The mother of a fugitive American teenager, wanted for violating his probation in connection with a drunk driving case, has agreed to be extradited from California to Texas.
Tonya Couch appeared for a brief court hearing Tuesday in Los Angeles, where she was flown after being deported from Mexico.
Couch is wanted on a charge of hindering the apprehension of her 18-year-old son, Ethan, after the pair fled to Mexico as Texas prosecutors investigated whether he violated his probation in a car crash that killed four people.
Last month, Ethan Couch and his mother were taken into custody in Puerto Vallarta on Mexico’s west coast.
Ethan Couch is still being held at a detention facility in Mexico City, where he is fighting extradition to the United States.
Officials in Texas believe the mother and son fled the country in November after a video surfaced showing him drinking at a party in what would be a violation of his probation conditions.
The 2013 crash happened when Couch was 16 years old and drunk, and slammed into an SUV that was on the side of the road. He pleaded guilty to intoxication manslaughter and was sentenced to 10 years of probation.
The case made national news when a defense expert said that his wealthy parents treated him too softly, which ingrained a sense of irresponsibility, or what the expert termed “affluenza.”
Some material for this report came from AP and Reuters.
