St. Paul, MN - The Deltona man charged with trying to transport migrants across the US-Canada border—a stunt that claimed the lives of four—will be allowed to go home to Florida on a number of conditions.
Under the conditions outlined by Federal Judge Hildy Bowbeer, Steve Shand will not be allowed to leave the Deltona area for anything other than going to court. Additionally, Shand will have to surrender all travel documents, not obtain any others, report all interactions with the police, and not possess any weapons, on top of promising to stay out of trouble and not commit any crimes.
Shand was charged with human smuggling after authorities near the border discovered him with two Indian nationals that had just crossed with him. About a quarter of a mile away from where he was arrested, border authorities found another group of migrants—five in total—walking in the snow as a blizzard raged, mixing sub-zero temperatures with high winds.
Some members of that group exhibited signs of hypothermia and frostbite after walking in those conditions for 11 hours.
Later that day, members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) found the remains of four people around 12 miles from the border near Emerson, Manitoba. The bodies consisted of an adult male and female, a male teenager, and an infant. Since their discovery, Canadian authorities have been working with Indian consular officials to help identify the deceased and track down their family members.
In a news release from the RCMP, investigators say some news outlets have published the possible identities of the deceased, but no confirmation has been given.
“As a law enforcement organization, we will not be in a position to confirm these names until we have 100 percent certainty of their identities and next of kin notification is completed,” wrote the agency.
“Once the identities have been confirmed, our priority will be to formally notify the next of kin.”
It’s not known at this time when Shand will be transported back to Florida.
