'Affluenza teen' will have strict curfew, alcohol monitoring once he's released
FORT WORTH, Texas _ Ethan Couch will have a strict curfew and must wear an alcohol monitoring patch once he's released from the Tarrant County jail on April 2, court documents show.
Tarrant County District Court Judge Wayne Salvant signed the documents Wednesday morning listing the four conditions of Couch's community supervision.
Couch, now 20, became known as the "affluenza" teen after a witness at his original trial used the term while explaining that Couch didn't know right from wrong as a result of his wealthy upbringing.
On June 15, 2013, Couch and passengers in his Ford F-350 pickup were speeding down Burleson-Retta Road when he crashed into a group of people trying to help a stranded motorist. He was later convicted in juvenile court and was ordered not to consume alcohol.
But in December 2015, a video surfaced showing a person who appeared to be Couch at a drinking party. After the video surfaced he did not respond or appear for a scheduled hearing with his probation officer.
Instead, he fled Fort Worth with his mother, Tonya Couch.
The pair was located in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, in February 2016 and were both brought back to Tarrant County to face charges.
As part of Couch's community supervision, he will have to submit to electronic monitoring and home confinement. His GPS tracker will have a curfew set for him to not be able to leave his home until 8 a.m. each morning and he has to be home by 9 p.m. each night.
He will also have to use a SCRAM alcohol monitor and submit to monitoring by Substance Abuse Test Patch as instructed by the court or his supervision officer. It will be Couch's responsibility to pay for the monitoring and he must obtain a new patch every 10 days.
He must abstain from taking any medications that have not been prescribed to him by a medical professional.
He also cannot operate any motor vehicle without a camera-equipped ignition interlock device.
_Fort Worth Star-Telegram
