close
close

Association-anemone

Bite-sized brilliance in every update

Atlantic City’s mayor is accused of asking his daughter to say he didn’t hurt her
asane

Atlantic City’s mayor is accused of asking his daughter to say he didn’t hurt her

The mayor of Atlantic City, already accused of abusing his teenage daughter, now faces a new charge that he asked her to lie about how she suffered a head injury.

Marty Small Sr., 50, was charged Monday with witness tampering involving the girl, who he and his wife, La’Quetta — the superintendent of schools in the seaside gambling resort of New Jersey – were previously accused of assault and abuse.

The Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office said Marty Small, a Democrat, asked his daughter to “twist” a statement she gave to investigators about the alleged abuse of her sometimes in December and January.

Specifically, the mayor is accused of asking his daughter to falsely say a head injury occurred when she tripped and fell in her room.

Small’s attorney, Edwin Jacobs, called the latest allegation “nonsense,” adding that Small asked his daughter to tell the truth about what happened.

“When a parent encourages a child to be fair and honest in their statements to investigators, that parent is not witness tampering,” he said Wednesday. “That parent is doing what a good, responsible parent should do. And that’s exactly what Marty Small did.”

Jacobs called the charge “another effort by the prosecution to second-guess the role of my client’s father and corrupt his relationship with his daughter.”

The attorney did not say whether the teenager still lives at home with her parents. Even last month, Small said he was doing so.