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.
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 an Ontario family, 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 Caledon, Ont., shooting.
Kearns said police continue to investigate residential shootings in Peel Region, north of Toronto, that appear to be connected.
Another murder in Niagara region is also connected to the alleged drug ring named in the U.S. indictment, authorities said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
Sonja Puzic, The Canadian Press
