US 'affluenza' teen arrested in Mexico resort town
AFP
December 30, 2015, 6:31 am
Guadalajara (Mexico) (AFP) - A wealthy Texas teenager was detained in Mexico along with his mother, weeks after holding a "going-away party" before he fled probation for a deadly drunk-driving crash, officials said Tuesday.
Ethan Couch, 18, and his mother Tonya were arrested at an intersection in the Pacific resort city of Puerto Vallarta on Monday night, said the Jalisco state prosecutor's office.
They were both handed over to the National Migration Institute after they "could not prove their legal status in Mexico" and authorities will send them back to the United States, the prosecutor's office said in a statement.
A photo released by state prosecutors show Couch with his hands behind his back and shirt open, his hair apparently dyed black and sporting facial hair.
In Texas, authorities said the mother and son team had "carefully planned" to get out of the country and had a sort of farewell party before skipping town earlier this month.
The teen crashed his pickup into a group of pedestrians and another vehicle in 2013, leaving four dead and several seriously injured. Couch, who was 16 at the time, had a blood-alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit.
Couch, the son of millionaire parents, made headlines during his trial when a psychologist testifying on his behalf claimed he suffered from "affluenza."
The term, coined from affluence and influenza, implied that financial privilege made him unable to understand the consequences of his actions.
Couch pleaded guilty to intoxication manslaughter. Prosecutors had sought a 20-year prison term, but judges handed him a surprise sentence of mental-health treatment and a decade of probation.
The leniency shocked many Americans, especially because the teen expressed no remorse and did not spend a single night behind bars.
The hunt for Couch began a few weeks ago after he missed a mandatory meeting with his probation officer.
He seemed to have disappeared after the emergence of a video showing Couch at a party taking part in a drinking game, which violated the terms of his probation.
The FBI and US Marshals Service joined the search after authorities put Couch on the country's most wanted list, offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.
The teenager's flight with his mother prompted outrage across the country.
- Farewell bash -
In Texas, Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson said Couch will be placed in a juvenile detention facility once he returns to the United States and that an arrest warrant was issued for his mother.
Anderson said "intelligence information" indicated that Couch and his mother had driven across the border.
Through interviews, investigators learned that "what we suspected all along had happened, that they had planned to disappear, that they even had something almost akin to a going-away party before they left town," he said.
"Our suspicion that his mother was assisting and helping him was proven true, we believe," Anderson added.
He said he hoped that Couch's case would now be transferred to an adult court.
"I would like for him to be held accountable, as I've said all along. I don't think 10 years' probation was appropriate for killing four innocent people and driving at three times the limit of alcohol in his blood," the sheriff said.
