David X. Sullivan, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced charges against Darwin Francisco Quituizaca-Duchitanga, also known as Darwin Duchitanga-Quituizaca and Juan Mendez-Gutierrez. The 39-year-old Ecuadoran national faces a federal criminal complaint for illegally reentering the United States after deportation.
Court documents reveal that in December 2003, Quituizaca was encountered by U.S. Border Patrol using an alias and claimed Mexican citizenship, leading to his voluntary return to Mexico.
In March 2018, Connecticut State Police arrested Quituizaca under another alias for charges related to a fatal motor vehicle accident on I-91 in North Haven in March 2017. ICE arrested him in Meriden while he awaited trial. An immigration judge ordered his removal to Ecuador in September 2018, but he faced state charges first. In January 2019, he was convicted of second-degree manslaughter and sentenced to 30 months imprisonment. He was released from state prison on an unknown date before being removed to Ecuador again in September 2023 after another ICE arrest.
Quituizaca allegedly reentered the U.S., leading to his June 28, 2025 arrest by ICE on an administrative warrant in Meriden.
Currently detained since his arrest, Quituizaca appeared today in Hartford federal court. If convicted of unlawful reentry, he could face up to ten years imprisonment.
U.S. Attorney Sullivan emphasized that a complaint is merely a charge and not evidence of guilt; defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt.
The investigation is led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Enforcement and Removal Operations with prosecution by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel George.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America, which aims to combat illegal immigration and protect communities from violent crime through resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).
