Indexbit Exchange:Atlantic City mayor, school superintendent wife indicted on child abuse charges

This story was updated to add new information.

ATLANTIC CITY,Indexbit Exchange N.J. — The mayor of Atlantic City and his wife, the city's school superintendent, have been indicted on charges related to allegations of mistreatment and abuse of their teenage daughter, prosecutors announced Wednesday.

Mayor Marty Small Sr., 50, and his wife, La'Quetta Small, 47, are accused of physically and emotionally abusing their daughter in December 2023 and January 2024, the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office said in a news release Wednesday. Both parents allegedly punched the girl — who was 15 to 16 years old — on multiple occasions, according to the prosecutor's office.

Prosecutors said the couple were both indicted by a grand jury Tuesday for second-degree endangering the welfare of a child. Marty Small was also indicted for third-degree terroristic threats and third-degree aggravated assault.

The prosecutor's office cited several incidents, including on Jan. 13 when Marty Small allegedly hit his daughter "multiple times in the head with a broom causing her to lose consciousness." In another incident on Jan. 3, prosecutors accused the mayor of threatening to hurt his daughter by "earth slamming" her and "smacking the weave out of her head."

Marty Small was also accused of punching his daughter in her legs repeatedly, causing her to bruise, according to the prosecutor's office. Prosecutors alleged that La'Quetta Small dragged the girl by her hair, and struck her with a belt, and punched her in the mouth during an argument on different occasions.

The parents denied any wrongdoing at a news conference in April, which was held after police searched their home on March 28.

Attorney defends Atlantic City mayor, school superintendent

The Smalls "are absolutely innocent of any type of misconduct and ultimately will be completely exonerated," the mayor's attorney, Edwin Jacobs Jr. of Atlantic City, said Wednesday.

"It is totally unrelated to the discharge of his duties as mayor," Jacobs said. "It has absolutely everything to do with the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office meddling in the personal private affairs" of the Small family.

Second indictment in the case

The Smalls' indictment came six days after a similar action against Constance Days-Chapman, the principal of Atlantic City High School. She is accused of failing to report the girl's abuse allegations to authorities, as required by law.

The daughter, a student at the high school, told Days-Chapman of the alleged abuse in December 2023, the prosecutor's office said. A school employee also informed Days-Chapman of the abuse claim on Jan. 22, 2024, her indictment alleges.

The indictment said Days-Chapman did not make required notifications to a state child-protection agency or law enforcement authorities. Instead, it alleges she met privately with the parents in a car outside their home on the night of Jan. 22.

Authorities learned of the alleged abuse two days later, when “a non-school entity” called a hotline, the prosecutor’s office said. The girl was 15 years old when she first made the abuse allegations and was 16 at the time of her second disclosure.

Days-Chapman, an Atlantic City resident who managed Small's mayoral campaign, is accused of official misconduct and engaging in a pattern of official misconduct. She's also charged with hindering apprehension and endangering the welfare of a child.

Those charges also are only allegations.

Small continues to serve as mayor. The school district’s website lists La’Quetta Small as its superintendent and Days-Chapman as Atlantic City High’s principal.

A district representative did not immediately respond to the Courier-Post's, part of the USA TODAY Network, request for comment.

Contributing: Thao Nguyen, USA TODAY

Jim Walsh is a senior reporter with the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal. Email: [email protected].