‘Affluenza’ teen’s mother Tonya Couch extradited to US from Mexico

THE mother of “affluenza” teen fugitive Ethan Couch has been extradited to the US from Mexico where she was hiding out with her son.

Tonya Couch, 48, arrived at Los Angeles International Airport in the custody of the US Marshals Service overnight and was arrested on a felony charge.

Her 18-year-old son is wanted in Texas for an alleged probation violation. He remains in Mexico, where he fled with his mother, after a court granted a three-day court injunction.

The ruling gives a judge three days to decide whether Ethan Couch has grounds to challenge his deportation based on arguments that kicking him out of the country would violate his rights.

Arrested ... Tonya Couch is handcuffed and escorted to a waiting car after arriving in Los Angeles from Mexico.

Richard Hunter, chief deputy for the US Marshals Service in South Texas, said such cases can often take anywhere from two weeks to several months to be resolved.

“It also depends on the fact the Couches have legal counsel. And it seems to me, if they wanted to, they could pay them as much money as they want to drag this thing out,” Hunter said. “We’re hopeful that’s not the case.”

Authorities believe Ethan Couch, who was sentenced only to probation for killing four people and injuring several more in a drunk driving car crash in 2013, fled to Mexico with his mother in November as prosecutors investigated whether he had violated his probation.

Spoiled brat ... Ethan Couch was sentenced to 10 years probation after killing four people in a car crash.

Both were taken into custody Monday after authorities said a phone call for pizza led to their capture in the resort city of Puerto Vallarta.

Mexican police say Couch and his mother spent three days in a rented condo at a resort development before finding an apartment. One of the Couches’ telephones had been used to order delivery from Domino’s Pizza to the condominium complex in Puerto Vallarta’s old town, according to a police report issued by the Jalisco state prosecutors’ office.

Agents from the prosecutors’ office went to the complex, where a tourism operator told them that the people who had occupied the condo were asked to vacate because the owners were coming to stay over Christmas, the report said. The Couches then moved to an apartment, and the agents set up a surveillance operation in the surrounding streets.

Hide-out ... the building where Ethan Couch and his mother, Tonya Couch, hid in the Pacific beach resort of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

On Monday evening, two people matching the Couches’ description were spotted and intercepted. The police report said they behaved evasively, claimed to be carrying no IDs, gave inconsistent stories about their names and failed to provide proof of their legal migratory status in Mexico.

Authorities in Texas said an arrest warrant was issued for Tonya Couch on charges of hindering an apprehension, a third-degree felony that carries a sentence of two to 10 years in prison.

Ethan Couch’s trial sparked outrage around the world after a judge agreed that his wealth ill-equipped him to deal with real life, described by a defence expert as “affluenza”, and spared him jail time.

Detained ... Ethan Couch, centre, is led through a detention centre in Guadalajara, Mexico.

“Affluenza” is not recognised as a medical diagnosis by the American Psychiatric Association, and its invocation during the legal proceedings drew ridicule.

“Couch continues to make a mockery of the system,” said Fort Worth lawyer Bill Berenson, who represented Sergio Molina, who was paralysed and suffered severe brain damage in the crash.

Ethan Couch was driving drunk and speeding near Fort Worth in June 2013 when he crashed into a disabled SUV, killing four people.

The victims were Breanna Mitchell, 24, whose SUV had broken down; Brian Jennings, a youth minister who had stopped to help; and Hollie Boyles, 52, and her daughter, Shelby Boyles, 21, who had come from their house to assist.

Captured ... Ethan Couch, the 18-year-old ‘affluenza’ teen, was detained in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Detained ... Tonya Couch faces charges of hindering and apprehension.

Twelve people were injured, including Sergio Molina and Solaiman Mohman, teens who were Couch’s passengers.
Couch had a blood-alcohol level three times the legal limit and had traces of Valium in his system, a court heard.
He pleaded guilty to four counts of intoxication manslaughter and two counts of intoxication assault causing serious bodily injury. The judge sentenced him in juvenile court to 10 years’ probation and a stint in a rehabilitation centre.