'Affluenza Teen' Ethan Couch Arrested in Texas After Allegedly Violating Probation Again

Ethan Couch has been accused of testing positive for THC

Ethan Couch, who infamously made headlines for his “affluenza” defense in his 2013 drunk driving case, has been arrested in Texas for allegedly violating his probation.

Couch, 22, is in custody at the Tarrant County Correction Center, jail records show.

He has reportedly been accused of testing positive for the psychoactive component in marijuana, THC, according to the Fort-Worth Star-Telegram, a violation of his probation.

Couch was placed on 10 years probation after he struck and killed four pedestrians, injuring two others, in a drunk driving incident when he was a teenager in 2013. His blood alcohol level was 0.24 percent, which is three times the legal limit of 0.08 percent.

Couch did not initially receive jail time for the offense, in part thanks to his defense team’s argument that he suffered from “affluenza,” an inability to understand the consequences of his actions because of his wealthy upbringing. He was dubbed the “affluenza teen” during the trial.

Ethan Couch. Tarrant County Sheriff

But he ended up spending almost two years behind bars after he violated his probation in December 2015, when he was caught on camera at a party where alcohol was being served. But instead of attending his probation hearing, he fled to Mexico with his mother, spending weeks on the run.

They were eventually found, and Couch was extradited back to the United States after he and his mother were tracked to an apartment in Puerto Vallarta after one of them used a cell phone to call Domino’s Pizza.

Couch then appeared in court as an adult for the first time, and was sentenced to two years in jail in 2016, one six-month sentence for each of the four lives he took.

Max Faulkner/Getty Images

He was released from prison in April 2018, but is on a curfew that requires him to be home between the hours of 9 p.m. and 4 a.m., the Star-Telegraph reported. He is also required to use an alcohol monitor and substance abuse test patch, which is reportedly how authorities became aware of his alleged testing positive for THC.

Couch’s attorneys could not be immediately reached by PEOPLE, but told the Associated Press that Couch “has never been positive for the use of any substance before.”

“We cannot make any further statement until we have the opportunity to conduct an investigation to determine if, in fact, Ethan ingested THC and, if so, if it was a voluntary act on his part,” his attorneys, Scott Brown and Reagan Wynn, said in a statement to the outlet.