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Mom Of 'Affluenza' Teen Leaves LA Jail

LOS ANGELES (AP) The mother of a fugitive teenager known for using an "affluenza" defense in a deadly drunken-driving case is no longer in the custody of Los Angeles authorities.

Los Angeles County sheriff's spokesman Nicole Nishida says Tonya Couch left jail at 5 a.m. Thursday. She declined to confirm whether Couch was on her way to Texas, but authorities there have said they would bring her back by Friday.

Couch is charged in Texas with hindering the apprehension of a felon and will be held on $1 million bond.

She was flown to Los Angeles last week after being deported from Mexico, where she and her 18-year-old son, Ethan, were arrested.

Authorities believe the pair fled there in November as Texas prosecutors investigated whether he had violated his probation in a car crash that killed four people.

(© Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

 

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