What a lovely couple. The Mayor of Atlantic City, Marty Small, Sr. and his charming with and Atlantic City Schools Superintendent La’Quetta Small, now face child abuse charges for abuse of their young teen daughter. Mr. Small’s big claim to fame on guns involves hiring four criminals by Atlantic City to act as “violence interrupters.”
More on how that worked out in a moment (SPOILER: It’s not…), but first, news of the child abuse from the power couple from NBC News:
The mayor of Atlantic City, New Jersey, and his wife were indicted Tuesday on charges related to allegations of abuse of their teenage daughter.
Prosecutors alleged that abuse occurred in December and January. Mayor Marty Small Sr. and his wife, La’Quetta Small, are accused of physically and emotionally abusing the girl “on multiple occasions” when she was 15 and 16 years old, the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office said in a news release Wednesday.
The mayor’s office directed questions to his attorney, Ed Jacobs. Jacobs did not immediately respond to questions; he has said the Smalls are “completely innocent of any wrongdoing and will ultimately be vindicated,” according to NBC Philadelphia. Jacobs told the station Wednesday that it was a private issue within the family and that it had nothing to do with mayoral misconduct.
The mayor is accused of hitting his daughter “multiple times in the head with a broom causing her to lose consciousness” on Jan. 13, the news release says. Prosecutors alleged that another incident occurred on Jan. 3, saying the mayor threatened his daughter during an argument.
Mayor Small, 50, is alleged to have told the girl that he would slam her down the stairs, grab her head and throw her to the ground, and smack “the weave out of her head,” the release says. Prosecutors also accused him of “punching his daughter repeatedly in her legs causing bruising” another time.
The mayor’s wife, who is the superintendent of Atlantic City Public Schools, is alleged to have hit the girl on several occasions.
And BreakingAC has the scoop on putting gang bangers on the city payroll to supposedly “interrupt violence.”
Atlantic City’s mayor lauded his anti-violence initiative Tuesday, saying no one has died by gun violence in more than two months.
But that may not be a clear picture of what’s going on in the city.In addition to ignoring at least one August killing, the mayor’s comment also seems to gloss over a spate of shootings that saw eight people wounded in two months, including three teenagers.
September ended with four people shot in a week.
Even that isn’t the full story, say residents who tell BreakingAC those shootings were only the ones where someone was struck.
Shots have rung out multiple times with no reported injuries, and no information from police, witnesses claim.
Officials did not return requests for comment.Fatal shootings were the focus of Mayor Marty Small’s claim at a mayoral debate Tuesday night .
“There hasn’t been — knock on wood — a death in Atlantic City due to gun violence since Father’s Day,” Small told a group gathered at Uptown Complex . “And that’s because of my anti-violence program under the leadership of Floyd Tally that is working with the people from Back Maryland and Stanley Holmes Village.”
Small did not respond when BreakingAC reached out to ask about Juan Matute-Figueroa, the 42-year-old resident who was fatally shot around 3 a.m. Aug. 1.
The alleged gunman was recently arrested in Puerto Rico.
Small has talked a lot about finding ways to stem violence.
“These are people who have history in the street,” Small explained at the time. “However, they’re fully rehabilitated and ready to help the city they once helped to destroy.”
When BreakingAC asked for a list of those city employees in June, there were four names: Vincent McDaniel, Arrod Moore, Craig Newsome and Isaiah Toulson.
All had been hired earlier this year, except McDaniel, who has worked for the city since Dec. 5, 2011, according to the response.