Fact check: Satirical claim vlogger Chris Chan, Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán escaped custody

The claim: Vlogger Christine Chandler, Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán escaped custody

Weeks after a YouTuber known as Chris Chan was arrested on suspicion of incest, some social media users claimed that she escaped custody and was attempting to flee the country alongside a notorious criminal. 

“BREAKING: Christina Weston Chandler, who escaped from her trial on Friday, has been spotted on CCTV footage with Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman heading north for the Canadian border,” reads an Aug. 30 Facebook post that was shared nearly 400 times in less than a week.

But this never happened.

An attorney for Christine Chandler said claims his client escaped custody are false. Additionally, the Federal Bureau of Prisons said Guzmán, the infamous Mexican drug lord and cartel leader, remains at a maximum-security prison in Colorado.

The Facebook post is a screenshot of a tweet, and both accounts have a history of sharing humourous and satirical content.

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Paste BN reached out to users who shared the claim for comment. 

Both individuals still in custody in Colorado and Virginia

Though the screenshot included in the post features a tweet alongside a CNBC logo, the account is not affiliated with the news site and often posts satirical claims. In the days after this post, the account changed it's ID to show a BBC logo and then a personal photo.

Official CNBC Twitter accounts include a blue verified badge, which Twitter uses to identify legitimate pages of public interest. 

A representative for Chandler, whose arrest was covered by People, CBS 19 and other news outlets , said reports of an escape were false.

“I am unaware from any source that Ms. Chandler ‘escaped’ and any contrary stories or rumors are untrue,” attorney David Heilberg told Paste BN. 

Heilberg added that there was “unique intense interest” and "online disinformation" surrounding the case.

More: 'El Chapo' heading to Supermax prison? Who else is inside the hellish 'Alcatraz of the Rockies'

A spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons told Paste BN that Guzmán is “currently located at the ADX,” a reference to the Administrative Maximum Facility in Florence, Colorado.

Guzmán was taken to the Florence "Supermax" facility in 2019 after previously escaping from two maximum-security Mexican prisons, as The Washington Post reported at the time, describing it "as the highest-security penitentiary in the United States." 

The Daily Progress reported in August that Chandler was being held without bond at the Central Virginia Regional Jail in Orange County. Her preliminary hearing was scheduled for Sept. 16, according to the newspaper.

Our rating: Satire

Based on our research, we rate SATIRE the claim that Chandler and Guzmán escaped custody. The Facebook page that shared the claim and the Twitter account where it originated are both satirical in nature. Both Chandler and Guzmán remain at their respective detention facilities, officials say.

Our fact-check sources:

• Federal Bureau of Prisons, Sept. 8, Email to Paste BN 
• David Heilberg, Sept. 5, Email to Paste BN 
• The Daily Progress, Aug. 5, Internet personality "Chris-Chan" in court on incest charge
• CBS 19, Aug. 2, Suspect arrested and charged with incest
• The Denver Post, July 27, 2019, Colorado’s Supermax prison now occupied by El Chapo is “worse than death,” ex-warden says
• The Washington Post, Feb. 14, 2019, El Chapo escaped two prisons in Mexico — but no one’s ever busted out of the American ‘ADX’