Tonya Couch, mom of "affluenza teen" Ethan Couch, was indicted by a Texas grand jury for hindering apprehension and money laundering while fleeing to Mexico with her son last year, reported
WFAA-TV in Fort Worth
.
Ethan Couch was on probation at the time in connection with a 2013 drunk driving accident that killed four people. Tarrant County prosecutors charged that Tonya Couch assisted her son in traveling to Mexico and used $30,000 to fund the trip, said WFAA's news site.
Mother and son were captured in Puerto Vallarta and brought back to the United States, said the
Dallas Morning News. She has been under electronic surveillance since posting $75,000 bail and is required to make weekly check-ins and submit to drug testing.
In April, Ethan Couch's case was moved from juvenile to adult court and state district judge Wayne Salvant sentenced him to 720 days, 180 days for each of the four people killed in his drunk driving accident, noted the Morning News.
Three years before, Couch pleaded guilty to four counts of intoxication manslaughter and two counts of intoxication assault. A judge sentenced him to 10 years of probation and time at a rehab facility, reported
ABC News.
Prosecutors had argued for a 20-year sentence. Couch's defense made headlines when prominent psychologist Dr. G. Dick Miller claimed that Couch's wealthy upbringing and a lack of consequences for his actions caused him to suffer from "affluenza," said ABC News.
The
Fort Worth Star-Telegram, citing an arrest affidavit, reported on Thursday that Ethan Couch became "scared" when a video surfaced on Twitter on Dec. 2 showing a person looking like him at a beer pong party, which could have led to the revocation of his probation.
Couch's probation officer had asked the teenager for a drug test on Dec. 3, but he didn't respond, according to the affidavit. He then missed a scheduled meeting with the officer on Dec. 10.
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