Atlantic City mayor charged with abusing teenage daughter
The mayor of New Jersey’s Atlantic City, Marty Small, and his wife – the local school district superintendent – were charged on Monday with abusing and assaulting their teenage daughter on multiple occasions, including hitting her in the head with a broom and knocking her unconscious.
The Atlantic county prosecutor’s office said it filed charges of endangering the welfare of a child against both parents.
Marty Small also was charged with making terroristic threats, aggravated assault and simple assault. La’Quetta Small was additionally charged with three separate counts of simple assault.
The prosecutor’s office said in a news release that “the defendants physically and emotionally abused their 15/16-year-old-daughter on multiple occasions” in December 2023 and January 2024.
It said that in one instance, Marty Small is alleged to have hit his daughter multiple times in the head with a broom, causing her to lose consciousness. He also is accused of punching his daughter in the legs multiple times, leaving bruises, and threatening to throw her down a staircase and “smack the weave out of her head”, the release said.
La’Quetta Small, who is Atlantic City’s superintendent of schools, is accused of punching her daughter multiple times in the chest, leaving bruises, and punching her in the mouth during a separate argument. La’Quetta Small also is accused of dragging her daughter by the hair and striking her with a belt on her shoulders, leaving marks, according to the prosecutor’s office.
Reached by telephone, Small declined to comment. He referred a reporter to his lawyer Ed Jacobs, who emphasized that the charges do not involve public corruption or any impropriety in the mayor’s discharge of his official duties.
Instead, they involve “a private family matter, including the challenges that mayor Small and his wife have dealt with raising a teenage daughter”, Jacobs said.
The attorney would not address the substance of the charges regarding the couple’s interactions with their daughter. But he said she has not been removed from their home.
“This is an intact family,” Jacobs said. “She’s right where she belongs.”
The president and vice-president of the Atlantic City board of education did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment on Monday.
Both Smalls were issued summonses with the charges against them.
Small had previously held a news conference in city hall to say that a search of his home in late March involved “a private family issue” – not a crime.
Small said at the news conference that he and his wife have been interacting with state child welfare authorities and have nothing to hide.
“We’re going through family therapy, and that’s what this should be, a family matter,” he said.
A spokesperson for the state division of child protection and permanency said the agency cannot publicly discuss its cases to protect the privacy of those involved.
Small’s wife and two children attended the news conference with him but did not speak, and left before it was completed.
In the US, call or text the Childhelp abuse hotline on 800-422-4453 or visit their website for more resources and to report child abuse or DM for help. For adult survivors of child abuse, help is available at ascasupport.org. In the UK, the NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800; adult survivors can seek help at Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International