A truly bizarre and terrifying story is emerging about former Team Canada Olympic snowboarder Ryan James Wedding, who’s on the lam amid drug trafficking and murder charges.
ABC reported the news, as Wedding faces charges for conspiring to distribute cocaine, running a drug ring, and hiring hit men to kill people.
A former Olympic snowboarder is accused of running a major transnational drug trafficking organization that shipped massive amounts of cocaine and allegedly hired hitmen to murder multiple people, federal officials said. https://t.co/E0T0PUzFH2 pic.twitter.com/yfHFftZ0Zl
— ABC News (@ABC) October 18, 2024
I remember reading or hearing something somewhere when the movie Hit Man came out that hit men aren’t a thing in real life, despite how often we see them portrayed in movies and TV. This story suggests otherwise, and it’s frankly more than a little scary.
ABC’s report on the matter states that Wedding was already convicted of distributing cocaine back in 2010 and was sentenced to prison. However, he went right back to it once he served that four-year sentence, thanks in large part to protection provided by the Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel.
Here’s the FBI’s post about a $50,000 reward for any information on Wedding that ultimately leads to his capture:
The #FBI offers a reward of up to $50,000 for info leading to the apprehension, arrest & extradition of Ryan James Wedding, wanted for alleged involvement in a transnational drug trafficking operation & multiple murders in furtherance of these drug crimes: https://t.co/RFdFwKgSaf pic.twitter.com/YY6s8pmPqx
— FBI Most Wanted (@FBIMostWanted) October 17, 2024
Seems only a matter of time before Wedding is brought to justice again. This is just a sad state of affairs. Whatever personal adversity or uncertain path forward Wedding faced after his short-window snowboarding career was finished — his only Olympic appearance was a 24th-place finish in the men’s parallel giant slalom event in 2002 — there’s no world in which going all-in on drug trafficking was going to pay off.
Per ABC, Wedding’s operation shipped large amounts of cocaine via long-haul semi trucks, spanning from Colombia to Mexico to California and Canada. Outstanding charges already await Wedding in his native country, never mind everything U.S. authorities intend to prosecute him on. The 16-person drug ring moves some 60 tons of cocaine per year, and Wedding is one of four still-at-large fugitives among the group.
More from Canada’s CBC News on Wedding’s criminal enterprise in the video below.
