Ethan Couch, the teenager who killed 4 people while drunk driving, was transferred from a juvenile detention center to an adult men’s prison today.
Couch’s eyes were red and puffy from crying while posing for his mugshot at the Lon Evans Corrections Center in downtown Fort Worth, Texas on Thursday.
“He was soft-spoken, not at all defiant, very compliant with everything we asked him to do,” Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson told reporters. “He made no requests and voiced no concerns over what was happening.”
Anderson said Couch, 18, will be housed with other “high-profile” detainees for his personal safety.
Officers cleared the booking area when Couch was booked into the jail around 1:45 p.m.
Anderson said jail staff would take every precaution to make sure Couch is safe.
“Obviously the big concern with him is someone else in the jail system might try to harm him,” Anderson said.
The move to an adult men’s jail means Couch will likely be charged as an adult at his Feb. 19 hearing.
He faces 10 years in prison for each of his 4 victims if he is convicted on all charges.
The so-called “affluenza kid” was 16 in June 2013 when he killed 4 people and injured 2 others while drunk driving.
A judge accepted his lawyer’s unique argument that Couch didn’t understand right from wrong because he was sheltered by his wealthy parents.
Couch and his mother, Tonya, fled Texas in December after he violated his probation. They were apprehended in Mexico in January after ordering pizza.
Couch waived extradition and was deported to the U.S. on Jan. 28.
His mother is on house arrest.
