Atlantic City, NJ: The Atlantic City Mayor and his wife have been charged after allegations that the couple abused their teenage daughter.
They were charged with second-degree harming the welfare of a child on Monday by the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office. Marty Small, Sr., 50, and his wife, La’Quetta Small, 47, are accused of abusing their 15- and 16-year-old daughter.
The office also said that Marty was charged with third-degree terroristic threats, third-degree aggravated assault, and disorderly persons simple assault. La’Quetta, who is the director of schools in Atlantic City, is charged with three separate counts of disorderly persons simple assault.
Marty is accused of abusing his daughter between December 2023 and January 2024, when he reportedly “hit her multiple times with a broom,” making her “lose consciousness,” according to a news release. He is accused of “repeatedly” punching his daughter in the legs, which caused bruises.
Furthermore, the police say that La’Quetta “punched” her daughter at least twice, with one instance where she hit her “multiple times on the chest.” It is also said that she pulled her daughter “by the hair” and hit her with a belt.
The Special Victims Unit of the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office looked into the cases, according to the office.
He did say in a statement to Associated Press and The New York Times that the case “has nothing to do with any wrongdoing in the mayor’s office.” Jacobs also said that it was “a private family matter,” which included “the difficulties Mayor Small and his wife have faced in raising a teenage daughter.”
“This is an intact family,” he told the AP, adding that the couple’s daughter had not been taken away. She is where she should be.
Reports say that police started looking into abuse claims at the Small family home in late January after their teenage daughter wrote “abuse” on a mental health activity at school and said she would “like a counselor,” as shown in a criminal complaint seen by NBC Philadelphia.
The teen then told someone at her high school about the abuse, and that person told the director. A report was then sent to the Department of Child Protection and Permanency (DCP&P) by the director. During a telehealth session around that time, the teen is also said to have told the therapist that her parents had been physically and mentally abusing her, citing three separate incidents.
Someone searched Small’s house on March 28. A few days later, his family went to a news conference where he said he “had nothing to hide,” according to NBC Philadelphia.