Mother Of Affluenza Teen Arrives In Texas To Face Charge

Weeks after she and her son went missing, sparking an worldwide search, Tonya Couch is back where she started: Tarrant County, Texas. 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 extradited Thursday to Texas after being arrested in Mexico and flown to Los Angeles.

She is due to appear before a judge on Thursday for an arraignment hearing on the charge of hindering the apprehension of a fugitive, he said.

Tonya Couch will have to wear an ankle monitor if she makes bail, state District Judge Wayne Salvant told the mother of troubled teen Ethan Couch. She was booked into Tarrant County Jail Thursday afternoon.

Tonya Couch also told the sheriff that she had been treated respectfully by authorities since she was detained and sent back to the United States.

The two fled Texas shortly after a video surfaced in early December showing Ethan at an alcohol-laden party, likely in violation of the probation deal reached in juvenile court that kept him out of prison for killing four people with his pickup truck in 2013 when he was 16. Couch, who is being held on a $1 million bond, has not spoken about the incident.

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

“She was very quiet, very reserved, respectful and surprisingly, she was very appreciative”, he said at a news conference. Salvant asked her if she understood the charges brought against her and explained some of the details of the complaint, including that she intended “to hinder the arrest, detention, adjudication or disposition of a child, Ethan Couch”.

Couch, 48, has not yet entered a plea. One woman, here for her husband’s case, said she hadn’t heard of Ethan or Tonya Couch before.

Described as a mix of shepherd and wolf, Virgil was on the trip with the teen and his mother when they took off to Mexico, apparently to avoid USA authorities after the teen is said to have violated the terms of his probation.

Tonya Couch’s attorneys have said she is “eager to have her day in court”.

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