Wisconsin Man Found Guilty in Elaborate Deportation Plot Involving Forged Trump Threats
A Milwaukee County jury has delivered a guilty verdict in a complex criminal case that involved forged threats against former President Donald Trump as part of a scheme to have a robbery victim deported. The defendant, 52-year-old Demetric Scott, was convicted on Thursday of felony identity theft and witness intimidation charges after the jury deliberated for most of the day.
Self-Representation and Immediate Custody
Scott represented himself throughout the three-day trial, opting to act as his own legal counsel. Following the reading of the verdicts, he was immediately taken into custody, leaving no opportunity for comment on Thursday evening. Online court records from Wisconsin confirm the conviction and detail the serious nature of the charges.
The Underlying Robbery and Forged Letters
According to official court documents, the case originated in September 2023 when Mexican immigrant Ramon Morales Reyes was riding his bicycle in Milwaukee. Scott approached him, forcibly kicked him off the bike, stabbed him with a box cutter, and then stole the bicycle before riding away. Scott was arrested just hours after this violent robbery.
While incarcerated in jail, Scott embarked on a deceptive plan. He wrote multiple letters posing as Morales Reyes to various state and federal officials, threatening to assassinate former President Trump at a political rally. These forged communications were designed to trigger immigration enforcement action against Morales Reyes.
Federal Response and Investigation
The scheme had immediate consequences. In May, federal immigration authorities took Morales Reyes into custody after he dropped his daughter off at school. U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem publicly shared his photograph on social media, along with an excerpt from one of the threatening letters written in English.
The White House and Trump supporters highlighted the arrest as a significant achievement in the administration's immigration enforcement efforts. However, investigators quickly uncovered discrepancies. They determined that Morales Reyes, who does not speak English well and cannot write in the language, could not have authored the letters. The handwriting analysis also failed to match his writing samples.
Jailhouse Conversations and Additional Charges
Meanwhile, Scott was recorded making phone calls from jail discussing letters that needed to be mailed and outlining a plan to have U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities detain someone so that his trial could be dismissed. He later admitted to police that he was the author of the forged threatening letters.
Scott faced separate charges in September for armed robbery, battery, and reckless endangerment related to the bicycle theft. The jury on Thursday acquitted him on the robbery and battery counts but found him guilty on the reckless endangerment charge.
Criminal History and Pending Cases
Court records reveal that prosecutors initially charged Scott in 2022 with being a party to burglary. He was out on bail for that case when he committed the bicycle theft and wrote the forged letters, leading to additional bail jumping charges. The jury acquitted him of two bail jumping charges in the identity theft case but convicted him on one bail jumping charge in the robbery case.
When sentenced on February 27, Scott faces a potential maximum of 26 years in the state prison system. The burglary charge from 2022 remains pending and unresolved.
Impact on the Immigrant Victim
The Noem news release featuring Morales Reyes' photograph and touting his arrest remains posted on the DHS website, though it now includes a disclaimer stating he is no longer under investigation for threatening Trump. He remains in ICE custody pending deportation proceedings.
The release notes that Morales Reyes entered the United States illegally nine times between 1998 and 2005 and has a criminal record including arrests for felony hit and run, property damage, and disorderly conduct with a domestic abuse modifier.
Legal Status and Family Circumstances
Morales Reyes was released on a $7,500 bond in June and is currently residing with his family in Milwaukee, according to his deportation defense attorney, Cain Oulahan. He has applied for a U-visa, which allows crime victims and their family members to remain in the United States, though Oulahan cautioned that the process could take years to complete.
Wisconsin online court records show no criminal cases involving Morales Reyes, and Oulahan stated that all background checks he has conducted have revealed nothing substantial. Morales Reyes moved to the United States from Mexico in the 1980s, worked as a dishwasher in Milwaukee, is married, and has three children who are U.S. citizens.
Relief and Trauma for the Victim
Oulahan emphasized that Scott's conviction brings significant relief to Morales Reyes and his family. "He's been traumatized by going through all this, all these different levels that feel like victimization," Oulahan explained. "He just wants to work and be with his family again."
The case highlights the complex intersections between criminal justice, immigration enforcement, and the vulnerability of immigrant communities to manipulation within the legal system.
