32-year-old former English teacher pleaded guilty last year to sexual assault charges involving current and former students.

Prosecutor Erin Ambrose told Judge Thomas Dannheisser that Lua targeted vulnerable girls.