The mother of the victim of a former Atlantic City substitute teacher and admitted child pornographer has filed suit, saying the city's mayor, his school principal wife and the superintendent failed to protect the child from sexual abuse.
Ka'yan Frazier previously pleaded guilty in federal court in a case involving him creating child pornography.
That case alleged Frazier created the pornography, and names an apartment in Atlantic City and a home in Somers Point as the places he was living at the time.
But the suit filed by the mother Thursday alleges that Frazier abused the boy in a bathroom at the home of Mayor Marty Small and his wife, Dr. La'Quetta Small, Frazier's cousin.
The Smalls have a pending defamation suit against Craig Callaway, who accused the pair of protecting Frazier and ignoring abuse that happened inside their home.
The Smalls' attorney, Edwin Jacobs, cited that suit Thursday, in responding to the latest claims.
"Mayor Small and his wife have done absolutely nothing wrong, period," Jacobs said in a statement sent to BreakingAC. "Any person thinking about telling another lie about them should consider the consequences."
The suit filed under Jane Doe, to protect the minor child's identity, alleges Frazier photographed the boy at the Smalls' home, and uploaded pornographic pictures while there.
The boy, referred to as John Doe in the complaint, met Frazier while the man was working as as substitute teacher at Pennsylvania Avenue School, where Dr. Small was then principal.
Frazier allegedly befriended the boy's mother in 2016, in an attempt to be around the boy more often outside of school.
That scenario matches with a report made by Dr. Small in February 2017, alleging Frazier violated school policy by having contact with a student outside of the school, including having him sleep over in the man's bed.
The suit alleges Dr. Small knew Frazier was having outside contact with the boy in early 2016. Dr. Small's own timeline says she first saw the policy violations in December, when she also had Frazier removed from his position working at her school.
Dr. Small reported at the time that she had spoken to the boy's mother, who said Frazier was a mentor.
Frazier continued to substitute at other schools in the district.
An investigation by the Division of Child Protection and Permanency found no wrongdoing, and they even hired Frazier as a caseworker after he was fired by the company that provides substitutes to the school district.
By then, the boy's mother had heard rumors that Frazier had inappropriate and sexually abusive conduct with children, according to the suit. But she believed them to be rumors, especially after learning of his hiring as a DCPP caseworker
"If the Division of Child Protection and Permanency felt comfortable hiring Frazier, then surely there was no validity to the rumors circulating within her community as to Frazier’s sexually inappropriate conduct," the filing states.
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.
Frazier allegedly took photos of himself sexually abusing Doe, along with naked photos of Doe. He also allegedly showed Doe pornographic pictures of young boys on Frazier’s cell phone.
Doe was even there at Frazier's apartment 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.
Other defendants include Paul Spaventa, who was interim superintendent at the time, Superintendent Barry Caldwell, the Atlantic City Board of Education, and Frazier.
The complaint alleges Marty Small and La’Quetta Small were negligent and grossly negligent for failing to warn Doe or his mother about Frazier’s known sexual proclivity toward children and for failing to take reasonable steps to protect young guests to their home, like Doe, from Frazier.
The complaint also alleges Dr. Small, Caldwell, Spaventa, and the Atlantic City Board of Education violated Doe’s civil rights by subjecting him to a hostile educational environment.
The Atlantic City Board of Education has an ongoing independent investigation into the Frazier issue, but that was under a different leadership. BreakingAC has learned that there are plans to vote to end the investigation at next week's board meeting.
