'Affluenza' teen sought after probation officer lost contact

In this December 2013 image taken from a video by KDFW-FOX 4, Ethan Couch is seen during his court hearing in Fort Worth, Texas. The family of Couch, who killed four people in a drunken wreck, will pay a fraction of the cost of court-ordered treatment as part of his probation sentence. (AP Photo/KDFW-FOX 4, File) less In this December 2013 image taken from a video by KDFW-FOX 4, Ethan Couch is seen during his court hearing in Fort Worth, Texas. The family of Couch, who killed four people in a drunken wreck, will pay a ... more Photo: TEL Photo: TEL Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close 'Affluenza' teen sought after probation officer lost contact 1 / 9 Back to Gallery

DALLAS (AP) — A juvenile-court equivalent of an arrest warrant has been issued for a teenager who killed four people in a 2013 drunken-driving wreck near Fort Worth, then claimed as part of his defense that he suffered from "affluenza."

Ethan Couch's attorneys told KXAS-TV of Fort Worth-Dallas that a judge has issued "a directive to apprehend" Couch after a juvenile probation officer was unable to contact 19-year-old Couch or his mother, with whom he was living.

Couch was 16 when he drunkenly rammed a pickup truck into a crowd of people, killing four. Two years ago, he was given 10 years' probation after his attorneys asserted Couch's wealthy parents coddled him into irresponsibility. Prosecutors wanted a maximum sentence of 20 years in state custody.

Couch surfaced in the media more recently when a video that appeared to show him playing beer pong went viral.

The video was uploaded by a user who said, "ya boy ethan couch violating probation. i got more if you want," and tagged the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office as well as the City of Burleson.

ya boy ethan couch violating probation. i got more if u want @CityofBurleson @TarrantCountyDA pic.twitter.com/otiGprQ1uD — h (@BlondeSpectre) December 2, 2015

"He's allowed due process at every level," Tarrant County sheriff's spokesman Terry Grisham told the Dallas Morning News after the video surfaced. "[Cases] are not prosecuted or revoked or modified based on hearsay or based on a grainy video that we can't identify someone in."

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Information from: KXAS-TV, http://www.nbcdfw.com