A Toronto-area man has been sentenced to 68 months in a United States federal prison after pleading guilty to smuggling cocaine on behalf of a drug-trafficking network that prosecutors allege is tied to former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding.
Wedding, the Thunder Bay-born athlete who competed at the 2002 Winter Olympics, was captured by the FBI in Mexico earlier this year after a lengthy manhunt. He now faces U.S. charges including cocaine trafficking and murder in connection with the alleged network.
The sentencing follows a related case about three weeks ago in which an Ontario trucker based in Brampton was sentenced to nine years in a U.S. prison for hauling cocaine for the same alleged organization.
The case adds to the growing list of Canadians swept up in the American prosecution of the network, which U.S. authorities have described as one of the most significant cross-border cocaine operations targeting the Canadian market in recent years.
