Mother of ‘affluenza’ teen agrees to be sent back to Texas

LOS ANGELES – The mother of a fugitive teenager known for using an “affluenza” defense in a deadly drunken-driving case agreed Tuesday to be sent from California to Texas to face a charge.

Tonya Couch, 48, said little at an extradition hearing in downtown Los Angeles, where she was flown after being deported from Mexico. She answered “yes” when asked if she is the Tonya Couch wanted by the state of Texas.

It wasn’t clear when Couch would return to the Lone Star State, but authorities there said they will bring her back before Friday. Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson said he will dispatch deputies to pick her up after clearing up some “administrative matters.”

She is charged with hindering the apprehension of a felon and will be held on a $1 million bond.

Couch and her 18-year-old son, Ethan, were apprehended last week in the Mexican resort city of Puerto Vallarta, where authorities believe the pair fled in November as Texas prosecutors investigated whether he had violated his probation in a car crash that killed four people.

Ethan Couch was being held at a detention facility in Mexico City after winning a court reprieve that could lead to a weekslong or even monthslong legal process in Mexico.

Tonya Couch’s attorneys previously released a statement saying she had done nothing illegal and wanted to get back to Texas as soon as possible.