Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Canadian snowboarder on the FBI’s Most Wanted list

Photo: FBI

PARK CITY, Utah – 2002 Olympic Canadian snowboarder Ryan Wedding of Salt Lake is on the FBI’s Most Wanted list. The search has been dubbed ‘Operation Giant Slalom’.

On September 17, a federal arrest warrant was issued for Wedding in the United States District Court, Central District of California, Los Angeles, California.

His accusations are listed here:

  • Conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances
  • Conspiracy to export cocaine
  • Ongoing criminal enterprise
  • Murder in connection with a continuing criminal enterprise and drug crime
  • Attempted murder in connection with an ongoing criminal enterprise and drug crime

Wedding is wanted for allegedly participating in a transnational drug trafficking operation that routinely shipped hundreds of kilos of cocaine from Colombia, through Mexico and Southern California, to Canada and the United States. Additionally, it is alleged that Wedding was involved in orchestrating multiple murders in furtherance of these drug crimes.

The International Olympic Committee website contains the following text under Wedding’s Athlete Bio:

“In 2006, Ryan Wedding was named in a search warrant at a Maple Ridge, British Columbia, home under investigation for growing large amounts of marijuana, but he was never charged. However, in May 2010, he was convicted of attempting to buy cocaine from a US government agent in 2008, and was sentenced to four years in prison.

Park City Mountain was the site of his 2002 snowboarding event, Parallel Giant Slalom, in which he placed 24th. Many personal and television audiences at the time were preoccupied with cheering for American bronze medalist Chris Klug and his memorable storyline in which he stood up for his experience as a donor kidney recipient. 2002 was the unique Olympic Games in which Wedding participated.

He is to be considered armed and dangerous, and the FBI is offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to his capture, arrest and extradition.

Michel Roepke

By: Michele Roepke

I’ve lived in Park City for 30 years, but from the beginning, my journalism professors would compliment me after class for writing more about the sports in the small towns in the surrounding mountains than the urban updates they provided. That’s why I’m on par with spelling and writing down Parkites’ pastimes. When I got high early in my career, I did communications work for the Olympics, the Paralympics and the Special Olympics. There have also been National Geographic, Patagonia, NCAA, USA Nordic and the United States Library of Congress, so you could say this isn’t my first rodeo.

Read more from Michele Roepke

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