Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small and his wife were charged Monday with repeatedly abusing and assaulting their teenage daughter, including hitting her in the head with a broom and knocking her unconscious.
The Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office said charges of endangering the welfare of a child have been filed against both parents.
Marty Small is also charged with terroristic threats, aggravated assault and simple assault. Laquita Small was also charged with three separate counts of simple assault.
“The defendants repeatedly physically and mentally abused their 15/16-year-old daughter in December 2023 and January 2024,” the prosecutor’s office said in a press release.
In one incident, Marty Small allegedly hit her daughter in the head multiple times with a broom, causing her to lose consciousness. He is also accused of hitting his daughter on the leg multiple times, leaving bruises, and threatening to throw her down the stairs and “knock the braid off her head,” the release said.
Atlantic City school principal LaQuetta Small is accused of repeatedly punching her daughter in the chest, leaving bruises, and punching her in the mouth during a separate argument. Laquita Small is also accused of dragging her daughter’s hair and hitting her shoulder with a belt, leaving marks, according to the prosecutor’s office.
Reached by phone, Small declined to comment. He referred a reporter to his attorney, Ed Jacobs, who stressed that the charges did not involve public corruption or any misconduct by the mayor in the performance of his official duties.
Instead, they deal with “private family matters, including the challenges Mayor Small and his wife face in raising their teenage daughter,” Jacobs said.
Lawyers would not disclose the substance of the allegations regarding the couple’s interactions with their daughter. But said she was not taken from her home.
“It’s a complete 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 Monday.
Both Smalls received subpoenas containing the charges against them.
Small held a news conference at City Hall earlier this month, saying the search of his home in late March involved a “private family matter” and not a crime.
Small said at a news conference that he and his wife have been interacting with state child welfare authorities and have nothing to hide.
“We’re in family therapy and this is a family issue,” he said.
A spokesman for the state Department of Child Protection and Permanency said the department cannot discuss the case publicly 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 the meeting ended.
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