May 29, 2025:
FERGUS FALLS, Minn. (AP) — More than three years after a family of four from India froze to death while trying to enter the U.S. along a remote stretch of the Canadian border in a blizzard, the convicted ringleader of an international human smuggling plot was sentenced in Minnesota on Wednesday (May 28, 2025) to 10 years in prison.
Federal prosecutors had recommended nearly 20 years for Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, and nearly 11 years for the driver who was supposed to pick them up, Steve Anthony Shand, who got 6 1/2 years Wednesday with two years’ supervised release.
“The crime in many respects is extraordinary because it did result in the unimaginable death of four individuals, including two children,” U.S. District Judge John Tunheim said. “These were deaths that were clearly avoidable.”
Patel’s attorney, Thomas Leinenweber, told the court before sentencing that Patel maintains his innocence and argued he was no more than a “low man on the totem pole.” He asked for time served, 18 months.
But the acting U.S. attorney for Minnesota, Lisa Kirkpatrick, said Patel exploited the migrants’ hopes for a better life in America, out of his own greed.
“We should make no mistake, it was the defendant’s greed that set in motion the facts that bring us here today,” she said.
Patel, in an orange uniform and handcuffed, declined to address the court. He showed no visible emotion as the sentence was issued. The judge noted that he is likely to be deported to his native India after completing his sentence. He cooperated as marshals handcuffed him and led him from the courtroom.
Shand, who had been free pending sentencing, showed no visible reaction to his own sentence, either. The judge ordered him to report to prison July 1 and agreed to recommend that he serve his sentence at the Federal Prison Camp in Pensacola, Florida, where he can be near his family.
The judge handed down the sentences at the federal courthouse in the northwestern Minnesota city of Fergus Falls, where the two men were tried and convicted on four counts apiece last November.
The smuggling operation
Prosecutors said during the trial that Patel, an Indian national who they say went by the alias “Dirty Harry,” and Shand, a U.S. citizen, were part of a sophisticated illegal operation that brought dozens of people from India to Canada on student visas and then smuggled them across the U.S. border.
They said the victims, Jagdish Patel, 39; his wife, Vaishaliben, who was in her mid-30s; their 11-year-old daughter, Vihangi; and 3-year-old son, Dharmik, froze to death. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police found their bodies just north of the border between Manitoba and Minnesota on Jan. 19, 2022.
The family was from Dingucha, a village in the western Indian state of Gujarat, as was Harshkumar Patel. Patel is a common Indian surname, and the victims were not related to the defendant. The couple were schoolteachers, local news reports said. So many villagers have gone overseas in hopes of better lives — legally and otherwise — that many homes there stand vacant.
Harsh blizzard conditions
The father died while trying to shield Dharmik’s face from a “blistering wind” with a frozen glove, prosecutor Michael McBride wrote. Vihangi was wearing “ill-fitting boots and gloves.” Their mother “died slumped against a chain-link fence she must have thought salvation lay behind,” McBride wrote.
A nearby weather station recorded the wind chill that morning at -36 Fahrenheit (-38 Celsius).
Seven other members of their group survived the foot crossing, but only two made it to Shand’s van, which was stuck in the snow on the Minnesota side. One woman who survived had to be flown to a hospital with severe frostbite and hypothermia. Another survivor testified he had never seen snow before arriving in Canada.
What prosecutors say
Kirkpatrick told reporters after Wednesday’s hearing that as a lifelong Minnesotan, she would not have gone out in that weather. “But the defendants sent into that weather 11 migrants — Indian nationals who were not dressed appropriately, were ill-prepared for the weather they faced that night,” she said.
Kirkpatrick pointed out that the family who died had walked for hours trying to find Shand, who had been sent by Patel.
“These defendants knew it was cold. In fact, they knew it was life-threatening cold,” she said. “They didn’t care. What they cared about was money, and their callous indifference to the value of human life cost a family of four their lives.”
What defense attorneys say
Patel’s attorney, Leinenweber, said his client will appeal but declined to speculate on what grounds.
