Affluenza mom to be arraigned for helping son escape authorities

Tonya Couch appears in court in Fort Worth, Texas, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016.

Tonya Couch, the mom of the now-famous “affluenza teen” who was escorted from Los Angeles to Texas and faces a felony charge for helping her son escape to Mexico while on probation, thanked Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson for her escort in a sarcastic statement released Friday.

Tonya Couch was escorted on an American Airlines flight by two sheriff’s deputies after being picked up from a Los Angeles County jail, according to Terry Grisham, executive administrator for the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office in Texas. Wearing a yellow jail jumpsuit, she said little at her arraignment.

Anderson met Tonya Couch at DFW Airport personally, he said, and rode shotgun in the Tarrant County van that returned the fugitive from Fort Worth.

– The mother of the infamous affluenza teen has arrived in North Texas and will spend Thursday night at the Tarrant County Jail. A video surfaced online that showed someone who resembled him at a party where people appeared to drink alcohol.

He faces about four months in Texas custody if he is found to have violated the probation deal.

Tonya Couch made an initial appearance in a Texas courtroom Friday on a charge of hindering the apprehension of a felon.

Couch, 48, has not yet entered a plea.

Anderson said that she didn’t sleep much.

Her bond was set at $US1 million. “We think anything $25,000 or under would be fair”, she said.

Her lawyers said last week that she has done nothing illegal. Patten suggested Anderson may be using the case to get attention because he is up for re-election this year.

“She was very quiet, very reserved”. Couch’s attorney has requested a bond reduction and Salvant indicated that request may be addressed at a hearing on Monday.

Authorities believe she and her son fled Texas in November as prosecutors investigated whether Ethan Couch had violated his probation in the deadly 2013 drunken-driving wreck.

The two were arrested in Mexico late last month. His son Luke was injured by Ethan Couch’s drunk driving crash.

During his trial, a psychologist testified on Couch’s behalf that he was afflicted with “affluenza”, meaning he lost the ability to tell the difference between right and wrong after being showered with his family’s riches.

Ethan Couch is still in Mexico; when he returns to the United States depends in large part on whether he decides to contest his deportation.

Be Civil – It’s OK to have a difference in opinion but there’s no need to be a jerk.