ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) - Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr. has been indicted on a witness tampering charge for allegedly asking his daughter to recant claims she made to law enforcement officials that he abused her, prosecutors said Wednesday.
The Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office said the indictment was handed down Tuesday by a grand jury.
The indictment asserts that in September 2024, six months after being charged with abusing her, Small asked her to do him a favor and "twist up" the story she told police about alleged abuse.
Small, 50, is accused of asking his daughter to claim that a head injury she sustained on Jan. 13 occurred when she tripped and fell in her bedroom. The mayor was previously charged with striking her several times in the head with a broom during that incident, causing her to lose consciousness.
Small denies he abused his daughter. He has called the situation a private family matter that does not rise to the level of a crime.
On Wednesday, his attorney, Edwin Jacobs, called the indictment "another clumsy effort by the county prosecutor to intrude into the private and confidential conversations among members of Marty Small's family."
La'Quetta Small, the superintendent of schools for Atlantic City NJ, left, and her husband, Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr., second from right, stand with their lawyers and listen to a judge speaking during a court appearance in Mays Landing N.J. on Oct. 10, 2024 on charges that they beat and abused their teenage daughter, charges that the couple deny. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)
"It proves the old saying of many lawyers, judges and prosecutors that you can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich," Jacobs said.
Jacobs added that the girl continues to live at home with her parents.
The mayor's wife, La'Quetta Small, who is the city's superintendent of schools, is charged with child endangerment related to the original case. She, too, denies any wrongdoing.
The couple appeared in court on Oct. 10 and pleaded not guilty to the original charges. Both are charged with child endangerment, and Marty Small is also charged with assault and making terroristic threats.
Authorities said both parents emotionally abused and hit the girl, who was 15 to 16 years old, in December and January, at least once to the point of unconsciousness.
Prosecutors filed court documents in April saying the Smalls disapproved of their daughter´s boyfriend, who secretly used a video chat to record an alleged instance of the mayor physically and verbally assaulting the girl.
An affidavit from prosecutors says the girl at one point acknowledged making up the accusations because she was angry her parents wouldn’t let her go out with friends. But in other sections, the document includes detailed claims by the girl that the abuse was real, and it said she photographed bruises and sent them to her boyfriend, who shared them with detectives.
The office of Atlantic County Prosecutor William Reynolds cited evidence including recordings of interactions between the girl and her parents; her statements to police, school workers, a therapist and state child welfare investigators; and messages she sent to friends saying she did not feel safe at home.