Marty Small referred interview requests to his attorney, Edwin Jacobs Jr., who said in a statement to the Washington Post that the couple is “completely innocent of any wrongdoing and will ultimately be vindicated.” He said Marty Small would continue to serve as mayor.
“These complaints focus exclusively on private family matters, essentially attempting to call into question the parenting decisions of Mayor Small and his wife,” the statement said.
Marty Small began his term in October 2019 after his predecessor, Frank Gilliam Jr., resigned following a guilty plea to stealing $87,000 from a youth basketball team he founded. Marty Small was last re-elected in November 2021 for a four-year term.
An affidavit filed Monday by the prosecutor’s office includes transcripts of alleged arguments between Marty and La’Quetta Small and their daughter that were captured on an iPad video. The teen was on a video call with her boyfriend on Jan. 3 when her father threatened to “pull that weave out of her head,” according to the affidavit. When his daughter asked him moments later to stop pushing her, Marty Small said he was going to “take her down the steps,” the affidavit states.
“Step over this line and I’ll grab you by the head and throw you to the ground!” he would have told her.
The next day, prosecutors said the girl wrote in an Instagram post that her father hurt her because she didn’t want him to drive her to school.
Another video captured an argument between La’Quetta Small and her daughter on Jan. 7, when the girl begged her mother to “get rid of her,” the affidavit claims. La’Quetta Small responded by saying she could touch her daughter “any time I want to touch you,” according to the affidavit.
Officials said La’Quetta Small also dragged her daughter by her hair before hitting her with a belt. Her daughter suffered bruises to her legs, chest and shoulders from her interactions with her parents, according to prosecutors.
On Jan. 13, prosecutors say, Marty Small threw his daughter in the shower and choked her before throwing her to the floor with a broom. She went to the hospital three days later with a head injury, the affidavit says, and allegedly told a nurse she had hit her head on a window — an account echoed by Marty Small.
The girl allegedly told school employees on Jan. 22 that she was being abused, and staff asked the principal to contact the New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency, according to the affidavit. But the school never notified the division, prosecutors said in a news release last month.
A medical facility where the teen was receiving therapy eventually notified the state, which ordered prosecutors to get involved.
On March 28, investigators searched the Smalls’ home, the affidavit states. The same day, prosecutors charged the Atlantic City high school principal, who served as Marty Small’s 2021 campaign manager, with failing to report an allegation of child abuse to the Division of Child Protection. childhood and permanence.
Marty Small said at an April 1 news conference that although prosecutors seized electronic devices from his home, there was “no corruption.” He added that the investigation was related to a “family matter” and that his family was undergoing therapy.
“We didn’t do anything wrong,” he said at the time.
The charges filed against Marty Small on Monday include aggravated assault, terroristic threats and simple assault, in addition to the count of endangering the welfare of a child. La’Quetta Small also faces three counts of simple assault.
While searching the family’s home last month, prosecutors said they found a letter in the girl’s bedroom that read: “Being called stupid, crazy, mental and sick hurts, but it doesn’t hurt. It doesn’t matter, I guess I’m the biggest disappointment to defend myself. »
Marty and La’Quetta Small is expected to appear in court next month.
News Source : www.washingtonpost.com
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