Posted on: November 14, 2024, 01:58h.
Last updated on: November 14, 2024, 01:58h.
The indictment against Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr. (D) regarding allegations of child endangerment escalated last week when the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office added a witness tampering charge.
In September, Small, 50, and his wife, Dr. La’Quetta, 47, who is the superintendent of Atlantic City Public Schools, were indicted by a grand jury on second-degree child endangerment charges. The mayor, the top local government official in the nation’s second-largest casino market, was additionally charged with third-degree terroristic threats and third-degree aggravated assault.
While the nation was focused on the 2024 election last week, the charges against Small grew when the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office alleged the mayor asked his daughter to lie about how she sustained a head injury. Prosecutors claim that Small asked his daughter to backtrack on what she previously told law enforcement.
The September indictment included allegations that the mayor on Jan. 13, 2024, hit his daughter in the head with a broomstick multiple times causing her to lose consciousness. An earlier alleged incident on Jan. 3, 2024, accused Small of verbally threatening to throw the teen down a flight of stairs and to “smack the weave out” of her head.
Another incident involved the mayor alleging punching his daughter in the legs so hard that it left bruises. Marty and La’Quetta have pleaded not guilty.
Lawyer Dismisses Latest Charge
The Smalls are accused of endangering the welfare of their teenage daughter through both physical and emotional abuse. Their attorney, Ed Jacobs, says the witness tampering charge levied against the mayor is the latest by the county prosecutor’s office in what he believes is a smear campaign.
Calling the witness tampering allegation “sheer nonsense,” Jacobs said the mayor simply encouraged his daughter to tell the truth.
When a parent encourages a child to be accurate and truthful in statements to investigators, that parent is not witness tampering. That parent is doing what a good, responsible parent should do. And that is precisely what Marty Small has done,” said Jacobs.
It’s unclear if the Small’s daughter is still living at home. After police raided the Smalls’ home in April, the mayor held a public conference, with his daughter standing by his side, in which he declared the investigation was related to a “family issue” that should be allowed to remain a “private family matter.”
Case Could Shakeup AC Government, School District
If the Smalls are found guilty, each faces between five and 10 years in prison and fines of up to $150K. A guilty verdict — the Smalls are being tried together — would also shake up Atlantic City’s governance and the casino town’s public school district.
Along with Dr. Small, Atlantic City High School Principal Constance Days-Chapman is charged in the Smalls case.
Prosecutors allege the Small’s daughter told Days-Chapman about the abuse she was suffering at home. However, instead of relaying that information to law enforcement and child welfare authorities, as she’s legally obligated to do under state law and district policy, the principal only told the mayor and his wife, with whom she has long been friends. Days-Chapman is charged with eight counts, including official misconduct and child endangerment.
Days-Chapman is additionally the president of the Atlantic City Democratic Committee.
