(HorizonPost.com) – Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small and his wife La’Quetta were charged last Monday with endangering the welfare of a child for repeatedly assaulting and abusing their teenage daughter, the Associated Press reported.
The mayor was also charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, and making terroristic threats. LaQuetta Small, who is the superintendent of Atlantic City Public Schools, was also charged with three counts of simple assault.
According to the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office, the Smalls “physically and emotionally abused” their daughter “on multiple occasions” in December and January. In one incident, the mayor allegedly struck the teen in the head multiple times using a broom. He also punched his daughter hard enough to leave bruises and threatened to throw her down the stairs.
His wife is also accused of punching the teen hard enough to leave bruises and allegedly dragging her by the hair.
The mayor’s attorney Ed Jacobs told the Associated Press that the charges were a “private family matter.” According to Jacobs, the teen had not been removed from the home.
According to CBS News, five search warrants were executed on March 28 at the Smalls’ home and their vehicles, and multiple items, including cell phones and laptops, were seized.
Earlier this month, the mayor held a press conference to confirm that a search had been conducted on his home in connection to a “private family matter” and not a criminal investigation.
Mayor Smalls insisted that if he was not the mayor and his wife was not superintendent, nobody would have heard anything about the search.
The district attorney’s office also confirmed the charges brought against Atlantic City High School Principal Constance Days-Chapman earlier this month were connected to the Smalls’ case.
Days-Chapman was charged on April 1 with multiple charges including failing to report child abuse, hindering apprehension of another, obstruction of justice, and official misconduct.
According to an April 1 press release, a student at the high school reported to Days-Chapman that she was being physically and emotionally abused by her parents. The principal claimed that she would report the abuse to child protection but never did.
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