“He had kind of resigned himself to the fact that the sentence would be longer than he had hoped,” the attorney said. “And he’s not happy with it. But he does wish to appeal and take advantage of his rights.”
Shand’s attorney, federal defender Aaron Morrison, did not talk to reporters afterward.
Morrison acknowledged in a presentencing filing that Shand has “a level of culpability” but argued that his role was limited — that he was just a taxi driver who needed money to support his wife and six children.
“Mr. Shand was on the outside of the conspiracy, he did not plan the smuggling operation, he did not have decision making authority, and he did not reap the huge financial benefits as the real conspirators did,” Morrison wrote.
Human smuggling at the northern border
A top regional U.S. Customs and Border Protection official told reporters Wednesday that human smuggling along the border in the area has been holding “fairly steady,” with no sharp increases or decreases.
“We hope that this is a strong message, and especially during the inclement months,” said Michael Hanson, the acting chief patrol agent for the Grand Forks, North Dakota, sector, which covers North Dakota and Minnesota. “You know, there very well could have been 11 deaths associated with this event.”
May 28, 2025:
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — More than three years after a family of four from India froze to death while trying to cross into the U.S. along a remote stretch of the Canadian border in a blizzard, two men face sentencing in Minnesota on Wednesday (May 28, 2025) on human smuggling charges for their roles what prosecutors call an international conspiracy.
Federal prosecutors have recommended nearly 20 years in prison for the alleged ringleader, Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, and nearly 11 years for the driver who was supposed to pick the family up, Steve Anthony Shand.
The prison terms are up to U.S. District Judge John Tunheim, who declined last month to set aside the guilty verdicts, writing, “This was not a close case.”
Tunheim will hand down the sentences at the federal courthouse in the northwestern Minnesota city of Fergus Falls, where the two men were tried and convicted on four counts apiece last November.
The smuggling operation
Prosecutors said during the trial that Patel, an Indian national who they say went by the alias “Dirty Harry,” and Shand, a U.S. citizen from Florida, were part of a sophisticated illegal operation that brought dozens of people from India to Canada on student visas and then smuggled them across the U.S. border.
They said the victims, Jagdish Patel, 39; his wife, Vaishaliben, who was in her mid-30s; their 11-year-old daughter, Vihangi; and 3-year-old son, Dharmik, froze to death. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police found their bodies just north of the border between Manitoba and Minnesota on Jan. 19, 2022.
The family was from Dingucha, a village in the western Indian state of Gujarat, as was Harshkumar Patel. Patel is a common Indian surname, and the victims were not related to the defendant. The couple were schoolteachers, local news reports said. So many villagers have gone overseas in hopes of better lives — legally and otherwise — that many homes there stand vacant.
The harsh conditions
The father died while trying to shield Dharmik’s face from a “blistering wind” with a frozen glove, prosecutor Michael McBride wrote. Vihangi was wearing “ill-fitting boots and gloves.” Their mother “died slumped against a chain-link fence she must have thought salvation lay behind,” McBride wrote.
A nearby weather station recorded the wind chill that morning at -36 Fahrenheit (-38 Celsius).
Seven other members of their group survived the foot crossing, but only two made it to Shand’s van, which was stuck in the snow on the Minnesota side. One woman who survived had to be flown to a hospital with severe frostbite and hypothermia. Another survivor testified he had never seen snow before arriving in Canada. Their inadequate winter clothes were only what the smugglers provided, the survivor told the jury.
What prosecutors say
“Mr. Patel has never shown an ounce of remorse. Even today, he continues to deny he is the ‘Dirty Harry’ that worked with Mr. Shand on this smuggling venture — despite substantial evidence to the contrary and counsel for his co-defendant identifying him as such at trial,” McBride wrote.
Prosecutors asked for a sentence of 19 years and 7 months for Patel, at the top end of the recommended range under federal sentencing guidelines for his actions. They asked for Shand’s sentence to be 10 years and 10 months, in the middle of his separate guidelines range.
