Head of human smuggling plot gets 10 years after family of 4 froze to
death on US-Canada border
[May 29, 2025]
By STEVE KARNOWSKI
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 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.
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Steve Anthony Shand Leaves court after being sentenced on human
smuggling charges Wednesday, May 28, 2025, in Fergus Falls, Minn.,
related to the 2022 deaths of an Indian family who froze while
crossing the Canadian Border into the U.S. (AP Photo/Mark Vancleave)
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.”
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