Tim Stelloh is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.
Former Olympic snowboarder and alleged kingpin Ryan Wedding pleaded not guilty Monday to drug and murder charges. Wedding, 44, was arrested last week in Mexico, where federal authorities said he spent years operating a billion dollar drug trafficking organization accused of moving 60 tons of cocaine from Colombia to the United States and Canada.
Wedding, who is Canadian and represented that country in the 2002 Winter Olympics, is also accused of orchestrating the murder and attempted murder of government witnesses, including one who was gunned down at a restaurant before he could testify against Wedding. Wearing a jailhouse jumpsuit and shackled at the legs, he appeared in a Southern California federal courtroom Monday. Wedding acknowledged his name when asked by the judge and said he understood the allegations against him. Wedding was ordered held without bail until trial. His attorney, Anthony Colombo, told reporters that Wedding was doing great and in 'good spirits.' Wedding faces multiple drug conspiracy counts and four counts of murder and attempted murder in connection with a continuing criminal enterprise and drug crime. In a news conference last week, FBI Director Kash Patel compared Wedding to Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán and Pablo Escobar, the former Mexican and Colombian drug lords. Wedding was added to the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted Fugitives last year. The U.S. State Department had offered a reward of $15 million for information leading to his arrest or conviction. According to an indictment unsealed last year, Wedding's organization sourced its cocaine in Columbia in cooperation with a paramilitary group and drug cartel. The group worked with Mexican drug cartels to use boats and planes to ship hundreds of kilos to Mexico before it was smuggled across the United States border, according to the indictment. Most of the cocaine was stored in Southern California's Inland Empire region before it was distributed in Canada, the indictment states. Wedding previously served two years in federal prison in the United States on a cocaine distribution charge. He was released in 2011 and founded the drug trafficking organization identified in the indictment as the Wedding Criminal Enterprise. The man accused of being Wedding's top lieutenant, Andrew Clark, was arrested and charged last year with helping run the organization and ordering the murder and attempted murder of five people. Clark pleaded not guilty. His attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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