The man suspected of financing Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's escape reserved his right to testify as prosecutors accuse him of buying at least 10 cars with drug money. Prosecutors allege Manuel Rodolfo Trillo Hernández "knowingly used" part of the Sinaloa Cartel's earnings between 2012 and 2015 to break Guzman out of prison -- a "crime against the public health." Photo courtesy of Mexico's Attorney General
MEXICO CITY, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- The man suspected of financing Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's escape reserved his right to testify as prosecutors accused him of buying at least 10 cars with drug money.
Mexico's Attorney General said Manuel Rodolfo Trillo Hernández bought at least 10 cars of different makes and models with at least two false identities, El Universal reported. Trillo Hernández was admitted to the Altiplano Federal Prison on Monday to face criminal proceedings -- same prison from which Guzman fled.
Officials have not specified what purpose the vehicles served, if any, in Guzman's escape.
Prosecutors allege Trillo Hernández "knowingly used" part of the Sinaloa Cartel's earnings between 2012 and 2015 to break Guzman out of prison -- a "crime against the public health."
Trillo Hernández, a businessman, also demanded a definition over his legal status, including what charges will be filed, within 144 hours -- a constitutional right.
Guzma's Sinaloa Cartel is credited with dominating the illegal drug market in nearly the entire United States, according to a recent report by the Drug Enforcement Administration. The report states the criminal organization is most powerful "along the West Coast, through the Midwest, and into the Northeast."
"'El Chapo' Guzmán is the world's No. 1 drug criminal," DEA spokesperson Rusty Payne told Forbes. "El Chapo has facilitated a lot of American deaths through the violence of people that work for him."
On July 11, Guzman escaped from a Mexican maximum security prison for the second time using a mile-long tunnel, which could have taken a year to build. During the investigation into Guzman's escape, authorities first looked into which Altiplano prison workers were complicit in the crime before expanding the search further to civilian suspects.
"El Chapo" -- meaning "The Short One" or "shorty" -- so dubbed because of his 5-foot-6-inch frame, was captured in Guatemala in 1993 and then extradited to Mexico to face murder and drug trafficking charges. He escaped from prison in 2001 by hiding in a laundry cart after bribing prison guards, and was re-captured in February 2014.
In October, an unedited leaked video of Guzman's escape shed further light into the suspicious circumstances surrounding the prison break.
Mexican television channel Televisa broadcasted the CCTV footage of Guzman's escape, the longer version of a video authorities previously released but without sound and only showing the moments before Guzman disappeared.
