'Affluenza' teen Ethan Couch booked into Texas juvenile detention center

The van carrying Ethan Couch to the airport in Mexico.
(Image credit: Hector Guerrero/AFP/Getty Images)

Ethan Couch, the so-called "affluenza" teen who was sentenced to 10 years probation in 2013 after killing four people and injuring several others in a drunken driving crash, was booked into a Texas juvenile detention center Thursday after being extradited from Mexico.

Authorities say the 18-year-old and his mother fled Texas for Mexico in early December after prosecutors began an investigation into whether he violated his probation by allegedly appearing in a video showing people with alcohol. His probation prohibits him from drinking and from leaving Tarrant County, Texas. Couch and his mother were detained in Mexico in late December. Couch is scheduled to appear in court on Friday for a hearing on whether he will be moved to an adult jail. If he is transferred out of the juvenile system, he could spend 120 days in jail and finish the rest of his probation as part of an adult sentence, The Associated Press reports.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.