Former Canadian Olympic athlete wanted in U.S. for murder, drug charges

A former Canadian Olympic snowboarder is wanted in the U.S. on multiple charges stemming from his alleged involvement in a transnational drug trafficking ring – including the alleged orchestration of a double murder that mistakenly targeted a “completely innocent” family in Ontario, authorities said Thursday.

An indictment filed in California alleges that Ryan James Wedding, 43, led an organized crime group that moved large shipments of cocaine from Colombia through Mexico and California to Canada and other locations in the United States.

Wedding, who competed for Canada at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, had been living in Mexico and is considered a fugitive, U.S. authorities said. The FBI is offering a US$50,000 reward for information leading to his arrest and extradition to the U.S.

Wedding – whose aliases include “El Jefe” and “Public Enemy” – is facing eight felony charges, including conspiracy to export cocaine, three counts of murder in connection with a continuing criminal enterprise and one count of attempted murder. He is one of 16 people charged in the alleged drug ring.

“As alleged in the indictment, an Olympic athlete-turned-drug lord is now charged with leading a transnational organized crime group that engaged in cocaine trafficking and murder, including of innocent civilians,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in a news release.

The charges in the indictment have not been proven in court.

Wedding and another Canadian citizen, who was arrested by Mexican authorities earlier this month, are accused of directing the Nov. 20, 2023 murders of two members of a family in Caledon, Ont., in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment.

But the family was not involved in drug trafficking at all and was “completely innocent,” Ontario Provincial Police Deputy Commissioner Marty Kearns told a news conference in Los Angeles on Thursday.

“Our investigation has determined that these three victims were mistakenly targeted,” Kearns said, referring to the murdered couple and their adult daughter, who was seriously injured in the shooting.

Kearns said police continue to investigate residential shootings in Peel Region, north of Toronto, that appear to be connected.

An April murder in Niagara region and a May homicide in Peel are also connected to the alleged drug ring described in the U.S. indictment, authorities said.

The RCMP said it worked with the FBI for over a year to investigate the alleged criminal network. Various law enforcement agencies across Canada, U.S., Mexico and Colombia assisted the investigation.

Four Canadians were arrested in Ontario this week at the request of American authorities, and another three Canadians were arrested in the U.S., the RCMP said in a news release. Another Canadian remains at large, along with Wedding, it added.

Wedding faces separate “unresolved” drug trafficking charges in Canada that date back to 2015, said Chris Leather, chief superintendent with the RCMP.

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

–With files from The Associated Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

Sonja Puzic, The Canadian Press