The mother of the infamous “affluenza” teen Ethan Couch has been released on Tuesday on a reduced bail after her lawyer complained that the initial $1 million bail was excessive.
Advertisement
Tonya Couch, the mother of “affluenza” teen Ethan Couch, will be released from jail Tuesday, Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office said.
The 48-year-old woman is charged with hindering the apprehension of a felon after she and her son, Ethan Couch, were caught in a Mexican resort city. She’ll have to report to Tarrant County once a week, undergo drug testing, stay away from bars and clubs, be monitored by Global Positioning System and live with McWilliams.
Other conditions to her bond agreement include reporting to authorities on a weekly basis, living in Tarrant County with her 29-year-old son and his family, and abstaining from controlled substances or alcohol.
State District Judge Wayne Salvant said he understood prosecutors’ concerns that Couch might flee again, but that the charge against her, while a third-degree felony, wasn’t serious enough to merit a $1 million bond.
Ethan’s Mexican attorney, Fernando Benítez, for time time being seems to have been able to stall the extradition of the 18 year old who is being held at a provincial estancia near Puerto Vallarta, Radio Fórmula noted.
The permissive parent was released from a Texas jail after posting a reduced $75,000 bond. Couch faces up to 10 years in prison for helping her son escape to Mexico, likely in violation of the probation deal.
Tonya Couch’s lavish lifestyle may have been what caused her son to suffer from “affluenza” – but these days, she can’t even pay her legal bills! Four people were killed in the June 2013 wreck.
Son Steven McWilliams testified at a hearing Monday that his mother can’t pay a bond that high. They fled after Ethan Couch was accused of potentially violating his probation.
Tonya Couch, center, is taken by authorities to a waiting auto after arriving at Los Angeles International Airport, Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015, in Los Angeles.
Advertisement
A day after the video was seen on the Internet, she withdrew $30,000 from the bank and informed her estranged husband, who owns a metal works business, that he would never see his son again, an arrest affidavit said.
