‘Affluenza’ teen’s mom given $1 million bail

Tonya Couch appeared in a yellow jail jumpsuit in her first court appearance Friday morning and told District Judge Wayne Salvant she understood the charges against her.

Tonya Couch was housed in a maximum security cell by herself Thursday night at the Lon Evans Correctional Facility, Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson said.

A judge set a bond hearing for her on Monday morning.

At a news conference on Friday, Anderson said he has responded to Couch’s complaints by saying it “is a jail, not a resort”.

If she is released on bond, whether it’s $1 million or the lower sum, he told her she will have to follow a number of conditions, which would include wearing an ankle monitor and turning in her passport. As for Ethan, he said, “it’s not a question of if he’s coming back, it’s a question of when he’s coming back”.

Tonya Couch is back in the US after being booted from Mexico. She is scheduled to be arraigned at the Tim Curry Justice Center at 9 a.m. Friday.

“It’s kind of weird but it doesn’t bother me”, he said, while waiting outside the courtroom with his sister and a slew of news reporters.

The mother and son were arrested in the Mexican resort city of Puerto Vallarta late last month. Anderson also said that Tonya was “cooperative” while being transported to jail. She faces a maximum of 10 years prison.

Police believe Tonya and her 18-year-old son Ethan Couch left Texas in November as prosecutors were investigating whether Ethan Couch violated his probation.

Her attorney, Stephanie Patten, filed documents Thursday asking the court to reduce Couch’s bail to $15,000 cash or surety.

She was transported from Mexico to California by U.S. Marshals last week.

Tonya Couch was escorted on an American Airlines flight by two sheriff’s deputies after being picked up from a Los Angeles County jail (Thinkstock).

Ethan Couch is now sitting in a jail fighting efforts to extradite him to Texas.

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.