A former Olympic snowboarder from Canada, charged in a drug-trafficking operation for allegedly shipping hundreds of kilograms of cocaine and fentanyl through Southern California to elsewhere in the U.S. and to Canada, has been added to the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list, authorities said on Thursday, March 6.
Ryan James Wedding, 43, was believed to be hiding out in Mexico under the protection of the Sinaloa drug cartel or in South or Central America, federal authorities said at a press conference.
Wedding represented Canada in the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City and was charged in the drug-trafficking operation in October. His partner, Andrew Clark, was arrested in Mexico last year and brought back to the United States this week, said Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph McNally.
Officials also announced a reward up to $10 million from the U.S. State Department for information leading to Wedding’s arrest and conviction. They said the drug ring’s co-leader should be considered armed and dangerous.
“This sends a strong message to individuals abroad that if you operate criminal organizations outside of the United States that harm us, we will be aggressive in pursuing you beyond our borders, and we will use our full resources to find you,” McNally said.
“This $10 million reward … reflects our efforts to wipe out these organizations so they cannot harm the United States,” he continued.
As part of the operation, the drugs would be shipped from Mexico to Los Angeles, where they would be stored in stash houses before being taken north by long-haul semi-trucks, according to an October indictment charging Wedding and 15 others with international cocaine trafficking and murder. The operation was run from at least January to August 2024, federal officials say.
The indictment says the group resorted to murder, with Wedding and Clark accused of ordering the Nov. 20, 2023, murders of two members of a family in Ontario, Canada in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment. They also allegedly ordered the murder of another victim on May 18 over a drug debt.
Clark and another defendant were charged with the April 1 murder of another victim in Ontario, Canada.
Wedding, also known by aliases “El Jefe,” “Giant,” and “Public Enemy,” is charged with eight felonies: two counts of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, one count of conspiracy to export cocaine, one count of leading a continuing criminal enterprise, three counts of murder, and one count of attempt to commit.
“Wedding went from shredding powder on the slopes at the Olympics to distributing powder cocaine on the streets of U.S. cities and in his native Canada,” said Akil Davis, assistant director of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “The alleged murders of his competitors make Wedding a very dangerous man.”
Davis said Wedding’s addition to the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, along with the reward, “will make the public our partner so that we can catch up with him before he puts anyone else in danger.”
Authorities asked anyone with information on Wedding’s whereabouts to call the FBI at 424-495-0614.
Wedding is described as 6-feet, 3-inches tall and weighing 240 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes. But on Thursday, officials said, he may have altered his appearance.