LOS ANGELES (CNS) — A former Canadian Olympic snowboarder has been added to the FBI’s Ten Most Wished Fugitives checklist for working what federal prosecutors name a transnational drug ring that shipped tons of of kilos of cocaine from Colombia, by Mexico and Southern California, to Canada and elsewhere, and for allegedly orchestrating a number of murders, officers introduced Thursday in Los Angeles.
Ryan “El Jefe” Wedding ceremony, 43, was born in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, and competed within the large slalom snowboarding competitors in the course of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake Metropolis, in keeping with the FBI.
“Wedding ceremony went from shredding powder on the slopes on 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 Area Workplace, mentioned in a press release.
“The alleged murders of his rivals make Wedding ceremony a really harmful man, and his addition to the checklist of Ten Most Wished Fugitives, coupled with a significant reward provide by the State Division, will make the general public our associate in order that we are able to meet up with him earlier than he places anybody else at risk.”
The U.S. State Division introduced it’s providing a $10 million reward for data resulting in Wedding ceremony’s arrest and/or conviction, an quantity along with the FBI’s $50,000 provide for data resulting in Wedding ceremony’s apprehension, Davis mentioned at a information convention Thursday on the FBI’s places of work in Westwood.
In June 2024, Wedding ceremony and his second-in-command, Andrew Clark, 34, additionally Canadian, have been charged in an indictment out of Los Angeles federal courtroom with working a seamless prison enterprise, committing homicide in reference to the enterprise and diverse drug crimes, and conspiring to own, distribute and export cocaine. Clark, who was arrested final October by Mexican authorities, was among the many 29 fugitives whom Lawyer Normal Pamela Bondi introduced had arrived in america from Mexico final week.
Six months in the past, a federal grand jury in Los Angeles returned a superseding indictment naming 14 extra defendants and together with, amongst different counts, an tried homicide cost towards Wedding ceremony and Clark. The superseding indictment alleges that Wedding ceremony, Clark and others conspired to ship bulk portions of cocaine weighing tons of of kilos from Southern California to Canada by a Canada-based drug transportation community.
The cocaine shipments have been transported from Mexico to the Los Angeles space, the place the cocaine trafficking group’s operatives saved the medicine in stash homes earlier than delivering it to the transportation community couriers for supply to Canada utilizing long-haul semi vehicles, in keeping with the FBI.
“As alleged within the superseding indictment, defendant Ryan Wedding ceremony … led a transnational prison group that murdered harmless folks and put 1000’s of kilograms of narcotics on our streets,” Performing U.S. Lawyer Joseph T. McNally mentioned. “The reward provided right this moment will assist convey this defendant to justice in america. We urge anybody with details about Wedding ceremony to contact legislation enforcement and assist us get Mr. Wedding ceremony into custody.”
The superseding indictment additionally alleges that Wedding ceremony and Clark’s group resorted to violence, together with a number of murders, to attain its goals. Wedding ceremony and Clark allegedly directed the Nov. 20, 2023, murders of two members of a household in Ontario, Canada, in retaliation for a stolen drug cargo that handed by Southern California, courtroom papers present.
One other member of that household survived the taking pictures however was left with severe bodily accidents. Wedding ceremony and Clark allegedly additionally ordered the homicide of one other sufferer on Might 18, 2024, over a drug debt. As well as, Clark and Malik Damion Cunningham, 23, a twin Canadian-American citizen, are charged with the April 1, 2024, homicide of one other sufferer in Ontario, Canada, federal officers mentioned Thursday.
If convicted, Wedding ceremony and Clark would face a compulsory minimal penalty of life in federal jail on their respective persevering with prison enterprise cost. The homicide and tried homicide fees carry a compulsory minimal of 20 years in jail. The drug trafficking fees carry necessary minimal penalties of 10 to fifteen years in jail, prosecutors famous.
Investigators imagine that Wedding ceremony resides in Mexico, however haven’t dominated out his presence in america, Canada, Colombia, Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rica, or elsewhere, in keeping with the FBI.
Within the 2002 Salt Lake Metropolis Video games, Wedding ceremony, competing for Canada, completed twenty fourth general within the males’s parallel large slalom snowboarding occasion.
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