A local day care owner accused of coaching her young son to lie about sex abuse at the hands of his father was indicted Tuesday by a Terrebonne Parish grand jury.

Rhonda Soomro, 39, and her ex-boyfriend, Dr. Robert Haydel Jr., have been fighting for custody of their 7-year-old son since 2006.

Haydel has sole custody of the child, and Soomro is able to visit when Haydel gives his approval, said Joan Malbrough, Haydel's attorney.

The current custody arrangement is the result of Soomro instructing the child to tell investigators that his father had sexually abused him, according to a 30-page court document prepared by District Judge David Arceneaux of Houma. The sexual-abuse allegations were later proven false, the document says.

“The court believes the evidence overwhelmingly proves that more-sinister motives have prompted Ms. Soomro to intentionally place her young and impressionable child's mental and emotional health at risk of permanent damage,” the document says. “Her hatred for the child's father ... has motivated her to engage in a deliberate course of conduct designed to permanently deprive Dr. Haydel of any participation in her son's life.”

Haydel is a Houma-based allergist and asthma specialist. Soomro owns three day care centers in Houma, including Tiny Treasures Learning and Development Center.

Soomro was indicted Tuesday by a Terrebonne grand jury on a charge of cruelty to a juvenile. If convicted, Soomro faces up to 10 years in prison.

The grand jury meets behind closed doors and decides whether enough evidence exists for a case to head to trial, but the indictment does not indicate guilt or innocence. The grand jury hears only from prosecutors.

Soomro was booked at the Terrebonne Parish jail and released on a $25,000 bond.

Soomro and the boy allegedly told investigators from the state Department of Child and Family Services, as well as the Terrebonne Sheriff's Office and other local agencies, that Haydel had sexually abused him.

Soomro also claimed that her son suffered severe psychological distress because of his father's alleged actions.

Court papers say she took her son to several doctors and psychologists throughout Louisiana in an attempt to corroborate the allegations.

“Between November 2009 and December 2010, (the department) received at least four reports of child or sexual abuse allegedly suffered by (the child),” the papers say. “Every report was investigated by the agency. At no time did (the department) take any action to curtail Dr. Haydel's shared custody of (the child), apparently because it did not find the complaints were based in fact.”

The child also recanted several of the statements, later saying a “female ghost” told him to say them, the papers say.

The allegations were deemed baseless following a January hearing at which police, doctors, family and friends testified.

An examination done on Soomro by the Institute of Forensic Psychiatry showed that she “exhibited no evidence of a psychiatric illness but has difficulty adjusting to the child-custody conflict between her and Dr. Haydel.”

The child's stress during the ordeal has manifested itself in emotional and physical ways, the court papers say.

An appeal of Arceneaux's custody decision was filed by Soomro, and the state 1st Circuit Court of Appeal says Arceneaux needs to give Soomro visitation rights, Malbrough said.

A hearing is set for Dec. 16.

Efforts to contact Soomro were unsuccessful. Michael Zerlin, Soomro's attorney, did not return a phone call placed Tuesday afternoon.



-- Staff Writer Eric Heisig can be reached at 857-2202 or eric.heisig@houmatoday.com. Follow him on Twitter @TerrebonneCrime.