Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small took office after the previous mayor’s fraud scandal… but now Small is dealing with his own scandal.
Small was charged Monday with a litany of offenses, including an accusation of using a broom to knock his teenage daughter unconscious.
“The defendants physically and emotionally abused their 15/16-year-old-daughter on multiple occasions,” Atlantic County prosecutors said in a news release.
Prosecutors filed charges not only for child endangerment, but also for two counts of assault and for “Terroristic Threats.”
“During one incident, Marty Small, Sr. is alleged to have hit his daughter multiple times in the head with a broom causing her to lose consciousness,” the prosecution wrote.
“Another incident alleged that Marty Small, Sr., during an argument with his daughter, continuously threatened to hurt her by ‘earth slamming’ her down the stairs, grabbing her head and throwing her to the ground, and smacking the weave out of her head. Another incident involved Marty Small, Sr. punching his daughter repeatedly in her legs causing bruising.”
Superintendent of Schools La’Quetta Small, the mayor’s wife, stands accused of dragging the girl by her hair and then beating her with a belt, leaving marks on her shoulders. She faces charges for assault and child endangerment.
“It is alleged that La’Quetta Small, during one incident, punched her daughter multiple times on her chest,” the prosecution recounted. “Another incident alleged that La’Quetta Small punched her daughter in the mouth during an argument.”
Both Smalls were issued summonses with the charges against them.
At a news conference earlier this month, Small acknowledged a state search of his home, but he attributed the search to a “private family issue” and not a crime.
“We’re going through family therapy,” Mayor Small said at the time. “That’s what this should be, a family matter.”
Small was appointed to the mayoralty in 2019 after the previous mayor’s guilty plea for wire fraud. Now, Small is facing charges for a crime of his own… and he’s eating his words.
Normally, the defense remains quiet immediately after a criminal charge, but the Smalls’ legal team has been speaking to the press. Defense attorney Ed Jacobs described the allegations as pertaining only to the Smalls’ private lives, not their official duties.
Speaking to an Associated Press reporter, the defense lawyer described the issue as “a private family matter” related to “the challenges that Mayor Small and his wife have dealt with raising a teenage daughter.”
Jacobs said that the daughter wasn’t removed from her parents’ house.
“This is an intact family,” Jacobs said. “She’s right where she belongs.”
The Horn editorial team and the Associated Press contributed to this article.