Sheriff: Mother of ‘affluenza’ teen complaining about conditions in jail

Couch, was returned to Texas on Thursday from California to face the charge.

Couch, who was deported from Mexico last week, arrived on a flight from Los Angeles and was taken to Tarrant County jail in handcuffs and leg irons.

During Ethan’s sentencing for the drunken driving incident, a psychologist hired by the defense testified that the teen was a product of “affluenza” – a term he used to describe Ethan’s irresponsible lifestyle associated with his affluent upbringing.

Salvant said he would attach “a lot of restrictions” to Tonya Couch’s bail, including wearing a GPS-type device on her ankle.

Sheriff Anderson, who accompanied deputies as they took her from the airport to jail Thursday, described the mother as “cooperative, polite (and) appreciative of the way she’d been treated so far”. Enlarge NBC 5 DFW Tonya Couch appears in court in Texas on Friday.

Ethan Couch is on probation for killing four people in a drunk driving crash in 2013.

Ethan Couch missed a required check-in with Texas authorities earlier this month after video surfaced showing him at a party where drinking was occurring.

Ethan Couch remains in custody at an immigration detention center in Mexico City after winning a court reprieve that could lead to a weeks- or even months-long legal process in Mexico. Anderson said Tonya said no to any media interviews and only made two requests when she arrived at the jail – a call to her lawyer and something to eat.

This item has been corrected to show that Wayne Salvant is a state district judge, not a Tarrant County judge. The judge, who seemed unwilling to lower Couch’s bail, said there would be restrictions if she did make bail.

Couch, 48, has not yet entered a plea. Breitbart Texas reported that late Thursday, Couch’s attorney, Stephanie Patten, filed a motion to have that bond amount reduced to $15,000, calling the $1 million bond “unreasonable” because it reflected six times the recommended bail for a third-degree felony in the Tarrant County Bond Schedule, according to the Dallas Morning News.

This prompted Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson to retort, “It’s jail, not a resort”, according to WFAA.

Anderson said Couch told him that she couldn’t sleep well because the jail lights were too bright and other inmates were watching her.