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MINNESOTTA, USA: More than three years after a family of four from India froze to death while trying to enter the US along a remote stretch of the Canadian border in a blizzard, the alleged ringleader of an international human smuggling plot was sentenced in Minnesota on Wednesday to 10 years in prison.

Federal prosecutors had recommended nearly 20 years for Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, and nearly 11 years for the driver who was supposed to pick them up, Steve Anthony Shand. Shand also was to be sentenced Wednesday.

The two men appeared before US District Judge John Tunheim, who declined last month to set aside the guilty verdicts, writing, 鈥淭his was not a close case.鈥�

The judge handed down the sentences at the federal courthouse in the northwestern Minnesota city of Fergus Falls, where the two men were tried and convicted on four counts apiece last November.

Prosecutors said during the trial that Patel, an Indian national who they say went by the alias 鈥淒irty Harry,鈥� and Shand, a US citizen from Florida, were part of a sophisticated illegal operation that brought dozens of people from India to Canada on student visas and then smuggled them across the US border.

They said the victims, Jagdish Patel, 39; his wife, Vaishaliben, who was in her mid-30s; their 11-year-old daughter, Vihangi; and 3-year-old son, Dharmik, froze to death. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police found their bodies just north of the border between Manitoba and Minnesota on Jan. 19, 2022.

The family was from Dingucha, a village in the western Indian state of Gujarat, as was Harshkumar Patel. Patel is a common Indian surname, and the victims were not related to the defendant. The couple were schoolteachers, local news reports said. So many villagers have gone overseas in hopes of better lives 鈥� legally and otherwise 鈥� that many homes there stand vacant.

The father died while trying to shield Dharmik鈥檚 face from a 鈥渂listering wind鈥� with a frozen glove, prosecutor Michael McBride wrote. Vihangi was wearing 鈥渋ll-fitting boots and gloves.鈥� Their mother 鈥渄ied slumped against a chain-link fence she must have thought salvation lay behind,鈥� McBride wrote.

A nearby weather station recorded the wind chill that morning at -36 Fahrenheit (-38 Celsius).

Seven other members of their group survived the foot crossing, but only two made it to Shand鈥檚 van, which was stuck in the snow on the Minnesota side. One woman who survived had to be flown to a hospital with severe frostbite and hypothermia. Another survivor testified he had never seen snow before arriving in Canada. Their inadequate winter clothes were only what the smugglers provided, the survivor told the jury.

鈥淢r. Patel has never shown an ounce of remorse. Even today, he continues to deny he is the 鈥楧irty Harry鈥� that worked with Mr. Shand on this smuggling venture 鈥� despite substantial evidence to the contrary and counsel for his co-defendant identifying him as such at trial,鈥� McBride wrote.

Prosecutors asked for a sentence of 19 years and 7 months for Patel, at the top end of the recommended range under federal sentencing guidelines for his actions. They asked for Shand鈥檚 sentence to be 10 years and 10 months, in the middle of his separate guidelines range.

鈥淓ven as this family wandered through the blizzard at 1:00 AM, searching for Mr. Shand鈥檚 van, Mr. Shand was focused on one thing, which he texted Mr. Patel: 鈥榳e not losing any money,鈥欌€� McBride wrote. 鈥淲orse, when Customs and Border Patrol arrested Mr. Shand sitting in a mostly unoccupied 15-passenger van, he denied others were out in the snow 鈥� leaving them to freeze without aid.鈥�

Patel鈥檚 attorneys, who have argued that the evidence was insufficient, did request a government-paid attorney for his planned appeal. Patel has been jailed since his arrest at O鈥橦are International Airport in Chicago in February 2024 and claimed in the filing to have no income and no assets.

Shand has been free pending sentencing. His attorney called the government鈥檚 requested sentence 鈥渦nduly punitive鈥� and requested just 27 months. The attorney, federal defender Aaron Morrison, acknowledged that Shand has 鈥渁 level of culpability鈥� but argued that his role was limited 鈥� that he was just a taxi driver who needed money to support his wife and six children.

鈥淢r. Shand was on the outside of the conspiracy, he did not plan the smuggling operation, he did not have decision making authority, and he did not reap the huge financial benefits as the real conspirators did,鈥� Morrison wrote.