Men plead not guilty to smuggling Indian family who froze to death
A family of four Indians from Gujarat froze to death in -40F blizzard after walking for 11 hours through waist-high snow to illegally cross the border into the US from Canada in January 2022. Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel alias “Dirty Harry,” Steven Shand face charges of human smuggling
An undocumented Indian, who went by the alias “Dirty Harry,” has pleaded not guilty to charges of smuggling four members of an Indian family who froze to death in 2022, across the US-Canada border into Minnesota.
Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, 28, pleaded not guilty to seven counts of human smuggling during a brief teleconference with US Magistrate Judge Leo Brisbois of Duluth, Minnesota Wednesday, according to media reports.
RELATED: “Dirty Harry” arrested for smuggling Indian family that froze to death (February 27, 2024)
Steven Shand, 49, of Deltona, Florida, who was hired by Patel to drive the Indian nationals from the Canadian border to the Chicago area, pleaded not guilty during the same hearing to four counts contained in an updated indictment against them that was unsealed last week, AP reported citing authorities.
Shand was arrested and charged with human smuggling two years ago. He remains free on his own recognizance. Proceedings in his case had been put on hold several times before Patel’s arrest last month. Patel remains in federal custody.
In a recent court document, an agent with the US Department of Homeland Security said Patel has been refused a US visa at least five times, including four at US consulates in India and once at the US consulate in Ottawa, Canada. He is in the US illegally, the agent said.
RELATED: Indian family of four found frozen to death near US-Canada border (January 22, 2022)
Patel’s name didn’t emerge until he was arrested in Chicago last month on a previously sealed warrant issued last September. 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 he was stopped by the US 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 US illegally, while five others were spotted walking nearby.
According to court documents, they told officers they had been walking for more than 11 hours in temperatures below -29 F. 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 US. 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, RCMP officers found the four dead, just 30 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 three-year-old son Dharmik, all from the village of Dingucha in Gujarat state.
Jagdish Patel and his wife were educated and had worked as teachers, but sought a better life in the US, relatives have said.
The victims faced not only bitter cold, but also flat, open fields, large snowdrifts and complete darkness, the RCMP 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.
READ: Indian missions rush teams to help probe in Indian family’s death (January 22, 2022)
Shand said Patel originally tried to recruit him to pick up Indian nationals who were illegally crossing the US-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.
