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Man pleads not guilty in connection with 2022 deaths of 4 migrants near Manitoba-U.S. border

A Florida man has pleaded not guilty to human smuggling charges after the frozen bodies of a family of four migrants were found near the Canada-U.S. border last year.

Steve Shand, 48, faces charges of bringing people into the U.S. illegally, transporting them

The Canadian Press ·
A man with a beard and glasses looks at the camera with what appears to be VLT machines in the background.
Steve Shand is accused of human smuggling after seven people were picked up after crossing the border into the U.S., two of whom were apprehended when Shand was arrested. Four others, believed to be with the group, were found dead in a field in Manitoba in the winter of 2022. Shand pleaded not guilty in court on Friday. (Steve Shand/Facebook)

A Florida man has pleaded not guilty to human smuggling charges after the frozen bodies of a family of four migrants were found near the Canada-U.S. border last year.

Steve Shand, 48, entered the plea on Friday via videoconference as part of his long-delayed arraignment in Duluth, Minn.

Shand faces one count each of bringing people into the U.S. illegally and of transporting them inside the country.

He was arrested in January 2022 in a remote area of northern Minnesota, where border agents encountered him with two Indian nationals in a rented passenger van.

Just over the border, near Emerson, Man., RCMP officers discovered the bodies of four people authorities believe froze to death while trying to slip into the U.S. undetected.

Three others in India are facing charges in the deaths of Jagdish Patel, 39, wife Vaishaliben, 37, daughter Vihangi, 11, and three-year-old son Dharmik.

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