“Even as this family wandered through the blizzard at 1:00 AM, searching for Mr. Shand’s van, Mr. Shand was focused on one thing, which he texted Mr. Patel: ‘we not losing any money,’” McBride wrote. “Worse, when Customs and Border Patrol arrested Mr. Shand sitting in a mostly unoccupied 15-passenger van, he denied others were out in the snow — leaving them to freeze without aid.”
What defense attorneys say
Patel’s attorneys, who have argued that the evidence was insufficient, had not filed a sentencing recommendation by Tuesday. But they did request a government-paid attorney for his planned appeal. Patel has been jailed since his arrest at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago in February 2024 and claimed in the filing to have no income and no assets.
Shand has been free pending sentencing. His attorney called the government’s requested sentence “unduly punitive” and requested just 27 months. The attorney, federal defender Aaron Morrison, acknowledged that Shand has “a level of culpability” but argued that his role was limited — that he was just a taxi driver who needed money to support his wife and six children.
“Mr. Shand was on the outside of the conspiracy, he did not plan the smuggling operation, he did not have decision making authority, and he did not reap the huge financial benefits as the real conspirators did,” Morrison wrote.
April 8, 2025:
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday (April 8, 2025) rejected requests for new trials for two men convicted on human smuggling charges in the deaths of four members of a family from India who froze to death while trying to cross the Canadian border into Minnesota during a blizzard in 2022.
U.S. District Judge John Tunheim declined to set aside the guilty verdicts that a jury returned last November against Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel and Steve Anthony Shand. His order clears the way for the two defendants to take their cases to a federal appeals court after he sentences them on May 7.
Attorneys for both men argued that the evidence was insufficient.
“But this was not a close case,” Tunheim countered.
The judge found that there was sufficient evidence for the jury to find both Shand and Patel guilty on all four counts. He said the failure of prosecutors until late in the trial to disclose a prior disciplinary action against a Border Patrol agent who testified, while troubling, had a minimal impact on the overall case. He also stood by his decision to try the defendants together rather than separately.
Prosecutors said during the trial that Patel, an Indian national who prosecutors say went by the alias “Dirty Harry,” and Shand, an American from Florida, were part of a sophisticated illegal operation that brought increasing numbers of Indians into the U.S.
They said the victims, 39-year-old Jagdish Patel; his wife, Vaishaliben, who was in her mid-30s; their 11-year-old daughter, Vihangi; and 3-year-old son, Dharmik, froze to death just north of the border between Manitoba and Minnesota on Jan. 19, 2022. The family was from Dingucha, a village in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The couple were schoolteachers, local news reports said. Seven other members of their group survived the foot crossing. Patel is a common Indian surname, and the victims were not related to the defendant.
The most serious counts carry maximum sentences of up to 20 years in prison. But federal sentencing guidelines rely on complicated formulas, and prosecutors have not yet said what they will recommend for sentences.
NOVEMBER 22, 2024:
FERGUS FALLS, Minn. (AP) — A jury has convicted two men of charges related to human smuggling for their roles in an international operation that led to the deaths of a family of Indian migrants who froze while trying to cross the Canada-U.S. border during a 2022 blizzard. Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel and Steve Shand each faced four charges related to human smuggling before being convicted on Friday (Nov. 22, 2024). Patel is an Indian national. Shand is an American from Florida. They were arrested after the family froze while trying to cross the desolate border during a 2022 blizzard.
NOVEMBER 20, 2024:
FERGUS FALLS, Minn. (AP) — A man convicted of human smuggling testified that he shuttled more than 500 Indian migrants across the U.S.-Canada border over four years. Rajinder Singh said Tuesday (Nov. 19, 2024) that he made over $400,000 while working in the same international smuggling ring as two men who are on trial in federal court in Minnesota. The defendants in the trial are Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel and Steve Shand. Federal prosecutors say they attempted to smuggle migrants across the border in 2022. A couple from India and their two young children froze to death. The defense attorney for one man says his client shouldn’t have been charged; an attorney for the other says her client was tricked.
