Mother of ‘affluenza’ teen arraigned in Texas court

Couch was arraigned Friday on a charge of hinder apprehension for allegedly helping her son flee to Mexico after he violated probation.

Couch insists she has done nothing wrong, despite being found in Puerto Villarta with Ethan Couch, who ran after violating probation in the manslaughter deaths of four people and the injury of more after drunk and drugged driving.

Tonya Couch was “cooperative” and respectful as she was being taken into jail, Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson said. Tonya Couch said she hadn’t eaten since Wednesday, so Anderson made sure she got a sack lunch. If the bond is lowered and she is released, Couch will have to wear an ankle monitor and hand over her passport.

Her attorney, Stephanie Patten, did not make the arraignment portion of the hearing because she was stuck in traffic.

“We’re not concerned at this point”, Anderson told reporters.

Sheriff Anderson said Thursday, “it’s not a question of if he’s coming back, it’s a question of when he’s coming back”.

But Salvant didn’t seem moved by Patten’s concerns. The judge asked that she surrender her passport, but she said her temporary passport was seized in Mexico, so she does not now have one in her possession.

It’s a new development in a case that stunned the country. “I don’t think he’s had any contact with anyone who’s been arrested, ever”. She has not yet entered a plea. She added that a bail amount less than $25,000 – not the $1 million set now – would be fair for her client, given the charge against her.

A bail hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Monday. Tapia II ordered her held without bail while she was waiting to be picked up by authorities from Texas.

Ethan Couch is being held at an immigration detention centre in Mexico City after winning a court reprieve that could lead to a weeks- or even months-long legal process in Mexico. Unlike his mother, he is fighting extradition.

State District Judge Jean Boyd, who has since retired, sentenced Couch to 10 years’ probation and to intensive therapy.

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).

But Robert Curtis, 49, has followed the Couches’ case since the 2013 crash.

Officials from Los Angeles and Tarrant counties were not immediately available for comment.

He nor his mother had any cash to pay the remainder of the bill so he gave the waiter his Rolex watch as a guarantee that he would repay his $345 debt the next day, ABC News reported.