The mayor of Atlantic City, New Jersey, is facing a new charge this week in connection with the alleged abuse of his teenage daughter.
Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr., 50, who was already facing allegations of abusing his teenage daughter, now faces an additional charge accusing him of pressuring her to lie about the cause of a head injury.
The new fees
Small was charged Monday with witness tampering related to his teenage daughter, whom he and his wife, La’Quetta Small — Atlantic City’s school superintendent — had already been accused of abusing and assaulting.
The Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office reported that Marty Small, a Democrat, urged his daughter to “twist up” a statement she gave to investigators about his alleged abuse in incidents dating back to December and January.
Prosecutors allege the mayor pressured his daughter to falsely claim a head injury she suffered was the result of tripping and falling in her room.
Small’s attorney, Edwin Jacobs, dismissed the new allegation as “pure nonsense” and argued that Small was only encouraging her daughter to tell the truth about the incident.
AP Photo/Wayne Parry/AP Photo/Wayne Parry
“When a parent encourages a child to be accurate and truthful in statements to investigators, that parent is not witnessing manipulation,” Jacobs said Wednesday. “That parent is doing what a good, responsible parent should do. And that’s exactly what Marty Small has done.”
Jacobs added that the new charge is “another effort by the prosecution to second-guess my client’s parentage and corrupt his relationship with his daughter.”
Accusations against the mayor
In September, the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office announced that Small and his were indicted on multiple charges, including child endangerment for allegedly abusing their daughter.
According to the Atlantic City Attorney’s Office, the indictment came after a decision by a grand jury. In the indictment, Small was also accused of assault and terrorist threats.
Small and his wife are accused of physically and emotionally abusing their daughter on several separate occasions from December to January. Their daughter was 15 to 16 years old at the time of the alleged abuse.
Small’s first response
After the indictment earlier this year, Small’s attorney Jacobs disputed the allegations in a statement, saying, “This indictment has absolutely nothing to do with Marty Small’s tenure as mayor of Atlantic City.”
“There is no allegation of corruption or official misconduct. Marty and La’Quetta Small do not need the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office to get involved in a private family matter,” Jacobs said. “Marty and La’Quetta are a good mother and father raising a teenage child… They are completely innocent and will be fully exonerated.”
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.
