'Affluenza' teen's family to pay $1,200 a month
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — The family of a Texas teenager sentenced to probation after killing four people in a drunken-driving wreck will pay for only a fraction of his court-ordered treatment.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports (http://bit.ly/1qoRLts ) a juvenile court official testified Friday that Ethan Couch's parents will be charged $1,170 a month. Couch was placed in a state hospital where his treatment costs $715 a day.
Couch's case drew national attention after his attorneys argued that his wealthy parents coddled him into a sense of irresponsibility, a condition one witness called "affluenza."
His parents originally offered to pay for a pricey rehabilitation center in California to help their then-16-year-old son avoid juvenile detention.
He was sentenced to 10 years' probation for the wreck last year that also injured several people near Fort Worth.
