Phone, banking records shown to jury in human smuggling trial

By Steve Lambert, The Canadian Press on November 21, 2024.

A lone car enters the US as people block highway 75 with heavy trucks and farm equipment and access to the Canada/US border crossing at Emerson, Man., Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022. The prosecution is expecting to wrap up its case today in the trial of two men accused of human smuggling at the border between Manitoba and Minnesota. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods

FERGUS FALLS, Minn. – The jury in a human smuggling trial was presented with phone, banking and other information Thursday that the prosecution says shows two accused men carried out plans to sneak people across the Canada-U.S. border between Manitoba and Minnesota.

Steve Shand and Harshkumar Patel are charged with participating in several smuggling operations in December 2021 and January 2022.

One of the alleged trips saw a family of four from India freeze to death in a blizzard on Jan. 19, 2022, the day Shand was arrested in a van just south of the border.

A cellular analyst with the Federal Bureau of Investigation testified about records tracking two phones – allegedly Shand’s – that travelled on multiple occasions from his hometown in Florida to Minnesota then to an area near the border.

FBI special agent Nicole Lopez said during those trips there were many calls to and from phones the prosecution says belonged to Patel.

Under cross-examination by Shand’s lawyer, Lopez said cell records, which are based on towers used, offer a general location and cannot offer pinpoint accuracy.

Shand’s lawyer also said the evidence doesn’t prove Shand was using the phone.

“You don’t know who actually possessed the cellphone at any given time, correct?” Aaron Morrison asked.

“Correct,” Lopez replied.

The trial in Fergus Falls, Minn., also heard Thursday from two forensic pathologists, who testified the family found dead in a Manitoba field near the border, a couple and their two children, died from hypothermia.

One pathologist said the autopsies had to be done after a few days because the bodies were too frozen.

Shand’s lawyers have said he was a taxi driver who had previously picked up and driven people for the co-accused and didn’t realize he was doing anything wrong until the day of his arrest.

Patel’s lawyers have said their client has been misidentified as part of an international smuggling ring.

Prosecutors spent some time Thursday establishing links between Patel and similar names on various documents.

The phone alleged to be Patel’s is listed under Dirty Harry on the phone allegedly belonging to Shand. Phone company records show one of the phones alleged to be Patel’s was registered to a Haresh Patel.

A special agent with Homeland Security testified the phone number attributed to Dirty Harry is identical to one used four years ago by Harshkumar Patel on a government document. The Dirty Harry number was also used to open a bank account in 2018 under the name Haresh Patel, said special agent Manuel Jimenez.

Jimenez also presented bank records that show large sums of money were deposited, around the time of the 2022 border crossings, in an account allegedly held by Shand in his hometown in Florida.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 21, 2024.