Olympian turned outlaw: FBI offers $50k for Ryan Wedding
The American Federal Bureau of Investigation has announced a $50,000 reward for assistance in capturing Ryan James Wedding. The Canadian athlete competed in the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City in 2002.
Ryan James Wedding was born in Thunder Bay, Canada. From a young age, he began training in snowboarding, which led him to compete in the parallel slalom at the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. At the age of 21, he finished in 24th place in this competition.
In the following years, his life took a turn away from sports. In 2010, he was sentenced to four years in prison for the first time, a punishment that did not deter him from further criminal activities.
Currently, Ryan Wedding is wanted by the American Federal Bureau of Investigation and faces serious charges. He allegedly led an organized crime group involved in large-scale cocaine smuggling and is also responsible for the murder of four people.
After leaving the sports world, Wedding moved to Mexico. There, he allegedly organized cocaine smuggling from Colombia, through California, to other regions of the United States and Canada.
The now 43-year-old Ryan Wedding is evading law enforcement and the justice system. On Thursday, the FBI issued an arrest warrant for the former athlete. "He chose to become a major drug trafficker, and he chose to become a killer," American media quoted Martin Estrada, a prosecutor from the state of California.
A substantial financial reward is offered for help in capturing and extraditing the criminal. The FBI has offered $50,000 for information leading to the whereabouts of Ryan Wedding. A photo has surfaced online, showing that the Canadian looks entirely different than he did two decades ago at the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City.
