Tonya Couch waives extradition, will be returned to Tarrant County

Tonya Couch, mother of teenage fugitive Ethan Couch, could be back in Fort Worth by the end of the week because she waived extradition in a Los Angeles court on Tuesday, Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson said.

Tonya Couch said very little during the court hearing, answering “yes” when asked if she is the Tonya Couch wanted by the state of Texas, according to The Associated Press.

She will be held without bail in an L.A. jail until Tarrant County deputies pick her up, a spokeswoman for the L.A. district attorney’s office said.

Anderson said administrative paperwork has to clear before he will dispatch two deputies to get her.

“We do this all the time,” Anderson said of picking up fugitives out of state. “But there usually isn’t this much scrutiny.

“She is in custody, and she can’t get out of custody until she gets here.”

Tarrant County authorities accuse Tonya Couch of helping her son flee to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, after he missed a juvenile probation appointment. The two were detained by Mexican authorities last week.

ETHAN COUCH TIMELINE

Tonya Couch has a Jan. 19 court date in L.A. “only if she has not been returned to Texas by that time,” the L.A. spokeswoman said.

Ethan Couch is on probation for driving drunk on June 15, 2013, and crashing his pickup, killing four people and injuring others, including his passengers. His blood alcohol content was 0.24, three times the legal limit.

Because he was portrayed during his December 2013 trial as an immature teen from a wealthy but dysfunctional family — with a passing reference to being a victim of “affluenza” — Ethan Couch’s sentencing became a national news story.

It was resurrected two years later after a short video posted on Twitter showed a teen who appears to be Ethan Couch playing beer pong at a party, which would be a violation of his probation. Missing the appointment with a probation officer is also a violation.

Ethan Couch remains in Mexico City, where his Mexican attorney, Fernando Benítez, obtained a temporary injunction against deportation.

Anderson said he learned that Ethan Couch met with his attorney for the first time today.

If he waives his appeal, the U.S. marshals will “load him up and bring him back to the states.”

Staff writer Monica S. Nagy contributed to this report.

This story was originally published January 5, 2016 at 12:12 PM with the headline "Tonya Couch waives extradition, will be returned to Tarrant County."