A Wisconsin man who forged death threat letters about Donald Trump in another man’s name has been sentenced to more than 16 years in prison, even as questions persist about how federal officials and then Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem publicly misidentified the innocent man as the author.
TLDR
Wisconsin resident Demetric Scott received more than 16 years in prison for forging Trump death threats in a framed immigrant’s name, misleading federal officials, and attempting to derail a robbery case by getting the key witness deported, according to court records and referenced reporting.
The case centers on Demetric Scott, a Milwaukee man, and Ramon Morales Reyes, an undocumented immigrant and dishwasher who became both a robbery victim and a central witness. According to online Milwaukee County court records and reporting from Law & Crime, Scott used forged letters that threatened Trump to try to have Morales Reyes deported before he could testify against him.
Sentencing Breaks Down a Layered Scheme
A Milwaukee County jury convicted Scott of misappropriating another person’s identity to harm reputation, intimidating a witness, recklessly endangering safety, and bail jumping. In February, jurors found that he had attacked Morales Reyes during a bicycle robbery, then, while jailed on that case, orchestrated the letter-writing scheme in the victim’s name to sabotage the prosecution.
On sentencing, Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Kristy Yang imposed a little over 16 years of initial confinement, followed by lengthy periods of extended supervision on each count, according to court records summarized by Law & Crime. Addressing Scott in court, Yang said, “It was clear, and it still is clear to me today that you only care about yourself,” a statement that underscored the court’s view of his efforts to manipulate both immigration and criminal processes.
Federal Missteps and a Public Accusation
Prosecutors said Scott wrote letters that threatened to kill Trump and referenced plans to attack the White House, then had them mailed so they would appear to come from Morales Reyes. According to the Law & Crime account of the case, he even enlisted his mother, who allegedly did not know the true purpose, to send some of the letters.
The plot had consequences far beyond Milwaukee. Federal officials ultimately arrested Morales Reyes, and his name and photograph were posted on a Department of Homeland Security web page as the supposed author of the threats. Law & Crime, citing CNN reporting and court records, noted that law enforcement officials involved in the investigation had already concluded that Morales Reyes did not write the letters, even as Noem and her office publicly identified him in a press release and social media posts. Those posts and the press release appeared on May 28th, 2025, the same day a judge signed a search warrant for Scott’s jail cell, which investigators believed contained evidence tying him to the letters.
Immigration Fallout and Witness Intimidation
The misidentification fed directly into Scott’s alleged goal. In the underlying robbery case, he was accused of kicking Morales Reyes off a bicycle, stabbing him with a box cutter, and fleeing with the bike. Recorded jail calls, described in charging documents and referenced reporting, captured Scott discussing a plan to have Morales Reyes picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement before trial so that prosecutors would lose their key witness.
Immigration authorities arrested Morales Reyes, booking him into a Wisconsin jail pending removal proceedings after concluding that he was in the United States without legal status. According to Associated Press reporting cited by Law & Crime, Morales Reyes had lived in the United States since the 1980s, worked as a dishwasher in Milwaukee, and is a married father of three who has applied for a U-visa, a special status for some crime victims who assist law enforcement. His attorney, Cain Oulahan, said, “He just wants to work and be with his family again,” describing a client who had endured both physical injury and public exposure as a supposed national security threat.
At Scott’s sentencing, a Milwaukee County prosecutor noted that Morales Reyes chose not to attend, explaining, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, as summarized by Law & Crime, that the witness did not want to be involved in further proceedings after testifying in two jury trials and having his image broadcast nationally and internationally.
The criminal case against Scott is now resolved at the trial-court level, with a lengthy sentence and multiple felony convictions on his record. The full consequences for Morales Reyes, who remains in immigration proceedings, and for the federal agencies that publicly named him as an alleged threat, are less clear. How those institutions account for the misidentification, and whether his immigration status is stabilized, will determine much of the lasting impact of Scott’s forgery plot.
