ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (KYW Newsradio) — Mayor Marty Small on Monday publicly addressed the warrant served at his Atlantic City home last week. He said it’s centered around a private family matter, not a question of misconduct or corruption.
Flanked by his wife, son and daughter, Small said the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office has been investigating him and his wife, Dr. La’Quetta Small, superintendent of Atlantic City Public Schools, for a few months.
“We’re going through family therapy and all. And that’s what this should be — a family matter,” Small said.
He said he believes the investigation is politically motivated.
“We’re dealing with a challenging time, and if I wasn’t Mayor Marty Small, and she wasn’t superintendent, you wouldn’t hear of this.”
Atlantic City High School principal Constance Days-Chapman is accused of failing to report suspected abuse of a student to the Division of Child Protection and Permanency. Instead, she is alleged to have spoken directly with the parents of that student.
Small says his family and Days-Chapman’s family are very close, but he didn’t elaborate on the circumstances or details of what happened.
He did try to squash some rumors: “My daughter is not pregnant with twins. As I’ve said, she’s never been pregnant.”
And the mayor was also upset about what he says are vicious lies about his wife abusing their daughter — “that my wife beat the living bleep out of her while my son recorded the whole thing, and I just stood there.”
Small claims the search warrant was conducted to be a spectacle, with 20 armed officers, when it could have been handled privately with his attorney.
The Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office says it treated the Small family with dignity and respect during the search and there is no further comment on the investigation at this time.