Call for pizza led authorities to ‘affluenza’ teen

Now, however, with his capture in Mexico (he disappeared with his mother, Tonya Couch), it remains to be seen what his punishment will be. Now he’s in custody for allegedly violating his probation.

Because Ethan Couch fled while he was on probation as a juvenile, he won’t face additional charges for fleeing if he is certified as an adult later this year, Tarrant County District Attorney Sharen Wilson said.

Tarrant County covers a large portion of the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He will initially be taken to a juvenile facility, officials said.

Anderson, the sheriff, was among those critical of the judge’s decision not to incarcerate Couch. As a juvenile, the longest sentence he could receive is four months in jail.

But, if he violates any terms while on adult probation, he could be sent to jail for up to 40 years.

Then there’s his mother, Tonya Couch.

It was no great stretch to predict, as pretty much every Tarrant County law enforcement official did, that the Ethan Couch story would reach this point.

In June 2013, Ethan Couch plowed into a stranded motorist and three people who were helping her. All four were killed.

Another 12 people were injured, including Sergio Molina and Solaiman Mohman, teenagers who were riding in the bed of the Couch’s pickup. A photo distributed by the Jalisco state prosecutors’ office shows him in detention with his hair dyed black and his normally blondish beard now brown.

The prosecution asked for the maximum 20 years, which seemed more than reasonable given that it averaged out to five years per death.

During the sentencing phase of the Couch’s trial, a defense expert argued that Couch’s wealthy parents coddled him into a sense of irresponsibility – a condition the expert termed “affluenza”. And instead of a maybe-yes-maybe-no Twitter video, there’s no doubt that Couch affirmatively fled, unless his mother tries to convince authorities that she kidnapped him. On December 16, after issuing an arrest warrant, Sheriff Anderson said Couch was one of the their top fugitives. If so, that would be a violation of his probation, which also called for Couch to enter an addiction treatment center and avoid driving and alcohol or drugs for 10 years.

U.S. Marshal Rick Taylor of the Northern District of Texas described the work of local, federal and global authorities to track down the Couches as “nothing more than a textbook case” of collaboration.

Mexican authorities on Monday detained Ethan Couch, a native of the US state of Texas, several weeks after he failed to check in with his probation officer.

Clement said it is not surprising that Tonya would help her son flee to Mexico. They were detained while arriving back at the apartment on Monday evening and put up no resistance, he said.

Authorities say the mother and son were staying at a beach front condo when they were caught, likely blending in with tourists there for the holidays.

They were expected to be returned to Houston on a commercial flight later yesterday from Jalisco’s state capital, Guadalajara, Vera said.

Dr. Gary Buffone, a Florida psychologist who does family wealth advising, told The Huffington Post that Ethan’s “defense is laughable” and “being reinforced by the judge’s actions”.

Anderson speculated early on that the duo may have left the country, and was ultimately proven right when Mexican authorities found him more than 1,000 miles from Tarrant County, in a Puerto Vallarta beachside neighborhood.