Hotel employee: 'Affluenza' teen racked up a strip club bar tab in Mexico and his mom had to pay it



less In a photo from the Jalisco State Attorney General's office, Ethan Couch, who was arrested by authorities in the resort city of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on Dec. 28, 2015, less than three weeks after he and his mother fled Texas. Couch was facing changes to the terms of his 10-year probation sentence after he killed four pedestrians while driving drunk; his "affluenza" defense made national headlines. In a photo from the Jalisco State Attorney General's office, Ethan Couch, who was arrested by authorities in the resort city of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on Dec. 28, 2015, less than three weeks after he and his ... more Photo: JALISCO STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL'S, HO Photo: JALISCO STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL'S, HO Image 1 of / 15 Caption Close Hotel employee: 'Affluenza' teen racked up a strip club bar tab in Mexico and his mom had to pay it 1 / 15 Back to Gallery

While hiding in Mexico, the mother of Texas "affluenza" teen Ethan Couch, was woken up in the middle of the night to pay the bar tab her son had racked up at a strip club, a hotel employee said.

Marina Meza, a 21-year employee at the Los Tules resort in Puerto Vallarta, told the Dallas Morning News that something seemed odd about the mother-son duo when they checked in. They didn't complete the registration paperwork, which required showing ID, and paid their nightly fees in cash.

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"They seemed like normal people, perhaps a bit too private," Meza said. "But that's something you get used to: the idea that some people may be running from their past."

Meza said Ethan Couch spent most of his time in their room but ventured out one night to go to a strip club. When Couch didn't have the money to cover his bar tab, the club manager and a waiter went to the hotel and had Meza wake up Tonya Couch to pay the bill.

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Meza said she didn't realize who the two were until they checked out of the hotel and a co-worker said they matched photos in the newspaper. Ethan Couch was on probation for a 2013 fatal drunken-driving crash. Tonya Couch is being charged with hindering the apprehension of a felon.

Tonya Couch arrived back in the U.S. on Thursday while a Mexican court granted Ethan temporary stay against deportation. He is being held at a Mexico City immigration detention center.