“Affluenza” Teen Ethan Couch Still On The Run

Ethan Couch, the teen who killed four people while drunk-driving and avoided a jail sentence using the now infamous “affluenza” defense, is still on the run from the feds, having skipped out on his probation officer on Tuesday.

“Affluenza” Teen Ethan Couch May Be On The Lamb

Couch has been placed on Tarrant County’s most wanted list and yesterday the FBI announced that they were joining the search for Couch and his mother, Tanya, who appears to have taken flight with him.

Speaking to CNN‘s “AC 360”, Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson remarked that he “wouldn’t be surprised” if the two had fled the country.

“My gut feeling says they’ve gone a long way. They have the money, they have the ability to disappear,” the sheriff said. “I don’t believe they’re the kind of people who would have run a short distance. I believe they planned this.”

Terry Grisham, a spokesman for the Tarrant County’s sheriff’s office, told NBC News that the search could be ongoing for quite some time, “unless we get a real lucky break.”

Couch dodged jail time when his legal team successfully pled that the reckless behavior that led to the deaths of four people was due to the fact that he had been mollycoddled by affluent parents who had failed to ever correctly discipline him, a condition they labelled “affluenza.” Couch got off with a 10 year probation sentence and ban from alcohol and driving.

Earlier this month a video surfaced on social media which showed Couch among other teens playing beer pong, leading many to assume he had defied the alcohol ban. Couch checked in with probation officer around the time of the video going viral, however, and no action was taken against him.

Grisham said officials were interviewing people every day to track Couch and his mother down.

“We will follow every lead as far as we can take it,” he said.