Democrat mayor of Atlantic City, superintendent wife accused of abusing teen daughter: 'Smacking the weave out of her head'

The Democrat mayor of Atlantic City, New Jersey, and his wife, the superintendent of Atlantic City Public Schools, have been accused of "physically and emotionally" abusing their teenage daughter several months ago.

According to a statement from the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office, Mayor Marty Small Sr., 50, and Superintendent La’Quetta Small, 47, abused their daughter on multiple occasions in December and January. The statement accused Mayor Small of hitting the girl with a broom and causing her to "lose consciousness," repeatedly threatening to "earth slam" her down the stairs, grabbing the girl by her head and throwing her to the ground, and "smacking the weave out of her head."

Mrs. Small has been accused of punching her daughter in the chest, striking her with a belt, and dragging her by the hair. At the time of the alleged incidents, the girl was 15 or 16 years old.

Both Mayor and Mrs. Small have been charged with second-degree endangering the welfare of a child and at least one count of disorderly persons simple assault. Separately, Mayor Small has been charged with third-degree terroristic threats and third-degree aggravated assault, while Mrs. Small was assessed two additional counts of disorderly persons simple assault.

Ed Jacobs, Small's attorney, noted: "The charges filed today by the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office make no claims of public corruption or failure by Mayor Small to discharge his duties as mayor."

Small first entered office in October 2019 following the resignation of Democrat Mayor Frank Gilliam, who had pled guilty to wire fraud.

The criminal charges against the Smalls come after weeks of speculation following a raid on their home last month. During the raid, which lasted about three and a half hours, police reportedly seized cellphones and computers.

Within days of the raid, Mayor Small held a press conference along with his wife and two children, including the daughter he has now been accused of abusing. During the press conference, Small stated the four of them had begun "therapy" regarding "a family matter."

Mayor Small also addressed several "rumors" that he claimed had been swirling about his family. The most "egregious" of these rumors, he claimed, was that his daughter had gotten "pregnant with twins" and that he became so angry that he "beat the (expletive) out of her so bad that [he] killed the babies." People had told Small that he would be charged with "double murder" and that police ransacked his house "looking for evidence of a miscarriage," he said at the press conference.

People has reported that the investigation into the mayor and his wife began when their daughter supposedly wrote the word "abuse" on a school assignment earlier this year and asked to see a counselor. The girl was eventually referred to the principal, who reportedly passed along the allegations to the Department of Child Protection and Permanency.

On the same day that the Smalls' home was raided, officers arrested Constance "Mandy" Days-Chapman, the principal of Atlantic City High School — the only high school in the district — and charged her with misconduct and failure to report child abuse. Whether the charges relate to the case involving Small's daughter is unclear.

Mayor Small described Days-Chapman, Small's former re-election campaign manager and the former chair of Atlantic City's Democratic Committee, as a close family friend. "We support you, Mandy," the mayor said during his press conference about the raid on his home. "You did absolutely nothing wrong."

Days-Chapman did not respond to a request for comment from WPVI. The district also did not respond to the outlet's request for comment in connection to her arrest. WPVI claimed it searched for someone from the district to give a statement about Superintendent Small's arrest and her current job status but was not "able to reach anyone."

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