Student Sex Abuse: Lawsuit Filed Against Atlantic City Mayor Small, Wife, School Superintendent Caldwell

marty small laquetta atlantic city school

A Federal lawsuit alleges Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small and wife La’Quetta Small failed to stop sexual predator Kayan Frazier from sexually assaulting a young child in their home.

The lawsuit alleges the Smalls and other defendants should have done more to protect the child.

A woman who alleges her young son was sexually abused by Kayan Frazier, the cousin of La’Quetta Small, wife of Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small, Sr., filed a federal lawsuit on MAY 13, 2021, against Marty Small, La’Quetta Small, and a number of other defendants.

Among the lawsuit’s allegations is that Marty Small and La’Quetta Small failed to protect the woman’s son, referred to in the lawsuit as “John Doe,” from Frazier when he invited the child to stay at the Smalls’ home while Frazier lived there despite the Smalls knowing Frazier had a sexual proclivity towards children.

The lawsuit also alleges Frazier sexually assaulted the child in a bathroom in the Smalls’ home.

The other defendants in the lawsuit are Barry Caldwell, superintendent of the Atlantic City School District (“ACSD”), Paul Spaventa, former interim superintendent of the ACSD, the Atlantic City Board of Education, and Kayan Frazier.

The complaint in the lawsuit alleges that Frazier, a former substitute teacher in the ACSD and a former caseworker at the New Jersey Department of Child Protection and Permanency (“NJDCP&P”) who pled guilty in February 2021 to one count of producing images of child pornography, began grooming and sexually abusing Doe in 2016 soon after Frazier first met Doe when he was a substitute teacher at the Pennsylvania Avenue School and Doe was a student there.

Frazier allegedly fondled Doe in the school’s library soon after meeting him—while La’Quetta Small was the principal of the school.

The complaint alleges an extensive pattern by Frazier of grooming Doe, sexually abusing and assaulting him, and attempting to maintain emotional and physical control over him. According to the complaint, Frazier befriended Doe’s mother, the plaintiff in the case, in 2016 in an attempt to be around Doe more often outside of school hours.

The complaint alleges that Frazier’s plan worked; he allegedly sexually abused and assaulted Doe over three years, including in a bathroom inside the Small’s home. In addition, Frazier allegedly took photos of himself sexually abusing Doe, along with naked photos of Doe and his genitalia. Frazier also allegedly showed Doe pornographic pictures of young boys on Frazier’s cell phone.

According to the complaint, Doe could not escape the grasp of Frazier, even being present at Frazier’s apartment on April 15, 2019, when law enforcement executed a search warrant, raided the apartment, and seized vast amounts of child pornography including the photos of Doe.

As a result of Frazier’s alleged sexual abuse and assault, Doe suffers from significant and persistent emotional, psychological, and psychosocial problems. He has suicidal thoughts, suffers emotional and behavioral outbursts, does not use public men’s restrooms (he has to use a women’s restroom accompanied by his mother), cannot sleep in the dark and requires the use of a nightlight, and cannot be in a crowd of too many men while in public.

“Kayan Frazier is a monster,” said Rook Ringer of Lento Law Group, the lawyer representing the child’s mother in the lawsuit.

“But John Doe, a child, was failed by, and we intend to hold accountable, the many people who we believe were in a position to protect him by preventing or stopping Frazier’s years-long abuse but did nothing despite clear signs he was a sexual predator.”

According to the complaint, in early 2016, La’Quetta Small became aware that Frazier was interacting with John Doe outside of school hours and hosting him overnight because her son initially joined Frazier and Doe on several get-togethers.

The complaint alleges Small’s knowledge of Frazier’s inappropriate and abusive conduct led her to prohibit her son from continuing to join Frazier and Doe. But the complaint alleges that it was not until February 2017 when Small filed a report with NJDCP&P detailing the unprofessional conduct of Frazier.

“It would seem Ms. Small’s alleged nearly year-long delay in reporting Frazier was due to her fear that Frazier posed a risk to her career aspirations and her husband’s political aspirations,” said Terrell Ratliff of Lento Law Group, another lawyer representing the mother.

“The fact that her cousin is a sexual predator who allegedly lived in her home while he sexually abused at least one child is not the kind of thing future employers and voters will look kindly upon.”

According to the complaint, despite Ms. Small’s reporting of Frazier’s misconduct in February 2017, Frazier was placed at five schools in the ACSD over the course of thirteen days in the month of March 2017 and continued to have access to John Doe on school grounds.

Before his termination from the ACSD in April 2017 after almost two years of employment, Frazier served as a substitute teacher at seven ACSD schools which gave him access to approximately 4,000 students during his employment.

The complaint alleges Marty Small and La’Quetta Small were both negligent and grossly negligent for failing to warn Doe or his mother about Frazier’s known sexual proclivity towards children and for failing to take reasonable steps to protect young guests to their home, like Doe, from Frazier.

The complaint alleges that the Smalls’ negligence led to Frazier sexually assaulting Doe in a bathroom in their home

The complaint alleges La’Quetta Small, Caldwell, Spaventa, and the Atlantic City Board of Education violated Doe’s civil rights by subjecting him to a hostile educational environment through their employment of Frazier while he was sexually abusing and assaulting Doe, and by failing to intervene and protect him from Frazier’s sexual abuse and assaults.

The complaint also alleges these defendants intentionally inflicted emotional distress on him and were both negligent and grossly negligent by failing to stop Frazier.

The complaint was filed in the lawsuit captioned, Jane Doe v. Marty Small, Sn, et al, docket number 21-cv-11189, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.



2 thoughts on “Student Sex Abuse: Lawsuit Filed Against Atlantic City Mayor Small, Wife, School Superintendent Caldwell”

  1. Next time you do a video on Laquetta Small, you should use “brickhouse” by the commodores as the intro song.

  2. Open DRUG deals on ATLANTIC AVE. Near POPEYES FRIED CHICKEN. DRUG AND PROSTITUTION PROBLEMS. AND NOW, CHILD MOLESTATION.

    WHEN DO THE PEOPLE OF ATLANTIC CITY WAKE UP?

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