Jury Selection Begins in Fergus Falls For Border Human Smuggling Case

FERGUS FALLS, Minn. (KVRR) — It was a packed house at the courthouse full of people waiting for the jury selection. The case, for two men accused of being part of a criminal network that stretched around the world.

Federal prosecutors say Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel and Steve Shand were part of an operation that scouted clients in India arranging visas, transportation and smuggling into the U.S.

In January 2022, court documents say Shand was waiting in a truck for 11 migrants. Four of them included a family from India. The family members died after spending hours wandering fields in a blizzard as the wind chill reached 36 degrees below zero.

Patel and Shand often communicated about the bitter cold as they smuggled five groups of Indians over a quiet stretch of border. One message saying, “They going to be alive when they get here?”

Prosecutors say Shand told investigators that Patel paid him about $25,000 for the five trips.

Harshkumar Patel’s attorney, Thomas Leinenweber, said his client came to America to escape poverty and build a better life for himself and now “stands unjustly accused of participating in this horrible crime. He says Patel has faith in the justice system and believes that the truth will come out at the trial.”

We’ll keep you up to date on the trial, as it develops.