Los Angeles AP —A former Olympic snowboarder for Canada has been charged with running a drug trafficking ring that shipped vast amounts of cocaine across the Americas and killed four people, authorities said Thursday. Wedding competed for Canada in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, authorities said. Wedding faces separate drug trafficking charges in Canada that date back to 2015, said Chris Leather, chief superintendent with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Wedding previously was convicted in the US of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and was sentenced to prison in 2010, federal records show. Estrada said US authorities believe that after Wedding’s release, he resumed drug trafficking and has been protected by the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico.

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Persons: Ryan James, Martin Estrada, “, ” Estrada, Ryan, Adam Pretty, Krysti Hawkins, Chris Leather, ” Leather, Estrada Organizations: Los Angeles AP, FBI, Authorities, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Locations: Canada, Americas, Canadian, Mexico, United States, Colombia, California, Los Angeles, Salt Lake, Park City , Utah, Florida , Michigan, Salt Lake City, Sinaloa