Jeanette Edmonds (Ponchatoula Police Department).
A 43-year-old Louisiana woman repeatedly tried to abandon her 8-year-old son, dropping him off in places such as a cemetery, farm and laundromat before driving off, according to police.
Jeanette Edmonds, 43, stands accused of cruelty to juveniles, child desertion and criminal abandonment. The Ponchatoula Police Department said in a Facebook post that its officers responded about 2 p.m. Sunday to a call for an abandoned child at a local laundromat. Witnesses said they saw a woman driving away, leaving the boy behind.
Officers took the boy to the police station while cops looked for his mother.
"We had him here for quite some time, so we went and got him some McDonald's and put on some cartoons for him," Ponchatoula Police Chief Bry Layrisson told the Louisiana Radio Network.
Eventually, Edmonds was located roughly 60 miles away in Harvey, which sits on the Mississippi River, just on the other side of New Orleans. Cops took her into custody.
Police learned that this was not the first time Edmonds had allegedly tried to ditch her son.
First, she attempted to leave him alone in a cemetery but he was able to get back into the car, cops say. Then she allegedly tried to drop him off at a nearby farm. It's unclear if Edmonds abandoned the boy as a form of punishment or out of frustration or for another reason.
"She never acknowledged any reason for why she abandoned the child, and at no time did she ask the detectives if her son was okay," Layrisson told the outlet, adding that the boy is doing fine.
Edmonds is now at the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office without bond, records show.
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