An Instagram model has helped her mum escape jail by distracting the security guard, reports said.
Colombian influencer Aída Victoria Merlano, 21, was reportedly able to execute her daring plan of breaking her mum out of prison by using a hidden rope and a getaway bike.
During a trial this week, prosecutors heard that the model helped former politician Aída Merlano Rebolledo escape from a Bogota prison by climbing out of a third-story window and using a rope to get to the ground.
The incident took place in October 2019, when Rebolledo, then 38, became a senator but was convicted shortly afterward after authorities discovered evidence of voter fraud, corruption, and illegal possession of weapons.
She was sentenced to 15 years behind bars within six months of her election victory and escaped just two weeks after.
Her 21-year-old daughter was charged at the time but has remained free on bail and often shares snaps of herself with her 2.5m followers.
The opportunity to escape arose when Rebolledo had a dentist appointment.
While she was accompanied by a prison guard and a driver to the dentist’s office located outside the penitentiary, she was allowed to enter alone.
Trial evidence showed that the felon was later left alone in the examination room.
CCTV footage showed the moment she was able to climb down from the window using a red cord before dropping to the ground in front of shocked onlookers.
She then proceeds to jump on the back of a bike, allegedly driven by a man posing as a delivery driver, and flees the scene.
As the news of her escape hit the headlines, Merlano took advantage of the situation.
Almost a month later she was featured on the cover of a magazine with the tagline “The Daughter of the Fugitive Congresswoman Confesses.”
Rebolledo was eventually caught in Venezuela a few months later, in January 2020.
Authorities who suspected her daughter and the dentist, Javier Cely Barajas, were accomplices, officially charged them the following month.
The duo has pleaded innocent during the trial this week but they face years in prison if found guilty.