Current:Home > ContactAtlantic City mayor, wife indicted for allegedly beating and abusing their teenage daughter -FinanceAcademy
Atlantic City mayor, wife indicted for allegedly beating and abusing their teenage daughter
View
Date:2025-04-14 06:59:35
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr. and his wife, La’Quetta, the city’s superintendent of schools, have been indicted on child endangerment and other charges for allegedly beating their teenage daughter on numerous occasions, prosecutors said Wednesday.
The Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office said the indictment was made Tuesday by a grand jury that accused the couple of child endangerment. Marty Small also was charged with assault and making terroristic threats.
Prosecutors said both parents hit and emotionally abused the girl, who was 15 to 16 years old, on multiple occasions in December and January.
“This indictment has absolutely nothing to do with Marty Small’s tenure as mayor of Atlantic City,” said his lawyer, Ed Jacobs. “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.”
“Marty and La’Quetta are a good mom and dad raising a teenage child,” he said. “They are totally innocent and will be totally exonerated.”
Jacobs would not say whether the girl is still living at home with her parents.
Prosecutors said that on Jan. 13, 2024, Marty Small Sr. hit his daughter multiple times in the head with a broom, causing her to lose consciousness.
Ten days earlier, they said, Small engaged in an argument with his daughter, grabbing her head and throwing her to the ground, and threatening to throw her down a flight of stairs. He threatened to “smack the weave out” of her head during the incident, according to prosecutors.
The 50-year-old Democratic mayor also is accused of punching his daughter repeatedly in the legs, causing bruising.
La’Quetta Small, 47, is accused of punching her daughter multiple times on the chest, leaving bruising. In another alleged incident, she is accused of dragging her daughter by the hair and striking her with a belt on her shoulders, leaving marks.
In yet another incident, La’Quetta Small is accused of punching her daughter in the mouth during an argument.
The indictment of the Smalls came less than a week after the principal of Atlantic City High School was indicted in a case stemming from the same incidents.
Constance Days-Chapman was indicted on official misconduct, child endangerment and other charges for allegedly failing to report the alleged abuse of the Smalls’ daughter to state child welfare authorities as required by law and school district policy.
Days-Chapman is a close friend of the Smalls; La’Quetta Smalls is her boss.
According to the indictment, in December the girl, who was 15 at the time, told Days-Chapman she was suffering continuous headaches from being beaten by her parents in their home.
But instead of telling authorities, Days-Chapman instead told the Smalls.
Her lawyer says she is innocent.
___
Follow Wayne Parry on X at www.twitter.com/WayneParryAC
veryGood! (5)
Related
- Taylor Swift makes surprise visit to Kansas City children’s hospital
- $1.55 billion Mega Millions jackpot is the 3rd largest in US history
- Appeals court upholds Josh Duggar’s conviction for downloading child sex abuse images
- Kia, Hyundai among more than 200,000 vehicles recalled last week: Check car recalls here.
- Louvre will undergo expansion and restoration project, Macron says
- Inundation and Injustice: Flooding Presents a Formidable Threat to the Great Lakes Region
- Tory Lanez sentencing in Megan Thee Stallion shooting case postponed: Live updates
- Death toll rises to 7 after Russian missiles slam into Ukrainian city’s downtown area
- Justice Department, Louisville reach deal after probe prompted by Breonna Taylor killing
- European scientists make it official. July was the hottest month on record by far.
Ranking
- Taylor Swift makes surprise visit to Kansas City children’s hospital
- DC area braces for destructive evening storms, hail and tornadoes
- Woman arrested in plot to assassinate Zelenskyy, Ukraine says
- New national monument comes after more than a decade of advocacy by Native nations
- South Korea's acting president moves to reassure allies, calm markets after Yoon impeachment
- Being in-between jobs is normal. Here's how to talk about it
- Missouri man sentenced to prison for killing that went unsolved for decades
- Federal judge tosses Trump's defamation claim against E. Jean Carroll
Recommendation
SFO's new sensory room helps neurodivergent travelers fight flying jitters
Chris Noth breaks silence on abuse allegations: 'I'm not going to lay down and just say it's over'
A Florida man is charged with flooding an emergency room after attacking a nurse and stripping
Even remote work icon Zoom is ordering workers back to the office
Scoot flight from Singapore to Wuhan turns back after 'technical issue' detected
Georgia kids would need parental permission to join social media if Senate Republicans get their way
Summer heat can be more extreme for people with diabetes
LSU, USC headline the five overrated teams in the preseason college football poll