Ex-Olympian Turned Drug Kingpin Lands on FBI's 10 Most Wanted List
According to the feds, Wedding's drug operation included shipping hundreds of kilos of cocaine from Colombia, through Mexico and southern California, to Canada and other locations in the United States. What's more, officials allege Wedding was involved in orchestrating multiple murders in connection to the alleged drug crimes.
Wedding's aliases include James Conrad King, Jesse King, "Giant," Public Enemy," and "El Jefe (The Boss)." The Justice Department's announcement comes months after a federal arrest warrant was issued for Wedding in the U.S. Central District of California, after he was charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, conspiracy to export cocaine, and murder in connection with a continuing criminal enterprise and drug crime, among other charges.
The Justice Department is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information that leads to the Canadian national's arrest and/or conviction.Wedding, 43, was once a promising member of Team Canada and competed at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. He placed 24th in the parallel giant slalom event.
Authorities allege Wedding's involvement with drugs began four years after he competed at the Olympics. He was convicted in 2010 after attempting to buy cocaine from an undercover agent. He was sentenced to four years behind bars.
Since then, the feds allege he's ramped up his operation and become a ruthless kingpin. The Justice Department charged him last year for leading a group that engaged in "cocaine trafficking and murder, including of innocent civilians."
The feds allege Wedding ordered the killing of two family members in 2023 in his hometown of Ontario, Canada, over a stolen drug shipment. One of the victims survived the attack and another one died in a separate hit order in May 2024 to settle a drug debt.
Wedding, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs around 240 pounds, is believed to be in Mexico under protection from the notorious Sinaloa drug cartel. He's considered armed and dangerous.
Anyone with information can submit a tip at tips.fbi.gov.
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A public defender assigned to represent him didn't return AP messages seeking comment. It's unclear why the case took so long to investigate and also when the FBI, which had to pay $138 million to Nassar's victims for botching that investigation, got involved in the case. Among evidence seized by investigators in late May were a cellphone, laptop and a desktop computer along with handwritten notes between Gardner and his former pupils, according to the sealed court documents. They found images of girls, approximately 6 to 14 years in age, who were nude, using the toilet or changing into leotards, those documents show. Those images appear to have come from a hidden camera in a restroom. They also uncovered 50 video files and 400 photos, including some that appeared to be child pornography, according to the FBI affidavit. One video allegedly shows Gardner entering the bathroom and turning off the camera. Investigators also found images of an adult woman secretly filmed entering and exiting a bathtub, and identified her as Gardner's ex-girlfriend. That woman as well as the gym's owner, Candi Workman, told investigators the images appeared to come from Jump'In Gymnastics' facility in Purvis, Miss., which has since been closed. SafeSport has long touted that it can deliver sanctions in cases where criminal charges are not pursued as key to its mission. However, Gardner's ability to land a job in health care illustrates the limits of that power: It can ban people from sports but that sanction is not guaranteed to reach the general public. While not commenting about Gardner's case directly, it said in a statement provided to AP that a number of issues factor into why cases can take so long to close, including the 8,000 reports it receives a year with only around 30 full-time investigators. It has revamped some procedures, it said, in an attempt to become more efficient. 'While the Center is able and often does cooperate in law enforcement investigations,' it said, 'law enforcement is not required to share information, updates, or even confirm an investigation is ongoing.' USA Gymnastics President Li Li Leung called the center's task 'really tough, difficult to navigate.' 'I would like to see more consistency with their outcomes and sanctions,' Leung said. 'I would like to see more standardization on things. I would like to see more communication, more transparency from their side.' As the investigation proceeded, Gardner said on his Facebook page he had landed a new job in May 2024 as a surgical technologist at MercyOne West Des Moines Medical Center. It's a role that calls for positioning patients on the operating room table, and assisting with procedures and post-surgery care. Asked about Gardner's employment, hospital spokesman Todd Mizener told the AP: 'The only information I can provide is that he is no longer' at the hospital. Meanwhile, the case lingers, leaving lives in limbo more than three years after the SafeSport Center and police first learned of it. 'SafeSport is now part of a larger problem rather than a solution, if it was ever a solution,' said attorney Silvey. 'The most fundamental professional task such as coordination with local or federal law enforcement gets botched on a daily basis, hundreds of times a year now.' Foley and Pells write for the Associated Press. AP reporter Will Graves contributed.
