Summary: After weeks of a searching, authorities have detained Affluenza Teen, Ethan Couch, in Mexico.
The Affluenza Teen has been detained. Officials told CNN that Ethan Couch and his enabling mother were found near the a swanky Mexican beach resort town of Puerto Vallarta.
Couch, 18, shocked the nation when he was sentenced to probation for killing four people in a drunk driving accident in Texas because his lawyers argued he had “Affluenza.” The lawyers claimed that the wealthy teen’s parents never taught him responsibility, and a psychologist confirmed he suffered from the seemingly made up disease. Judge Jean Boyd ordered Couch to probation, and his father offered to send him to a luxurious rehab facility that cost $450,000 a year.
Despite or maybe because of his lax punishment, Couch couldn’t stop being a spoiled brat. He reportedly has never expressed remorse for his actions and this month a video of him at a frat party with alcohol surfaced online.
But it was Couch’s trip to Mexico that was the final straw for Texas authorities. People were flabbergasted that Judge Boyd accepted the Affluenza defense, and they shook their heads at his subsequent brat behavior. When Couch allegedly violated his parole by leaving the country, local police expressed that they had had enough from the killer rich kid.
“It’s one of those times when you hate to say, ‘I told you so,’ but I told you so,” Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson said earlier this month. “I knew he was going to end up in more trouble.”
U.S. Marshals Service has spent weeks searching for Couch, and he is expected to be turned over to them. Tarrant County authorities put out a warrant for the teen and issued a missing person for his mother, who allegedly was assisting her son.
Prosecutors have requested that he serve 20 years in prison. District Attorney Sharen Wilson said that the frat party video was not enough to prove Couch violated his parole but that his Mexican escape was.
Couch is represented by Scott Brown and William Reagan Wynn. They stated that it was not prudent at this time to comment on the case.
Source: http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/28/us/mexico-affluenza-teen-ethan-couch-detained/index.html
Source: https://www.jdjournal.com/2013/12/12/texas-teen-gets-10-years-probation-for-drunk-driving-kills-4/
Source: https://www.jdjournal.com/2015/12/11/the-drunk-driving-saga-of-ethan-couch/
Source: https://www.jdjournal.com/2015/12/18/texas-police-search-for-affluenza-teen-ethan-couch/