PONCHATOULA — A practicing psychologist was arrested for allegedly abandoning a child at a laundromat after two failed abandonment attempts on the same day, Ponchatoula police said Tuesday.

According to police, a person called 911 after witnessing Jeanette Edmonds, 43, of Tickfaw, drive away from the laundromat, leaving an 8-year-old child behind on Sunday. 

Edmonds allegedly tried to abandon the child twice earlier that day, once at a cemetery and again at a farm.

A family member picked the child up from the police station on Sunday afternoon.

According to Ponchatoula Police Chief Bry Layrisson, Edmonds is a licensed, practicing psychologist. A Psychology Today profile says she has worked in mental health care for 25 years. It adds that she has been a licensed psychologist for the last 10 years, working with all age groups. 

Police said Edmonds was found in Harvey by the Jefferson Parish deputies. She was booked into the Tangipahoa Parish Jail on charges of cruelty to juveniles, child desertion and criminal abandonment.