Milwaukee County judge imposes 16½-year prison sentence in forged Trump threat and deportation scheme case

Sentence follows jury verdicts tied to identity theft, intimidation, and a hoax threat letter

A Milwaukee County judge has sentenced Demetric DeShawn Scott, 52, to 16½ years in Wisconsin state prison after a jury found him guilty of forging threats against President Donald Trump as part of an effort to derail a criminal case against him by triggering immigration enforcement against the victim.

The convictions stem from a sequence of events that began in September 2023, when prosecutors said Scott assaulted and robbed a Mexican immigrant, Ramon Morales Reyes, in Milwaukee. Court filings described Morales Reyes riding a bicycle when he was confronted, kicked off the bike, and stabbed with a box cutter before the bicycle was taken. Scott was arrested within hours.

While jailed after the 2023 incident, Scott wrote letters in which he posed as Morales Reyes and threatened to kill Trump at a rally, authorities said. Investigators later concluded Morales Reyes did not write the letters, citing language and handwriting discrepancies, including that Morales Reyes does not write English well and the writing did not match known samples.

How the hoax intersected with immigration enforcement

The forged letters prompted federal immigration authorities to detain Morales Reyes in May 2025 after he dropped his daughter off at school. The detention became highly public after federal officials publicly circulated his image in connection with the purported threat. Subsequent investigative findings determined Morales Reyes was no longer a suspect in the threat allegations.

Prosecutors argued the fabrication was designed to remove a key witness and disrupt the prosecution of the underlying violent incident. Authorities also cited recorded jail calls in which Scott discussed mailing letters and a plan aimed at having immigration officials pick someone up so his trial could be dismissed.

Trial outcomes and the court’s sentence

A Milwaukee County jury convicted Scott in January 2026 of felony identity theft, witness intimidation, reckless endangerment and one count of bail jumping. He was acquitted on robbery and battery counts tied to the bicycle incident.

At sentencing on Feb. 27, 2026, the judge imposed consecutive prison terms totaling 16½ years. The sentence included separate terms on identity theft, witness intimidation and reckless endangerment, along with credit for time already served on the bail-jumping count.

• Convicted offenses: identity theft, witness intimidation, reckless endangerment, bail jumping
• Sentence total: 16½ years in state prison
• Key factual dispute resolved by investigators: the threatening letters were not authored by Morales Reyes

Status of the victim’s immigration case

Morales Reyes was later released on bond and has been living in Milwaukee with his family, while his deportation case remains open. His attorneys have pursued relief available to crime victims, including a U visa application.

The case combined a state criminal prosecution with a separate federal immigration action triggered by a fraudulent threat claim, with investigators ultimately attributing the threat letters to the defendant.