FERGUS FALLS, Minn. — 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 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.