Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr. and his wife, La’Quetta, the city’s superintendent of schools, have been arraigned on child endangerment and other charges for supposedly beating their teenage daughter on numerous occasions, prosecutors said Wednesday.
In an arraignment handed down by a New Jersey grand jury, Mr. Small, 50, and his wife, La’Quetta Small, 47, were charged with second-degree endangering of the welfare of a child, according to the Atlantic County prosecutor’s office. Mr. Small was also charged with aggravated assault and making terroristic threats.
The arraignment comes five months after the couple was first accused of physically and emotionally abusing their daughter. The abuse happened when she was 15 and 16 years old, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors described a pattern of violence by both parents over two months ending in January. Once, the prosecutors said, the mayor used a broom to hit his daughter on her head until she lost consciousness. In another episode, he punched her repeatedly in the legs, causing bruises, according to prosecutors. On another occasion, they said, Ms. Small dragged her daughter by her hair and hit her with a belt.
Mr. Small’s lawyer, Edwin Jacobs, said in an interview that his client denied the charges and stressed that the indictment did not accuse Mr. Small of official misconduct in his role as mayor. Mr. Small will “absolutely not” resign, Mr. Jacobs said.
“In fact, since elected mayor, Mayor Small has faithfully discharged all the duties, responsibilities, and obligations of his office,” Mr. Jacobs said. “So there is no public element to this indictment. It is all about private family affairs within the Small household.”
Ms. Small’s lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment.
If they are found guilty, the mayor and the superintendent could face jail time. Second-degree child endangerment, the charge both parents face, can be punished with five to 10 years in prison, according to prosecutors.
The principal of Atlantic City High School, Constance Days-Chapman, 39, has also been accused of failing to report signs of abuse and was indicted last week on a charge of endangering the welfare of a child.
According to a news gotten from the Atlantic County prosecutor’s office, a 15-year-old female student told Ms. Days-Chapman in December that she was being physically abused by her parents; the release does not state whether the student was the Smalls’ daughter. In March, Ms. Days-Chapman was charged with several counts of official misconduct and one count of hindering apprehension.
Ms. Days-Chapman’s lawyer, Lee Vartan, said on Wednesday that his client is innocent and intends to fight the charges.
In May, Mr Vartan told a local news outlet that his client had been “collateral damage” in the case and that she had been targeted because of her relationship with the mayor. Ms. Days-Chapman also served as the manager of Mr. Small’s 2021 re-election campaign.
The Smalls’ home was searched in March, and the authorities seized several laptops and two cell phones, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported at the time. Both parents were initially charged shortly after the search.
Mr. Small, who took office in 2019 after his predecessor resigned and pleaded guilty to a corruption charge, is the fifth Atlantic City mayor to face charges since the 1980s. He was elected to a full term in 2022, the same year Ms. Small was appointed to serve a term of four and a half years as the city’s superintendent of schools.
The couple will be arraigned in the next two or three weeks, according to the prosecutor’s office.
