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.
PHOTO: The club Ethan Couch was allegedly spotted at in Mexico is seen here in this undated file photo. ABC
The club Ethan Couch was allegedly spotted at in Mexico is seen here in this undated file photo.
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.