'Affluenza' teen's mom jailed in L.A.; he's still in Mexico

Luke Skywalker · Dec 31, 2015

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[h=4]'Affluenza' teen's mom jailed in L.A.; he's still in Mexico[/h]Ethan and Tonya Couch had been missing since early December.

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The mother of fugitive affluenza teen Ethan Couch arrived in the U.S. early Thursday after Mexico deported her. Tonya Couch was flown from Guadalajara to Los Angeles. (Dec. 31) AP

Tonya Couch, center, is taken by authorities to a waiting car after arriving at Los Angeles International Airport on Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015, in Los Angeles. Authorities said she and her son, Texas teenager Ethan Couch, who was sentenced to probation after using an "affluenza" defense for a 2013 wreck in Texas, fled to Mexico together in November as prosecutors investigated whether he had violated his probation. Both were taken into custody Monday, Dec. 28, 2015, in the resort city of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.(Photo: Mark J. Terrill, AP)

FORT WORTH — The mother of the Texas teen*known for his "affluenza" defense after he was*given probation for killing four people*in a 2013 drunken-driving crash has been officially charged with hindering apprehension after her*return*to the United States from Mexico.
Tonya Couch, who with her son Ethan was*captured Monday in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico,*was deported Wednesday evening and booked into the Los Angeles County Jail. Her bond was set Thursday at $1 million.
She arrived at Los Angeles International Airport in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. A Los Angeles police fugitive task force picked her up shortly after 1:30 a.m. and took her to the Metropolitan Detention Center, according to Officer Norma Eisenman.
Tonya Couch will be held at the downtown Los Angeles jail until U.S. Marshals take her to Texas, where she and her son live and where he was on probation for the drunken-driving crash, Eisenman said. She didn't know why Couch came through Los Angeles or when she would be returned to Texas.
U.S. Marshals Service spokesman Eugene Hwang said he could not reveal any details about her trip through California or say how long she might remain here, citing security concerns in transporting someone in custody.
Ethan Couch, 18, remains in a Mexican jail*after attorneys there*filed paperwork Wednesday to try to fight extradition to the United States, according to the*Tarrant County*sheriff and district attorney.
USA TODAY
'Affluenza' teen's mom deported, but he'll stay in Mexico

An official with Mexico's Migration Institute said Ethan Couch was granted a three-day court injunction. Apparently, immigration officials did not receive the same type of injunction for Tonya Couch, so she was deported as soon as Mexican officials could buy a sufficient number of tickets to a U.S. destination.
Ethan Couch probably will be able to stay in Mexico for longer than the next three days because of the holidays, Richard Hunter, chief deputy U.S. Marshal for the southern district of Texas, said in a Wednesday news conference.

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Officials say Tonya Couch was sent home because immigration authorities did not receive a judge's injunction like the one that temporarily blocked the deportation of her son, Ethan Couch. VPC

The Mexican judge's ruling could lead to a weeks-long legal process if a judge decides Ethan Couch has grounds to challenge his deportation based on arguments that kicking him out of Mexico would violate his rights. The judge has three days to consider Couch's appeal.
Ethan Couch was transported late Wednesday from a detention center in Guadalajara to one in Mexico City, an official with Mexico's National Immigration Institute told the Associated Press. The decision to move him was made because the Mexico City facility for detaining migrants is larger and better equipped to hold someone for days or weeks.
USA TODAY
Sheriff: Mom plotted 'affluenza' teen's escape

Couch had been missing officially since Dec. 10 when he failed to show up for a mandatory meeting with his probation officer. However, Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson said Tuesday that he believed that Couch, now 18, actually fled in late November with his mother after a video surfaced showing him at a party that included alcohol.
The consumption of alcohol would be a violation of the terms of his probation.
Tonya Couch could face two to 10 years in prison on charges of hindering prosecution.

Authorities apprehended the Texas teen and his mother in Puerto Vallarta, following an international manhunt.*(Photo: Jalisco state prosecutor's office via AP)

?In June 2013, Ethan Couch, then living in the Fort Worth suburb of Burleson, was driving drunk and speeding on a dark two-lane road south of the city when he crashed into a disabled SUV off to the side, killing four people and injuring several others, including passengers in the then-16-year-old's pickup.
He pleaded guilty to four counts of intoxication manslaughter and two counts of intoxication assault causing serious bodily injury. Because of his age, he wasn't certified as an adult for trial and a judge sentenced him in juvenile court to 10 years' probation and a stint in a rehabilitation center.
During the sentencing phase of his trial, Ethan Couch's lawyers relied on a defense expert who argued that the teen's wealthy parents coddled him into a sense of irresponsibility — a condition the expert termed "affluenza." The condition is not recognized as a medical diagnosis by the*American Psychiatric Association, and the term drew widespread ridicule when it was employed. The "affluenza" claim*gained worldwide notoriety.
USA TODAY
FBI, U.S. Marshals join search for 'affluenza' teen

A Fort Worth attorney representing Tonya Couch said the fear of prison for her son probably outweighed the fear of a life on the run.
"What would you do if you're a parent who has a son who is the most hated boy in America? What would you do to protect him?" said Stephanie Patten.
Patten said Ethan Couch would be a target in prison.

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The woman who helped Ethan Couch flee to the Mexican resort city of Puerto Vallarta -- his mother, Tonya Couch -- was deported Wednesday evening.

She knows this is an unpopular view, considering the four deaths and incalculable emotional damage Couch caused with his drunken driving crash.
"What's happened here is awful. It's tragic,” Patten said Wednesday.
But she added that Tonya’s decision to run was inspired by a desire to protect. “From what I've seen she is not an evil person,” Patten said.
Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson said he wasn’t surprised that Tonya Couch helped her son flee, or that the Couch family hired Mexican attorneys to keep Ethan Couch from being deported quickly.
USA TODAY
'Affluenza' teen's deposition gives insight into fatal crash

“It was just one more way of delaying justice,” he said.
Anderson said loved ones of the crash victims feel victimized over and over.
"These people have just spent another Christmas without their loved ones,” he said. “Tough time of year anyway. Just to have this is an added slap in the face.”
Tonya Couch's attorney said she understands that.
But it's Patten's job to defend a mother scorned for shielding her child from consequences his whole life.
"What she did was not anything to help herself,” Patten said. “She did this, it appears, to protect her son."
Contributing:*Todd Unger?, Jim Douglas, Lauren Zakalik and Jordan Armstrong, WFAA-TV,*Dallas-Fort Worth; The Associated Press.
Related:
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Dad of 'affluenza' teen accused of impersonating police

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Teen paralyzed in 'affluenza' case to receive millions

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No jail for 'affluenza' teen in fatal crash draws outrage

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'Affluenza' teen's mom jailed in L.A.; he's still in Mexico

Luke Skywalker

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