Share and Follow
Left: Donald Trump speaks at the annual Road to Majority conference in Washington, DC, in June 2024 (Allison Bailey/NurPhoto via AP). Center: Demetric Scott (Milwaukee County). Right: Ramon Morales Reyes (Department of Homeland Security).
A Wisconsin man has been sentenced to over 16 years in prison for orchestrating a complex scheme aimed at getting an immigrant deported during the Trump administration. The man, Demetric Scott, managed to deceive Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and the Department of Homeland Security by pretending to be a dishwasher and father of three. He wrote threatening letters about President Donald Trump, resulting in federal officials mistakenly arresting and publicizing the identity of the innocent dishwasher on the DHS website.
Scott, 52, was convicted in February by a Milwaukee County jury on charges of identity theft for the purpose of harming another’s reputation and intimidating a witness. According to online court records, he was also found guilty of recklessly endangering safety and bail jumping, linked to a robbery he conducted against the very man he impersonated, Ramon Morales Reyes. This act was part of his attempt to prevent Reyes from testifying against him.
During the sentencing, Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Kristy Yang expressed her disapproval of Scott’s actions. “It was clear and it still is clear to me today that you only care about yourself,” she remarked, as reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Judge Yang criticized Scott for his self-serving behavior, noting his open disdain for the victim and his ongoing desire to see the victim deported. “It’s such a shame that you would feel like that and have so much hate,” she added.
“It was clear and it still is clear to me today that you only care about yourself,” Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Kristy Yang told Scott at his sentencing, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
“You went to great lengths to advance your own self interests,” Yang blasted. “And you even stated in open court your disdain for the victim and how you still wanted the victim deported. It’s such a shame that you would feel like that and have so much hate.”
Scott allegedly enlisted his mother, unbeknownst to her, to take part in his death-threat scheme by asking her to mail fake letters that were purported to be from Morales Reyes. The letters included threats to kill Trump and “blow up the White House” — and the entire country — “like 911 in New York,” according to prosecutors.
“I am not scared of the Trump Administration,” Scott wrote in one of the phony letters, according to a criminal complaint.
“We are tired of this president messing with us Mexicans,” Scott said. “We have done more for this country than you white people — you have been deporting my family and I think it is time Donald J. Trump get what he has coming to him. I will self deport myself back to Mexico but not before I … shoot your precious president.”
Prosecutors said Scott framed Morales Reyes after being arrested for attacking him while stealing a bicycle Morales Reyes was riding in Milwaukee. Scott allegedly kicked Morales Reyes off his bike and then stabbed him with a box cutter before fleeing on the bike. He was in jail for the attack when he orchestrated the death-threat scam to try to get Morales Reyes deported before he could testify against Scott.
“They just need to pick his a— up,” Scott told an acquaintance during a jailhouse phone call. “I’m dead serious cause I got jury trial on July 15th. I got final pretrial on June 16th so if he is apprehended by the 16th, we can go into court and say, ‘Hey, he’s in custody now. … There is no reason for us to even continue the July 15th jury date.’ And the judge will agree cause if he gets picked up by ICE, there won’t be a jury trial so they will probably dismiss it that day. That’s my plan.”
In another call, Scott said: “I don’t want to take a chance and lose, I’m facing too much time. So, I told my lawyer, postpone this get everything we can get that way I can beat this motherf—ing case. I said, ’cause the next time I go to court, I want to win.’”
Milwaukee County Assistant District Attorney Kyle Elderkin requested a lengthy prison sentence for Scott at his sentencing, saying, “When somebody actively works against the interests of justice, actively works to try to get cases dismissed and people deported, something has to be done to send a clear message that that is not OK,” according to the Journal Sentinel.
Scott was sentenced to 10 years in prison and five years of extended supervision for the recklessly endangering safety charge; one year and six months for the misappropriating identity charge, along with two years of extended supervision; and five years in prison and five years of extended supervision for intimidating a witness, according to court records.
Scott also received 882 days of initial confinement for the bail jumping charge, which he already served prior to sentencing and was credited for, along with a year of extended supervision.
Elderkin noted Friday how Morales Reyes chose to not make an appearance at Scott’s sentencing hearing, as he did not wish to be a part of any more court proceedings for the case, per the Journal Sentinel.
“He has testified in not one but two jury trials, he has had his name broadcast and his image broadcast not just on local media, not just on national media, but international media,” Elderkin told the court. “He has done his service to testify to the truth in this case.”
When Morales Reyes was identified by Noem and DHS after his arrest, law enforcement sources familiar with the death-threat investigation told CNN that federal officials knew he did not pen the letters but Noem and her office reported that he wrote and sent them to an ICE office anyway, while publicly identifying and accusing him in a press release. Time stamps on social media posts from Noem and the timing of the DHS press release both fall on the same day that a judge signed a search warrant for Scott’s jail cell in connection with the letters — May 28, 2025, according to court documents.
“This threat comes not even a year after President Trump was shot in Butler, Pennsylvania and less than two weeks after former FBI Director Comey called for the President’s assassination,” Noem said. “All politicians and members of the media should take notice of these repeated attempts on President Trump’s life and tone down their rhetoric. I will continue to take all measures necessary to ensure the protection of President Trump.”
ICE arrested Morales Reyes in May 2025 and booked him at the Dodge County Jail in Juneau, Wisconsin, pending removal proceedings as he was “in the U.S. illegally,” according to DHS officials. The Associated Press reported in January that he moved to the U.S. from Mexico in the 1980s and was working as a dishwasher in Milwaukee. The father of three, who is married, is currently out on bond and has applied for a U-visa, which allows crime victims and their family members to live in the U.S., per the AP.
“He’s been traumatized by going through all this, all these different levels that feel like victimization,” deportation defense attorney Cain Oulahan told the AP. “He just wants to work and be with his family again.”