Mother of ‘Affluenza’ Teen Won’t Fight Extradition to Texas

A court in Mexico granted fugitive 18-year-old Ethan Couch, who faces likely incarceration in Texas, a stay against deportation following his illegal entry into the country, a Mexican migration official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“Bail is set at $1 million with the condition that it be made in open court here in Fort Worth”, Wilson said.

“Tonya is now in the custody of California authorities in Los Angeles”. Couch will stay in the downtown L.A. federal prison until Texas officials arrive to escort her back to Tarrant County where authorities expect to book her into jail.

Mr Richard Hunter, chief deputy marshal in Houston, said it probably would take at least two weeks for the Mexican courts to sort out the youth’s deportation. “It’s on their time schedule. We’ll see how that washes out”.

Ethan Couch, 18, and his mother went missing earlier this month after he missed a scheduled meeting with his probation officer.

Couch killed four people and injured several others when driving while drunk near Forth Worth in 2013. Ethan Couch remains in a Mexican jail.

Her attorneys confirmed that Couch, 48, is being held in Los Angeles and is not planning to fight the expected extradition process that would bring her to Tarrant County, Texas.

Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson told CNN Wednesday that the punishment, which he considers lenient, is infuriating.

The lesson of the success of the “affluenza” defense is: If you think you have so much money that the law does not apply to you, you may be right. But if he is treated as a juvenile, the sentence would be lighter, Wilson said. A lawyer for Tonya Couch didn’t reply to a request to remark.

Though he’s an adult now, Couch was 16 when he was sentenced for the original crime. The terms don’t expire until he turns 19 in April.

But moving Couch to the adult system holds a potential advantage for prosecutors. Ethan Couch worked there after finishing school at age 15. Couch has been arrested on the felony charge of aiding and abetting a fugitive (her son Ethan) as he was facing a hearing for violating probation.

The son of millionaire parents made headlines during his trial when a psychologist testifying on his behalf claimed he suffered from “affluenza”. An arrest warrant was issued for his mother. He appeared to have dropped off the radar after a video emerged that allegedly showed him at a party where alcohol was consumed. Couch is staying in the men’s section of the 500-capacity center.

Tonya Couch arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on a flight from Mexico in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service and was taken in handcuffs through the terminal to an unmarked Dodge Charger early Thursday morning.

The Couches were detained Monday. The son had dyed his blond hair and beard black. “They would have had to enter, for example, as tourists, but they entered without registering”.

The two were detained at an immigration office in Guadalajara Monday with plans to be turned over to American authorities.

Couch is now being held in a Los Angeles jail after being deported from Mexico late Wednesday.

“Their wish is to return to the state of Texas”.

Inside the center, which lies in the sprawling working-class district of Iztapalapa in eastern Mexico City, Couch would sleep in a bunk bed in a dorm with likely three or four other people, and use communal washing facilities, the official said.

Further details have come to light about Couch’s time in Mexico, including an incident in which he ran up too big a tab at a strip club and was unable to pay, forcing his mother to foot the bill.

She travelled back minus her son, whose own deportation was delayed by a Mexican judge.