The FBI announced Thursday that a former Olympic snowboarder has been added to its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to his capture.
Ryan Wedding, 43, is a Canadian who once competed at the giant slalom snowboarding competition at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah.
He is wanted for allegedly running a drug trafficking ring that exported significant amounts of cocaine from Colombia through Mexico and Southern California, to other areas in the U.S. and to Canada. Wedding has also been accused of facilitating several murders in furtherance of his alleged drug operation.
“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,” Akil Davis, the assistant director of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, said in a press conference Thursday.
“The alleged murders of his competitors make Wedding a very dangerous man, and his addition to the list of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, coupled with a major reward offer by the State Department, will make the public our partner so that we can catch up with him before he puts anyone else in danger,” he continued.
In a press release, the FBI disclosed that investigators believe Wedding may be residing in Mexico, but have also listed the U.S., Canada, Colombia, Honduras, Guatemala, and Costa Rica as other likely places.
They added that his aliases include “El Jefe,” “Giant,” “Public Enemy,” “James Conrad King,” and “Jesse King.” The $10 million reward was also authorized by Secretary of State Marco Rubio under the Narcotics Rewards Program, an initiative to assist law enforcement with drug busting operations.
Wedding’s alleged right-hand man, Canadian national Andrew Clark, 34, was arrested last October by Mexican authorities, according to the FBI, and is part of the 29 fugitives Attorney General Pam Bondi announced arrived back to the U.S. from Mexico last week to face their respective charges.
If convicted, Wedding faces a mandatory minimum penalty of life in federal prison for his “continuing criminal enterprise charge” the FBI writes. Murder and drug trafficking charges could subsequently add 20 or 10 to 15 years in prison respectively.
