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'Affluenza' teen's mother, Tonya Couch, indicted

By Amy R. Connolly
Tonya Couch, mother of "affluenza teen" Ethan Couch, was indicted on two charges related to helping her son flee to Mexico to avoid prison. Photo courtesy Tarrant County Sheriff's Office
Tonya Couch, mother of "affluenza teen" Ethan Couch, was indicted on two charges related to helping her son flee to Mexico to avoid prison. Photo courtesy Tarrant County Sheriff's Office

FORT WORTH, Texas, May 27 (UPI) -- A grand jury indicted the mother of "affluenza teen" Ethan Couch on charges related to helping her son flee to Mexico to avoid prison.

Tonya Couch was indicted on hindering apprehension of a felon and money-laundering charges. Police said she withdrew $30,000 from the bank in December and used the money to flee the country with her son Ethan, then 18.

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The two left the country as police were investigating a social media video that allegedly showed Ethan Couch violating his 2013 probation stemming from a fatal drunk driving crash. They were brought back to the United States weeks after they disappeared. She remains under electronic surveillance and must undergo regular drug testing.

Ethan Couch was 16 and had a blood-alcohol content of three times the Texas legal limit for an adult when he plowed into two vehicles on the side of the road and a group of people standing nearby. He killed four people and injured a total of nine, including two passengers in his own truck.

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Couch's "affluenza" defense -- that his parents were too wealthy and he was too spoiled to understand the consequences of his actions -- and his sentence of probation instead of prison caused nationwide outrage. Under the terms of his probation, Couch was not allowed to drink or be near people who were drinking.

Couch, now 19, is serving two years in the Lon Evans Correction Center in Texas.

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