Man Who Tricked Kristi Noem with Fake Trump Threat Convicted

In a striking case from Wisconsin, a man has been found guilty of concocting an intricate scheme designed to have a Mexican man deported before he could provide crucial testimony in a criminal trial. The cunning plot even managed to deceive high-ranking officials like Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). They were led to believe that the man, an immigrant dishwasher and father of three, was responsible for sending threatening letters about then-President Donald Trump. This resulted in federal authorities mistakenly arresting him and displaying his image and name prominently on the DHS website.

Demetric Scott, the mastermind behind the scheme, openly admitted in court to writing the threatening letters. “I wrote the letters. I don’t deny that. I never denied that,” Scott confessed during his trial last week, as reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. His aim was clear: “I tried to get him deported,” he stated, referring to Ramon Morales Reyes, the dishwasher whose identity he had assumed, and who now faces deportation himself.

Following a trial in Milwaukee County, the 52-year-old Scott was convicted on charges of felony identity theft and witness intimidation, according to court records. Scott’s elaborate deception involved his unsuspecting mother, whom he persuaded to mail the fabricated letters, purportedly from Morales Reyes. These letters contained alarming threats, including intentions to kill Trump and “blow up the White House” — along with threats of catastrophic events akin to “911 in New York,” as per the prosecutors’ statements.

In one of the fictitious letters, Scott boldly declared, “I am not scared of the Trump Administration,” highlighting his attempts to frame Morales Reyes. According to a criminal complaint, Scott expressed disdain for the Trump presidency, stating, “We are tired of this president messing with us Mexicans. 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 gets what he has coming to him. I will self deport myself back to Mexico but not before I … shoot your precious president.”

“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.”

Scott framed Morales Reyes after being arrested for allegedly attacking him while stealing a bicycle Morales Reyes was riding in Milwaukee. Prosecutors said Scott 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 alleged 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.’”

Law enforcement sources familiar with the death-threat investigation told CNN that federal officials knew Morales Reyes 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 reports 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.”

Scott is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 27. He faces up to 26 years in prison.