A former Horizon Science Academy teacher has pleaded guilty to reduced sex-crime charges after investigators said she had sexual contact with a 15-year-old student, moving a Columbus school misconduct case toward sentencing more than 11 months after it began.
Jamelah Daboubi, now 28, admitted guilt on Feb. 4 in Franklin County Common Pleas Court to gross sexual imposition and unlawful sexual conduct with a minor after prosecutors first pursued sexual battery charges. The plea matters because it shifts the case from accusation to formal admissions in court, but it does not end the matter. A judge still must decide the final sentence after a hearing set for Friday was continued, leaving the next court date unsettled in a case that drew attention across Columbus because it centered on a teacher, a teenage student and a school’s response to an off-campus report.
The public record traces the case to April 2, 2025, during spring break, when police went to a home on Salado Creek Drive after a woman who had guardianship of the boy reported that he was missing and saw his teacher’s car outside the residence. According to court records and the Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office, the woman approached the vehicle and found Daboubi there with the 15-year-old student, who was in one of her 10th grade classes. Officers later spoke with the boy, and prosecutors said he told them he and Daboubi “had been having a relationship that involved kissing and touching.” The next day, investigators took the boy for a forensic interview and began pulling together a clearer timeline. What started as a family member looking for a teenager quickly turned into a criminal case built on statements, digital records and the power imbalance between an adult teacher and a minor student.
Investigators soon focused on the student’s phone, which prosecutors described as a major source of evidence. They said the device showed hundreds of phone calls and thousands of text messages between Daboubi and the boy, including messages in which the two said they loved each other. Public reporting also said the records pointed to contact that lasted for months before the April encounter. Court filings and news accounts do not publicly answer every question, however. They do not spell out exactly when the relationship began, how often the two met in person away from school, or why prosecutors and defense lawyers agreed to amend the original charges before the plea. The school also entered the public record within weeks. In an April 21 letter to families and staff, Principal Ugur Zengince wrote that “the school took swift and appropriate action” by placing the staff member on leave and then ending her employment. The letter said administrators had no indication at that time of concerns involving other students.
The case drew unusual attention in Columbus because it did not surface through a school audit, a long-running internal complaint or a broad public investigation. It surfaced in a simple, sudden way: a relative was looking for a teenager during spring break, recognized a familiar car and walked up to it. That detail shaped much of the public reaction because it made the case feel immediate and personal rather than distant or procedural. It also placed pressure on the school to explain what it knew and when it acted. In the same April letter, administrators said the reported conduct happened off campus and outside school hours, and they said law enforcement was notified right away. The school told families it was reinforcing expectations on professional boundaries and mandatory reporting and making counselors available for students who needed support. Those steps did not settle the criminal questions, but they did show that the school had moved to separate from Daboubi well before the case reached an indictment and plea.
The legal path then moved in stages. Daboubi was arrested in May 2025, and local court coverage at the time said she was due in court on May 28. On June 27, the Franklin County grand jury indicted her in the case, and the prosecutor’s office announced that her arraignment was scheduled for July 11 at 1 p.m. Over the months that followed, the matter stayed in Franklin County Common Pleas Court and moved through pretrial proceedings. By early this year, the focus changed from whether charges would stand to what resolution both sides would accept. Court records later showed that on Feb. 4, Daboubi pleaded guilty to amended counts of gross sexual imposition and unlawful sexual conduct with a minor. Recent local reports said those offenses carry a combined maximum prison term of 18 months. They also said the court recommended five years of community control, continued counseling, community service and the surrender of Daboubi’s teaching license. As part of the plea, she also must register as a Tier II sex offender.
Even with the plea in place, several practical questions remain for the final stage of the case. A judge still must impose sentence, and recent reporting said a sentencing hearing scheduled for Friday was continued without a new date being announced. That leaves the courtroom outcome unresolved even though Daboubi has already admitted guilt to the amended charges. Public reports reviewed Monday did not include a detailed statement from Daboubi explaining the plea, and they did not include a public response from a defense lawyer laying out why the charges were reduced. The public record also does not show whether the court will follow every recommended condition attached to the agreement. What it does show is the range of consequences already on the table: possible jail time, long-term supervision in the community, counseling, community service, sex-offender registration and the likely end of Daboubi’s teaching career. For the student and the school community, the case has moved out of the investigative phase but not yet into final closure.
The language in the school’s letter captured the strain the case put on families and staff as the criminal process moved more slowly than the initial public shock. “We recognize that situations like this can be upsetting,” Zengince wrote, urging people to avoid rumor and speculation while the investigation continued. That message reflected a wider problem for schools facing allegations involving staff and minors: the institution has to keep classes moving while police and courts handle facts that can take months to sort out. Here, the basic outline became clear early, but the full legal resolution did not. The public learned first about a teacher and student in a car, then about phone records, then about an indictment, and only later about a plea to amended charges. Each step added detail without fully answering the central private questions that usually stay sealed in such cases, especially when a minor is involved. By Monday, the public picture remained both clearer and incomplete: the admissions are in place, but the sentence is not.
As of Monday, Daboubi remained awaiting sentencing in Franklin County, with the plea still in place and the court yet to set the next hearing. The next public milestone is a rescheduled sentencing date, which had not appeared in the latest court coverage by late Monday.
Author note: Last updated March 23, 2026.