Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr. (D) and his wife La’Quetta Small, the superintendent of Atlantic City Public Schools, were arrested Wednesday after a grand jury handed down an indictment accusing the couple of child endangerment.
The indictment alleges that the Smalls both physically and emotionally abused their teenage daughter on multiple instances. Prosecutors allege that Mr. Small stuck his daughter with a broom multiple times on Jan. 13, 2024. A little more than a week earlier, the mayor is alleged to have thrown the girl down a flight of stairs.
The indictment claims the 50-year-old Democrat threatened to “smack the weave out” of her head. Mrs. Small, 47, is accused of punching her daughter in the chest which resulted in bruising.
“Marty and La’Quetta are a good mom and dad raising a teenage child,” said Ed Jacobs, the Smalls’ attorney. “They are totally innocent and will be totally exonerated.”
Small became mayor of the casino town in 2019 after Frank Gilliam resigned after he admitted to stealing $86K from a youth basketball program he founded called the Atlantic City Starz.
During his time in office, Small championed the effort to demolish the former Trump Plaza casino along the Boardwalk. Trump critics said the implosion marked a symbolic end to the former president’s time in Atlantic City.
Indictment Allegations
The Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office has charged both Smalls with child endangerment. Persons found guilty of such a charge face between five and 10 years in prison and fines of up to $150K.
Atlantic City High School Principal Constance Days-Chapman had earlier been indicted for official misconduct on allegations that the Smalls’ daughter came to her to report the abuse she was suffering at home. Instead of relaying that information to law enforcement, Days-Chapman, a close friend of the Smalls, only told her boss about her daughter’s grumblings. Her lawyer says she’s innocent.
During Casino.org’s coverage of the allegations earlier this year, rumors were floated that the Smalls possibly became enraged with their daughter for becoming pregnant with twins. The gossip suggested that she miscarried because of her parents’ abuse, something that could have resulted in homicide charges.
The indictment doesn’t include any reports of those allegations. Jacobs said in April that the pregnancy reports were an “egregious rumor.”
Much of the evidence used to indict the smalls came from videos that their daughter’s boyfriend captured on his iPad. In one clip, the mayor can be heard saying, “Don’t make me hurt you!”
AC Corruption
Jacobs says Small won’t resign from his mayorship.
This indictment has absolutely nothing to do with Marty Small’s tenure as mayor,” Jacobs said. “There’s no charge of corruption or any official misconduct. Marty and La’Quetta Small don’t need the Atlantic County prosecutor’s Office meddling into a private family matter.”
Though it’s not official corruption, the Small indictment is yet another black eye on Atlantic City politics.
Since 1970, four Atlantic City mayors have been arrested on corruption charges. Those mayors committed an array of crimes from intimidating small business owners in exchange for financial kickbacks to utilizing the Mafia to bankroll their political campaigns.
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