NOVEMBER 19, 2024:
FERGUS FALLS, Minn. (AP) — An Indian migrant who survived a deadly trek across the Canada-U.S. border in blizzard conditions is expected to testify in the federal trial of two men accused of human smuggling. Federal prosecutors say the men put financial profit over human life when they attempted to smuggle migrants across the border in 2022. A couple from India and their two young children froze to death. Prosecutors say the men were part of an international criminal network that smuggled families seeking better lives in the United States. The defense attorney for one man says his client should not have been charged; an attorney for the other says her client was tricked.
NOVEMBER 18, 2024:
FERGUS FALLS, Minn. (AP) — A criminal network stretching from India to Canada made money smuggling families seeking better lives in the United States, including a man who died holding his 3-year-old son in gusting snow and bone-chilling temperatures two years ago, federal prosecutors plan to argue at a trial starting Monday (Nov. 18, 2024) in Minnesota.
Prosecutors have accused Indian national Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, 29, of running the scheme and Steve Shand, 50, of Florida of waiting in a truck for 11 migrants, including the couple and two children who died after they tried to walk across the border to the U.S.
Prosecutors say Patel recruited Shand at a casino near their homes in Deltona, Florida, just north of Orlando.
Jagdish Patel, 39, died along with his wife, Vaishaliben, who was in her mid-30s, and with their 11-year-old daughter, Vihangi and their 3-year-old son Dharmik. Patel is a common Indian surname and the victims were not related to Harshkumar Patel, who has pleaded not guilty, as has Shand.
The family, from the village of Dingucha in Gujarat state, is believed to have spent hours wandering fields in blizzard conditions as the wind chill reached minus 36 Fahrenheit (minus 38 Celsius). Canadian authorities found the Patels’ frozen bodies on the morning of Jan. 19, 2022. Jagdish Patel was holding Dharmik, who was wrapped in a blanket.
Federal prosecutors say Patel and Shand were part of an operation that scouted clients in India, got them Canadian student visas, arranged transportation and smuggled them into the U.S., mostly through Washington state or Minnesota.
The U.S. Border Patrol arrested more than 14,000 Indians on the Canadian border in the year ending Sept. 30. By 2022, the Pew Research Center estimates there were more than 725,000 Indians living illegally in the U.S., behind only Mexicans and El Salvadorans.
Harshkumar Patel’s attorney, Thomas Leinenweber, told The Associated Press that his client came to America to escape poverty and build a better life for himself and now “stands unjustly accused of participating in this horrible crime. He has faith in the justice system of his adopted country and believes that the truth will come out at the trial.” Attorneys for Shand did not return messages.
Court documents filed by prosecutors show Patel was in the U.S. illegally after being refused a U.S. visa at least five times.
Over a five-week period, court documents say, Patel and Shand often communicated about the bitter cold as they smuggled five groups of Indians over a quiet stretch of border. One night in December 2021, Shand messaged Patel that it was “cold as hell” while waiting to pick up one group, the documents say.
“They going to be alive when they get here?” he allegedly wrote.
During the last trip in January, Shand had messaged Patel, saying: “Make sure everyone is dressed for the blizzard conditions, please,” according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors say Shand told investigators that Patel paid him about $25,000 for the five trips.
Jagdish Patel grew up in Dingucha. He and family lived with his parents. The couple were schoolteachers, according to local news reports.
Satveer Chaudhary is a Minneapolis-based immigration attorney who has helped migrants exploited by motel owners, many of them Gujaratis. He said smugglers and shady business interests promised many migrants an American dream that doesn’t exist when they arrive.
“The promises of the almighty dollar lead many people to take unwarranted risks with their own dignity, and as we’re finding out here, their own lives,” Chaudary said.
MARCH 27, 2024:
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A man accused of helping smuggle people across the U.S.-Canadian border had been warned of blizzard conditions before he arranged for four members of an Indian family to cross in 2022, prosecutors allege. The parents and two young children froze to death.
Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, 28, who prosecutors say went by the alias “Dirty Harry,” is due in federal court in Minnesota on Wednesday (March 27, 2024) on seven counts of human smuggling. The man he allegedly hired to drive the Indian nationals from the Canadian border to the Chicago area also faces four counts, according to a new indictment unsealed last week.
The alleged driver, Steve Shand, of Deltona, Florida, was arrested and charged with human smuggling two years ago. He has pleaded not guilty and remains free on his own recognizance. Proceedings in his case have been put on hold several times.
In a recent court document, an agent with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Patel has been refused a U.S. visa at least five times, including four at U.S. consulates in India and once at the U.S. consulate in Ottawa, Canada. He is in the U.S. illegally, the agent said.
Patel’s name didn’t emerge until he was arrested in Chicago last month on a previously sealed warrant issued last September. Defense attorney Thomas Leinenweber said in an email that Patel will plead not guilty on Wednesday. He didn’t elaborate.
Unsealed court papers connect Patel with a human trafficking group based in the northwest Indian state of Gujarat. The group allegedly would get Indian nationals into Canada on student visas, then move them on to the Chicago area.
The migrants would work for substandard wages at Indian restaurants while they paid off debt to the smugglers, according to the court documents.
Prosecutors allege Shand was driving a rented 15-passenger van when it was stopped by the U.S. Border Patrol in Minnesota just south of the Canadian border on Jan. 19, 2022. Inside the van were two Indians from Gujarat who had entered the U.S. illegally, while five others were spotted walking nearby. According to court documents, they told officers they’d been walking for more than 11 hours in temperatures well below zero Fahrenheit (-34 Celsius).
One person was hospitalized with severe cold-related injuries.
A man with the group told authorities he paid the equivalent of about $87,000 to get smuggled into the U.S. He also had a backpack that contained children’s clothes and a diaper, but there were no children in the group.
The man told authorities he was carrying the items for a family of four with a small child, all of whom had become separated from his group during the night. Later that day, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police found the four dead, just 10 meters (33 feet) from the border near Emerson, Manitoba.
According to a series of messages sent via WhatsApp, Shand told Patel, “Make sure everyone is dressed for the blizzard conditions please.” Patel replied, “Done.” Then Shand remarked, “We not losing any money.”
The victims were identified as Jagdish Patel, 39; his wife, Vaishaliben, 34; their 11-year-old daughter, Vihangi; and 3-year-old son Dharmik, all from the village of Dingucha in Gujarat state. It’s not clear if they were related to the defendant because Patel is a common name in India.
Jagdish Patel and his wife were educated and had worked as teachers, but sought a better life in the U.S, relatives have said.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said their deaths were “mind blowing.”
The victims faced not only bitter cold, but also flat, open fields; large snowdrifts and complete darkness, the Mounted Police have said. They were wearing winter clothing, but it wasn’t enough to save them.
A court filing unsealed last month said Shand told investigators he first met Harshkumar Patel, whom he also knew by the nickname “Dirty Harry,” at a gaming establishment Patel managed in Orange City, Florida.
Shand said Patel originally tried to recruit him to pick up Indian nationals who were illegally crossing the U.S.-Canada border in New York. Shand said he declined, but agreed to pick up others in Minnesota.
Shand said Patel paid him about $25,000 altogether for five trips to the border in December 2021 and January 2022. He said he dropped off his passengers at an Indian supermarket in Chicago, a residence in a wealthy part of the Chicago area, and at a suburban Chicago motel.
MAY 28, 2023:
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A Florida man charged with human smuggling related to the deaths last year of four immigrants near the Canadian border has pleaded not guilty to the federal charges. Court records show that Steve Shand entered the plea Friday (May 26, 2023) in a hearing held via video conference. Federal authorities arrested Shand in January 2022 after authorities found a family of four Indian nationals, including an infant and a teen, who had frozen to death during a blizzard just across the Canadian border. Officials also found five other Indian nationals on foot in Minnesota and two more in Shand’s van. The Deltona, Florida, man is charged with bringing two people into the country illegally and illegally transporting them once in the U.S.
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