By Steve Neavling

The wife of convicted drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was sentenced to three years in prison Tuesday for helping her husband run his cartel and aiding his 2015 escape from a Mexican prison.

Emma Coronel Aispuro, a 31-year-old former beauty queen, pleaded guilty on June 10 to three criminal counts, including conspiracy to traffic cocaine and money laundering.

Prosecutors said Coronel Aispuro was a co-conspirator in the activities of the Sinaloa Cartel.  

Guzman, the longtime head of the Sinaloa, was convicted in 2019 on drug conspiracy charges and sentenced to life in prison. 

Coronel helped Guzman ship drugs and evade capture and later was the main conspirator in the successful plot to break him out of the Altiplano prison in Mexico.  

The FBI’s Washington Field  Office led the investigation, with assistance from FBI Field Offices, the Drug Enforcement Administration and Homeland Security Investigations.