Marty Small requested an interview from his attorney, Edwin Jacobs Jr., who said in a statement to The Washington Post that the couple was “absolutely innocent of any wrongdoing. He will be proven innocent in the end.” He said Marty Small will remain mayor.
“These complaints specifically address a private family matter and are essentially an attempt to second-guess Mayor Small and his wife’s parental decisions,” the statement read.
Marty Small took over in October 2019 after his predecessor, Frank Gilliam Jr., resigned after pleading guilty to stealing $87,000 from a youth basketball team he founded. . Marty Small was recently re-elected to a four-year term in November 2021.
Testimony filed Monday by the prosecutor’s office included recordings of alleged arguments between Marty and Laquita Small and their daughter, which were captured on iPad videos. The teen was on a video call with her boyfriend on Jan. 3 when her father threatened to “knock the braid off her head,” according to the affidavit. When his daughter later asked him to stop pushing her, Marty Small said he was going to “throw her off the steps,” the affidavit states.
“Cross that line and I’ll grab you by the head and throw you to the ground!” he allegedly told her.
The next day, prosecutors said the daughter sent a message on Instagram saying her father had hurt her because she didn’t want him to drive her to school.
Another video captured an argument between La’Quetta Small and her daughter on Jan. 7, in which the girl begged her mother to “leave” her, the affidavit said. Laquita Small responded, saying she could touch her daughter “any time I want to touch you,” according to testimony.
Laquita Small also dragged her daughter by her hair and then hit her with a belt, officials said. Prosecutors said her daughter suffered bruises on her legs, chest and shoulders from her interactions with her parents.
Prosecutors said Marty Small threw her daughter into the shower on Jan. 13 and choked her before knocking her to the ground with a broom. Three days later, she went to the hospital with a head injury and allegedly told a nurse that she hit her head on a window — a statement that Marty Small agreed with, according to the affidavit.
The daughter allegedly told school staff on Jan. 22 that she was being abused, and staff asked the principal to contact the New Jersey Department of Child Protection and Permanency, according to the affidavit. But prosecutors said in a news release last month that the school never notified the department.
A medical facility where the teen was being treated eventually informed the state, which directed prosecutors to intervene.
On March 28, investigators searched the Smalls’ home, according to the affidavit. That same day, prosecutors charged the Atlantic City High School principal, who served as Marty Small’s campaign manager in 2021, with failing to report child abuse allegations to the Department of Child Protection and Permanency.
Marty Small said at a news conference on April 1 that although prosecutors seized electronic devices from his home, “there was no corruption.” He added that the investigation was related to a “family matter” and that his family was receiving treatment.
“We didn’t do anything wrong,” he said at the time.
The charges filed Monday against Marty Small include aggravated assault, terroristic threats and simple assault in addition to endangering the welfare of a child. Laquita Small also faces three counts of simple assault.
When the family’s house was searched last month, prosecutors said they found a letter in their daughter’s room that read: “It hurts to be called stupid, crazy, mentally ill and sick, but that’s okay, I think I was most disappointed in defending myself.
Marty and Laquita Small are scheduled to appear in court next month.
