Former Olympic snowboarder on FBI’s most-wanted list is arrested in Mexico, faces drug charges
AMY TAXIN, RUSS BYNUM and JULIE WATSON | 4:20 PM CST, January 23, 2026ONTARIO, Calif. (AP) — Former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding, a top FBI fugitive accused of moving some 60 tons of cocaine from Latin America into the United States annually and orchestrating several killings, was arrested in Mexico and then flown to California, officials said Friday.
Wedding, 44, turned himself in Thursday at the U.S. embassy in Mexico City. FBI Director Kash Patel said his arrest came after U.S. investigators worked with authorities in Mexico, Canada, Colombia and the Dominican Republic for more than a year.
Officials say Wedding moved cocaine between Colombia, Mexico, Canada and Southern California, and they believe he was working under the protection of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of Mexico’s most powerful drug rings. Authorities said his aliases included “El Jefe,” “Public Enemy” and “James Conrad Kin.”
“He’s the modern-day El Chapo,” Patel told a news conference in California, comparing Wedding to the legendary former Sinaloa cartel kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, who is imprisoned in the U.S. after pleading guilty to drug trafficking charges. . . .
https://apnews.com/article/ryan-wedding-olympic-snowboarder-drug-ring-1ba939875022738f89e0822cb32f0176
