'Affluenza' Mom Faces Extradition Hearing in LA

The mother of “affluenza” teen Ethan Couch is expected in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom tomorrow for an extradition hearing.

Tonya Couch, 38, faces a felony charge in Texas of hindering apprehension of a felon for allegedly helping her 18-year-old son flee the country while out on probation.

The woman was detained in Los Angeles on a no-bail hold for Texas authorities after she was deported from Mexico last week.

Tonya Couch will remain in custody until deputies from the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Department in Texas come to get her, said Officer Norma Eisenman, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesman.

Couch and her son were arrested in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on Dec. 28 in connection with Ethan Couch’s alleged probation violation stemming from a deadly drunken-driving crash in Texas.

Lawyers for the teen -- who was 16 at the time of the crash that killed four people -- successfully argued in 2013 he should not go to prison because he suffered from growing up in affluent circumstances.

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

Ethan Couch has been granted a stay in his deportation case while the legal process in Mexico runs its course, according to his Texas attorneys.

City News Service