David X. Sullivan, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that Darwin Francisco Quituizaca-Duchitanga, also known as Darwin Duchitanga-Quituizaca and Juan Mendez-Gutierrez, a 39-year-old Ecuadorian citizen, has been charged with illegally reentering the United States after deportation.
Court documents and statements reveal that in December 2003, Quituizaca was encountered by U.S. Border Patrol using an alias and was issued a voluntary return to Mexico after claiming Mexican citizenship.
In March 2018, Quituizaca was arrested by Connecticut State Police under another alias for charges related to a fatal motor vehicle accident in North Haven in March 2017. On August 30, 2018, ICE arrested him while he awaited trial. An immigration judge ordered his removal to Ecuador in September 2018. In January 2019, he was convicted of second-degree manslaughter in Connecticut Superior Court and sentenced to 30 months in prison. He was released from state prison on an unknown date and removed to Ecuador in September 2023 after being arrested again by ICE.
It is alleged that Quituizaca illegally reentered the U.S., leading to his arrest on June 28, 2025, by ICE in Meriden.
Quituizaca appeared today in Hartford federal court and faces up to ten years imprisonment if convicted of unlawful reentry.
U.S. Attorney Sullivan emphasized that a complaint is not evidence of guilt; all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
The investigation is conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Enforcement and Removal Operations. Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel George is prosecuting the case.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America, aiming to address illegal immigration and transnational crime through coordinated efforts from the Department of Justice’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).
