01/26/26 04:53:00
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01/26 16:51 CST Ex-Olympic snowboarder pleads not guilty to running a drug
smuggling ring
Ex-Olympic snowboarder pleads not guilty to running a drug smuggling ring
By AMY TAXIN
Associated Press
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) --- A former Canadian Olympic snowboarder pleaded not
guilty to running a billion-dollar drug trafficking ring and orchestrating
multiple killings, as one of the FBI's top fugitives made his first U.S. court
appearance Monday since he was arrested in Mexico last week and flown to
California.
U.S. authorities say Ryan Wedding, who competed in a single event for his home
country in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, had been hiding in
Mexico for more than a decade. He was added to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted
Fugitives list last March when authorities offered a $15 million reward for
information leading to his arrest and conviction.
Authorities say Wedding moved as much as 60 tons of cocaine between Colombia,
Mexico, Canada and Southern California and believe he was working under the
protection of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of Mexico's most powerful drug rings.
His drug trafficking group was the largest supplier of cocaine to Canada,
according to a 2024 indictment in his home country, where he faces separate
drug charges dating back to 2015.
Mexican officials said he turned himself in at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City
last week and was flown to Southern California after a yearlong effort by
authorities in the United States, Mexico, Canada, Colombia and the Dominican
Republic to arrest him.
When speaking to reporters Monday outside the federal court in Santa Ana, south
of Los Angeles, Wedding's defense attorney Anthony Colombo disputed that his
client had turned himself in in Mexico and said he was living in Mexico, not
hiding out there.
"He was arrested," Colombo said after the brief hearing, offering no further
details. "He did not surrender."
Colombo said his client was in "good spirits" but added that "this has been a
whirlwind for Mr. Wedding."
Federal prosecutors declined to comment after the hearing. Wedding was
scheduled to be back in court Feb. 11 and a trial date was set for Mar. 24.
Wedding arrived in court wearing a tan jail jumpsuit with his ankles chained.
He smiled briefly, then clasped his hands and leaned back in his chair before
reviewing papers with his attorney. When asked by U.S. Magistrate John D. Early
if he read the indictments filed against him, Wedding answered, "I've read them
both, yes."
The judge ordered him held in custody, saying he could not immediately find
conditions that would ensure public safety or Wedding's appearance in court. He
said he could consider bond if Wedding seeks it later.
Mexico has increasingly sent detained cartel members to the U.S. as the country
attempts to offset mounting threats by U.S. President Donald Trump, who said
last month U.S. forces "will now start hitting land" south of the border to
target drug trafficking rings.
Wedding was indicted in 2024 on federal charges of running a criminal
enterprise, murder, conspiring to distribute cocaine and other crimes.
The murder charges accuse Wedding of directing the 2023 killings of two members
of a Canadian family in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment, and for
ordering a killing over a drug debt in 2024. Last year, Wedding was indicted on
new charges of orchestrating the killing of a witness in Colombia to help him
avoid extradition to the U.S.
Wedding was previously convicted in the U.S. of conspiracy to distribute
cocaine and sentenced to prison in 2010. Online records show he was released
from Bureau of Prisons custody in 2011.
The 2024 Canadian indictment says Wedding's group obtained cocaine from
Colombia and worked with Mexican cartels to move drugs by boat and plane to
Mexico and then into the U.S. using semitrucks, the indictment said. It said
the group stored cocaine in Southern California before sending it to Canada and
other U.S. states.
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