Crime & Safety
Atlantic City Mayor Told Daughter To Lie About Abuse: Report
Mayor Marty Small Sr., already indicted on charges of abusing his daughter, is now accused of telling her to cover up how she got injured.
ATLANTIC CITY, NJ — The Atlantic City mayor accused of abusing his daughter has now been additionally charged with witness tampering as prosecutors allege that he told her lie about how she received a head injury, according to a report by the Associated Press.
Marty Small Sr. and his wife La'Quetta Small, the superintendent of the Atlantic City School District, were indicted on charges that they abused their teenage daughter, hitting her in the head with a broom and punching her on multiple occasions in September.
Authorities claim that Small told his daughter to "twist up" a statement given to investigators about her alleged abuse, the Associated Press reported.
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Specifically, Small asked her to lie that a head injury happened when she tripped and fell in her room, according to the Associated Press.
His lawyer said the charge was "sheer nonsense" and claimed that Small simply asked his daughter to tell the truth about what happened, the Associated Press said.
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“When a parent encourages a child to be accurate and truthful in statements to investigators, that parent is not witness tampering,” he said Wednesday, according to the Associated Press. “That parent is doing what a good, responsible parent should do. And that is precisely what Marty Small has done.”
Authorities say the abuse happened in December 2023 and January 2024. On Jan. 13, 2024, Marty Small is accused of hitting his daughter, age 16, multiple times in the head with a broom, causing her to lose consciousness, the prosecutor's office said.
He also is accused of threatening to hurt her by "earth slamming" her down the stairs, grabbing her head and throwing her to the ground, and smacking the weave out of her head, during an argument on Jan. 3. In another incident, he is accused of punching her repeatedly in her legs causing bruising.
La'Quetta Small is accused of punching her daughter multiple times, leaving bruises on the girl's chest in one incident, and punching her in the mouth during an argument. La'Quetta Small also is accused of dragging her daughter by her hair then hitting her with a belt on her shoulders leaving marks.
The Smalls were charged in the case in April, after someone reported the abuse to a child abuse hotline.
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