Sources: 'Affluenza' Teen Drank at Strip Club in Mexico
Ethan Couch is now being held at a migrant facility in Mexico City.
— -- Before he was detained by Mexican authorities, "affluenza" teen Ethan Couch went to a Mexican strip club and racked up a huge tab, employees at the club tell ABC News.
Sources say Ethan Couch and his mother Tonya went to a strip club called Harem in Puerto Vallarta on the night of Dec. 23. According to club employees, the pair had drinks before Tonya Couch left the club. Ethan stayed at the club and employees told ABC News that he went off to a VIP room with two women who worked at Harem. Hotel and club employees said Couch was extremely drunk.
Couch racked up a $1,000 tab with entertainment that included lap dances and drinks, according to club employees, but was 6,000 pesos ($345) short.
In the early hours of Dec. 24, sources tell ABC News that a waiter at the club escorted Couch to his hotel when he could not pay the bill.
Neither Ethan nor Tonya Couch had the cash to pay the remainder of the bill so Ethan handed over his Rolex watch as a guarantee that he would repay his debt the next day, according to members of the club staff. The club was closed on Dec. 24 and Dec. 25. No one at the club saw either of the Couches ever again, they told ABC News.
Reports of Ethan drinking are significant since part of his probation from a deadly drunken driving crash in 2013 stipulated that he could not drink alcohol for the next 10 years.
Hours after the strip club incident, the Couches moved into a condo in Puerto Vallarta without notifying the hotel.
On December 24th, the resort’s cleaning lady tried to get into the room to clean it all day but no one would answer and the “Do Not Enter” sign was on. The cleaning lady entered the room later in the day and realized they had left.
The pair were apprehended by Mexican law enforcement on Dec. 28. Ethan is now being held at a migrant detention center in Mexico City. He was able to submit papers pushing for a stay of his deportation to the United States, but Tonya Couch was transported to California two days later.
She is charged with Hindering Apprehension of a Felon which carries a possible sentence of up to 10 years in prison.
"While the public may not like what she did, may not agree with what she did, or may have strong feelings against what she did, make no mistake — Tonya did not violate any law of the State of Texas and she is eager to have her day in court," Tonya Couch's attorneys Stephanie K. Patten and Steve Gordon said in a statement released to ABC News.
Tonya Couch is currently being held in Los Angeles and waived extradition back to Texas at a hearing today. Sources have told ABC News that she is expected to be transported to Texas this week.
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