Marty Small requested an interview from his attorney, Edwin Jacobs Jr., who said in a statement to The Washington Post that the couple is “completely innocent of any wrongdoing and ultimately… He will be proven right.” He said Marty Small will continue to serve as mayor.
“These complaints focus exclusively on private family matters and essentially seek to second-guess the parental decisions of Mayor Small and his wife,” the statement said.
Marty Small began his term. This comes after his predecessor, Frank Gilliam Jr., resigned in October 2019 after pleading guilty to stealing $87,000 from a youth basketball team he founded. Marty Small was most recently re-elected to a four-year term in November 2021.
An affidavit filed Monday by the prosecutor's office includes a recording of an alleged argument between Marty, LaQuetta Small and their daughter, recorded on iPad video. According to her affidavit, the girl was on a video call with her boyfriend on January 3 when her father threatened to “knock her knitting off.” The affidavit states Marty Small said that when his daughter asked him to stop pushing her shortly after, “he was going to knock her down the stairs.”
“If you ever cross this line, I'll grab you by the head and throw you to the ground!” he allegedly told her.
The next day, prosecutors said the daughter wrote in an Instagram message that her father hurt her because she didn't want him to give her a ride to school.
Another video recorded an argument between La Quetta-Small and her daughter on Jan. 7, in which the girl begged her mother to “break up with her,” according to the affidavit. She responded that LaQuetta Small could touch her daughter “any time he wanted to,” according to her affidavit.
Officials said La Quetta Small also dragged her daughter by the hair and beat her with a belt. Her daughter suffered bruises on her legs, chest and shoulders from the interaction with her parents, her prosecutor said.
Prosecutors allege that on Jan. 13, Marty Small threw his daughter into the shower, strangled her and then slammed her to the ground with a broom. According to her affidavit, she went to the hospital three days later with a head injury and allegedly told her nurse that “I hit her head on her window,” and that Marty Small. The same was true of the testimony.
According to the affidavit, the girl told school staff on January 22 that she was being abused, and the staff asked the principal to contact the New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency. However, prosecutors said in a news release last month that the school did not notify the department.
The medical facility where the boy was attending treatment eventually notified the state, which directed prosecutors to intervene.
On March 28, investigators searched the Smalls' home, according to the affidavit. The same day, prosecutors charged the Atlantic City High School principal who served as Marty Small's 2021 campaign manager with failing to report allegations of child abuse to the Office of Child Protection and Permanent Residence.
Marty Small said at an April 1 press conference that prosecutors had seized electronic devices from his home, but “there was no corruption.” He added that the investigation was related to a “family matter” and that the family was receiving medical treatment.
“We did nothing wrong,” he said at the time.
Charges filed against Marty Small on Monday include aggravated assault, terroristic threats and simple assault, in addition to a charge of endangering the welfare of a child. La Quetta Small also faces three counts of simple assault.
Last month, prosecutors said in her daughter's room during a raid on her family's home: “It hurts when people say I'm stupid, crazy, mentally ill, or sick, but I'm fine.I think I'm the one who was the one who defended myself, and I feel sorry for that.'' He announced that he had found a letter with this written on it.
Marty and Laquetta Small and others are scheduled to appear in court next month.
