Jury convicts men for roles in smuggling deaths of Indian family

A federal jury in Minnesota on Friday found two men guilty of four counts of human smuggling. The charges brought against Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel and Steve Anthony Shand are connected to the January 2022 deaths of a family of four, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Jagdishkumar Patel, his wife Vaishaliben, their daughter Vihangi, and their son Dharmik froze to death as they tried to cross the U.S.-Canada border. The family is not related to Harshkumar Patel. The men face a maximum possible sentence of 20 years in prison for the first and second counts and a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for the third and fourth counts. A federal district court judge will sentence Patel and Shand at a later date.

What happened on the day the family died? American Homeland Security Investigations agents on Jan. 19 responded to a request for assistance from the U.S. Border Patrol in North Dakota, according to the DOJ. Authorities said they encountered Shand driving a 15-passenger van one mile south of the border and later encountered five Indian nationals walking in the direction of the location where agents stopped Shand. The five immigrants said they had been walking for more than seven hours and were separated from the Patel family overnight. Temperatures plummeted to 36 degrees below zero that night. Royal Canadian Mounted Police found the bodies of the Patels later that day.

What are Patel and Shand accused of? The men are believed to be a part of a larger human smuggling ring, according to the DOJ. Patel and Shand allegedly conspired to smuggle dozens of migrants across the border into the United States, according to evidence presented at the trial. Prosecutors say Patel coordinated with others to transport migrants from Manitoba, Canada, and dropped them off near the border. Shand then met them on the U.S. side and smuggled them elsewhere, according to prosecutors. Officials say the men disregarded the risks posed by cold weather.

Both men pleaded not guilty. Patel’s lawyers said he was misidentified, and Shand’s lawyers said Patel pulled him into the scheme.

Dig deeper: Read Christina Grube’s report in The Sift about the smugglers’ trial.