Shocking allegations of horrific child abuse have rocked the Atlantic City, New Jersey as the city’s mayor, and his wife, have been indicted allegedly beating their teenage daughter.
According to a report from the Associated Press (AP), Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr. and his wife, La’Quetta, the city’s superintendent of schools, have been indicted on child endangerment and other charges.
Prosecutors said the indictment was made Tuesday by a grand jury that accused the power couple of child endangerment.
Marty Small also was charged with assault and making terroristic threats.
According to the AP report, prosecutors said both parents hit and emotionally abused the girl, who was 15 to 16 years old, on multiple occasions in December and January.
“All people have heard is one side of the story,” Small told the AP. “We look forward to telling our side.”
He said his daughter remains at home with her parents.
“This indictment has absolutely nothing to do with Marty Small’s tenure as mayor of Atlantic City,” said his lawyer, Ed Jacobs. “There’s no charge of corruption or any official misconduct. Marty and La’Quetta Small don’t need the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office meddling into a private family matter.”
Prosecutors unveiled disturbing claims against Small Sr., including saying that on Jan. 13, 2024 he hit his daughter multiple times in the head with a broom, causing her to lose consciousness.
Ten days earlier, they said, Small engaged in an argument with his daughter, grabbing her head and throwing her to the ground, and threatening to throw her down a flight of stairs. He threatened to “smack the weave out” of her head during the incident, according to prosecutors.
Small, a 50-year-old Democratic mayor, also is accused of punching his daughter repeatedly in the legs, causing bruising.
La’Quetta Small, 47, is accused of punching her daughter multiple times on the chest, leaving bruising. In another alleged incident, she is accused of dragging her daughter by the hair and striking her with a belt on her shoulders, leaving marks.
La’Quetta Small is also accused of punching her daughter in the mouth during an argument.
According to the AP report, the indictment of the Smalls comes less than a week after the principal of Atlantic City High School was indicted in a case stemming from the same incidents.
Constance Days-Chapman was indicted on official misconduct, child endangerment and other charges for allegedly failing to report the alleged abuse of the Smalls’ daughter to state child welfare authorities as required by law and school district policy.
Days-Chapman is a close friend of the Smalls. La’Quetta Smalls is her boss.
In December, the girl, who was 15 at the time, told Days-Chapman she was suffering continuous headaches from being beaten by her parents in their home, according to details of the indictment reported by the AP.
This is an on-going story. Check back for further developments.