A former Canadian Olympic snowboarder, Ryan James Wedding, 43, has been charged with operating a vast cocaine trafficking ring responsible for shipping large quantities of the drug across the Americas and linked to four homicides, authorities announced Thursday.
The FBI is offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to Wedding’s arrest and extradition. He is considered a fugitive, having lived in Mexico.
Wedding faces charges in the US for running a criminal enterprise, murder, conspiring to distribute cocaine, and other crimes, according to US prosecutors.
US authorities allege that Wedding’s organization utilized long-haul semi-trucks to transport cocaine from Colombia through Mexico and California to Canada and other US locations.
US Attorney in Los Angeles, Martin Estrada, stated, “He chose to become a major drug trafficker and he chose to become a killer.”
Krysti Hawkins, FBI special agent in charge in Los Angeles, reported that 12 individuals were arrested in connection with the case in Florida, Michigan, Canada, Colombia, and Mexico.
The investigation revealed that the group was responsible for the killings of two Canadian family members in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment, which officials deemed a case of mistaken identity, as well as two additional homicides.
Authorities seized cocaine, weapons, ammunition, cash, and over $3 million in cryptocurrency during the investigation.
Wedding competed in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
Additionally, Wedding faces separate drug trafficking charges in Canada, dating back to 2015, according to Royal Canadian Mounted Police Chief Superintendent Chris Leather. “Those charges are very much unresolved.”
Wedding was previously convicted in the US of conspiracy to distribute cocaine in 2010 and served prison time.
US authorities believe Wedding resumed drug trafficking after his release and has been protected by Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel.
