Atlantic City Mayor and Superintendent Wife Face Child Endangerment Charges

Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr. and his wife have been charged with physically and emotionally abusing their teenage daughter, weeks after dismissing the allegations.

The Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office charged Mr. Small, 50, and his wife, La’Quetta Small, 47, with second-degree endangering the welfare of a child on Monday.

Mr. Small, a Democrat, is also charged with third-degree terroristic threats, third-degree aggravated assault, and disorderly persons simple assault.

His wife, the superintendent of Atlantic City Public Schools, has been charged with disorderly individual simple assault.

Prosecutors allege that the Smalls physically and emotionally assaulted their 16-year-old daughter on many occasions between December 2023 and January 2024. The couple was accused two weeks after denying the charges at a press conference on April 1st, accompanied by their daughter.

Mayor Small stated at a press conference in the New Jersey resort town that he had “nothing to hide”. He also denied that his wife struck their daughter while his son was filming the assault, as well as what he called an “egregious rumor” that he abused his daughter while she was pregnant.

“My daughter has never been pregnant,” he stated during the news conference.

The prosecutor’s office had earlier searched Mr Small’s house and confiscated some computer devices. On the same day, the principal of Atlantic City High School, who oversaw the mayor’s re-election campaign, was charged with failing to report a child abuse accusation to a state agency. It’s unclear if the student who reported the assault was the couple’s daughter.

On Monday, the prosecutor’s office described many instances in which the Smalls allegedly assaulted their daughter.

According to police, Mr. Small whacked his daughter in the head multiple times with a broom, forcing her to lose consciousness. Prosecutors also said that the mayor had an argument with his daughter and threatened to harm her by “grabbing her head, throwing her to the ground, and smacking the weave out of her head”.

Ms Small allegedly hit her daughter several times in the chest, causing bruises. On another occasion, she dragged her daughter by her hair and hit her with a belt on the shoulders, leaving marks, according to authorities. She also allegedly punched her kid in the mouth during a fight.

The Independent contacted the mayor’s office for comment.

Mr. Small’s lawyer, Ed Jacobs, declined to comment on the abuse charges but told NBC10: “The charges filed by the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office today make no claims of public corruption or misconduct in office, or any failure by Mayor Small to properly discharge his responsibilities as mayor of Atlantic City.”

“On the contrary, they focus only on personal, private family matters.”