Former Canadian Olympic snowboarder wanted in US drug trafficking case

LOS ANGELES – A former Canadian Olympic snowboarder has been accused of running a drug trafficking ring that transported large quantities of cocaine across the Americas and killed four people, authorities said Thursday.

The FBI is offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and extradition of Ryan James Wedding, a Canadian citizen who was living in Mexico and is considered a fugitive. The 43-year-old is charged in the United States with running a criminal enterprise, murder, conspiracy to distribute cocaine and other crimes, U.S. prosecutors said.

U.S. authorities said Wedding’s group transported large shipments of cocaine from Colombia through Mexico and California to Canada and other locations in the United States using long-haul tractor-trailers. Wedding, who also faces years-old charges in Canada, is one of 16 people charged in connection with a ring that transported 60 tons of cocaine a year, and four of them remain at large, a said Martin Estrada, US Attorney in Los Angeles.

“He chose to become a major drug trafficker and he chose to become a killer,” Estrada told reporters.

Krysti Hawkins, FBI special agent in charge in Los Angeles, said about a dozen people have been arrested in Florida, Michigan, Canada, Colombia and Mexico in connection with the case.

U.S. authorities say the group killed two members of a family in Canada in retaliation for a drug shipment stolen in what U.S. authorities called a case of mistaken identity, along with two other people, authorities and documents filed in federal court. Authorities said they seized cocaine, weapons, ammunition, cash and more than $3 million in cryptocurrency as part of their investigation.

Wedding represented Canada at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, authorities said.

Wedding faces separate drug trafficking charges in Canada dating back to 2015, said Chris Leather, chief superintendent of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. “These charges are unresolved,” Leather said.

Wedding was previously convicted in the United States of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and sentenced to prison in 2010, according to federal records. Estrada said U.S. authorities believe that after Wedding’s release, he resumed drug trafficking and was protected by Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel.