Police offer 5K for ‘affluenza teen’ Ethan Couch
FEDERAL police are offering a $5000 reward for the missing Texas teenager described as suffering from “affluenza,” after he apparently violated the terms of his probation for causing a deadly drunk-driving accident in 2013.
The U.S. Marshals Service has joined Texas officials in the hunt for Ethan Couch, 18, who has a warrant out for his arrest and was placed on Tarrant County’s most-wanted list.
In a news release, the U.S. Marshals Service said: “U.S. Marshals are working in conjunction with state, local, and federal agencies in the apprehension of Couch.
“A reward of up to five thousand dollars is being offered for information that leads to the arrest of Couch.”
Ethan and his mother Tonya Couch disappeared sometime in early December, about the time a video hit Twitter appearing to show him laughing at a beer pong party. Terms of his probation forbid use of alcohol.
Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson says the FBI and U.S. Marshal’s fugitive task force have an excellent record of finding people around the globe, and can work with foreign govements, if necessary.
“[They have the] Ability to look at financial records, obtain telephone records, cell phone records … passport lists, flight lists. They have the ability to do that, and do it quickly,” Anderson said late Thursday.
Ethan Couch was 16 when he crashed his pick-up truck into a group of pedestrians and another vehicle, leaving four dead and several seriously injured. He had a blood-alcohol level of nearly three times the legal limit.
The son of millionaire parents, Couch made headlines during his trial when a psychologist testifying on his behalf claimed he suffered from “affluenza” -- a neologism coined from affluence and influenza, implying that financial privilege made him unable to understand the consequences of his actions.
The manhunt began after the now 18-year-old missed a mandatory meeting with his probation officer last week.
Prosecutors had sought 20 years in prison for Couch, but judges handed him a surprise sentence of mental-health treatment and a decade of probation.
The leniency shocked many Americans, especially because the teen expressed no remorse and spent not even a night behind bars.
Sheriff Anderson admitted the young man had slipped through the net. “He got a big jump on us because he was gone before any of us knew that he was missing,” he said.
“This is a family that knows how to game the system and has done so from the start,” he added, saying Couch may have fled the country.
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