Harshkumar Patel Sentenced In Freezing Deaths Of Family On Canadian Border

Photo: Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office

India-West News Desk

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Two men involved in a tragic international human smuggling operation that resulted in the deaths of four Indian nationals, including two young children, near the U.S.-Canada border in January 2022, have been handed significant prison sentences in the District of Minnesota. The victims perished from exposure to severe winter conditions while attempting to cross into the United States.

Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, 29, an Indian national formerly residing in Florida, received a sentence of 10 years and one month in prison. He faces deportation from the United States upon completion of his sentence. His accomplice, Steve Anthony Shand, 50, also of Florida, was sentenced to six years and six months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release.

“Patel and Shand endangered thousands of lives for their personal enrichment and are responsible for the deaths of two small children who froze to death on their watch,” stated Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, underscoring the severe human cost of their illicit enterprise.

Evidence presented during the trial revealed a chilling scheme that lured Indian nationals with the promise of a new life in the U.S. The operation began by bringing individuals into Canada using fraudulent student visas, then orchestrating their clandestine passage across the northern border into the United States.

Patel and other co-conspirators managed the intricate logistics of moving people from Manitoba, Canada, to the U.S. side of the border. Shand’s role was to pick up these individuals once they crossed and transport them to Chicago. Both men profited from their involvement, with reports indicating a steep price tag of $100,000 for the journey from India, through Canada, and into the U.S.

Despite explicit warnings about the extreme winter conditions, Patel and Shand proceeded with a smuggling attempt involving 11 individuals on January 18 and 19, 2022. Among this group was a family of four: two adults, their 11-year-old daughter, and their 3-year-old son. Disturbingly, on the evening of January 18, Shand himself forwarded a blizzard alert to Patel, detailing wind gusts up to 50 mph and wind chill temperatures plummeting below -45 degrees Fahrenheit. The actual wind chill recorded on the morning of January 19 was a brutal -36 degrees Fahrenheit.

In the early hours of January 19, amidst blinding blizzard conditions, a U.S. Border Patrol agent discovered Shand’s van stuck in deep snow. Shand was arrested along with two smuggled individuals. Despite his initial claims that no one else was present, five more individuals soon emerged from the snow-covered fields, one suffering from severe hypothermia.

Tragically, later that day, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) made a devastating discovery: the frozen bodies of the family of four on the Canadian side of the border in an isolated area. The heart-wrenching scene included the 3-year-old boy, found wrapped in a blanket, with his father’s frozen glove covering his face in a desperate attempt at protection. Trial evidence unequivocally confirmed that Patel and Shand had been paid to facilitate this family’s perilous journey into the United States.

Both defendants were convicted in November 2024 by a federal jury on multiple charges, including conspiracy to bring aliens to the United States causing serious bodily injury and placing lives in jeopardy, conspiracy to transport aliens within the United States causing serious bodily injury and placing lives in jeopardy, attempted transportation of aliens for commercial advantage or private financial gain, and aiding and abetting the attempted transportation of aliens.