Sheriff says two-pronged Couch case is time-consuming

Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson backed out of a Republican candidate forum Monday night, saying he needed to focus on the Ethan Couch case.

Tarrant County sheriff’s deputies are prepared to bring the teenage fugitive’s mother, Tonya Couch, 48, back to Texas this week, depending on the outcome of an extradition hearing Tuesday in Los Angeles, Anderson said Monday.

Tonya Couch, 48, was deported from Mexico last week where she was found with her son in Puerto Vallarta. Authorities had been looking for Ethan Couch, 18, who is on probation for driving drunk and killing four people in 2013.

Tonya Couch faces a felony charge in Tarrant County accusing her of hindering the apprehension of her son.

“We won’t know anything until after that hearing,” Anderson said. “It’ll be us this time to go and get her.”

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Anderson, who is running for re-election, tweeted Monday that he wouldn’t be able to attend the Cowtown Republican Women’s candidate forum at 5:30 p.m. Anderson was scheduled to appear along with challengers Bill Waybourn, the Dalworthington Gardens police chief, and corrections officer John Garris of Fort Worth.

He said the Couch case was consuming his time.

“I’m sorry to miss the meeting but determined to bring both back to face TC justice,” he tweeted from @SheriffAnderson.

Anderson said if a California judge grants extradition, Tarrant County deputies will go get her.

“It’s all in the hands of the people out there right now,” he said.

Anderson said he didn’t have a timetable on Ethan Couch’s return from Mexico City, where his new attorney, Fernando Benítez, was able to get him a temporary injunction against deportation.

An evidentiary hearing in his case likely won’t happen until the end of the month, Benítez told Star-Telegram media partner WFAA.

Benítez declined to answer questions Monday.

U.S. marshals have said it could be months before Ethan Couch comes back to Texas.

This story was originally published January 4, 2016 at 7:31 PM with the headline "Sheriff says two-pronged Couch case is time-consuming."