A criminal who forged threats against Donald Trump’s life in a bid to get a key witness against him deported—fooling Kristi Noem’s DHS in the process—has been found guilty.
Demetric Scott, 52, faces up to 26 years in prison after being found guilty of felony identity theft, witness intimidation, reckless endangerment, and one count of bail jumping.
Prosecutors said during the three-day trial in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, that Scott had knocked 54-year-old Ramón Morales Reyes off his bicycle in Milwaukee in September 2023, cut him with a box cutter, and then took off on the bike himself, according to an Associated Press report of the hearing.
From jail, Scott then sent a series of English-language letters, signed as Morales Reyes, to various state and federal offices, claiming he planned to open fire on Trump at a campaign event.
The letters triggered a full-scale response from security services. In May 2025, ICE officers picked Morales Reyes up outside his child’s school and branded him a would-be Trump assassin.
Homeland Security Secretary Noem then trumpeted the arrest in a press release and social media posts, declaring: “Thanks to our ICE officers, this illegal alien who threatened to assassinate President Trump is behind bars.”
However, Noem and the Department of Homeland Security clearly failed to do their due diligence before going public with their brag, because investigators quickly noticed that Morales Reyes struggled with English and that his handwriting did not match the threats.
Detectives reviewed Scott’s jail calls, where he talked about sending out letters and scheming to have ICE detain Morales Reyes so the case against him would collapse. He ultimately admitted to writing the letters.
The original Noem news release, which splashed Morales Reyes’ mugshot and the full text of the threat, remains live on the DHS website but now carries a disclaimer noting that he is no longer under investigation over the Trump plot but still remains liable to deportation because of past immigration and criminal history, AP noted.
Scott’s scam follows a grim pattern at Noem’s DHS, which has repeatedly blasted out false claims about migrants. One such example was uncovered by the Daily Beast last September, after officials smeared a grieving mom as a wanted killer long after judges had voided the charge.
Noem has been wounded politically by the bloody Minneapolis immigration crackdown, where ICE raids and protester shootings have sparked fury inside her own department and on Capitol Hill. On Thursday, Trump publicly snubbed the 54-year-old during a televised Cabinet meeting.
Morales Reyes has since been released on $7,500 bond and is living with his family in Milwaukee while he fights removal and pursues a U-visa meant for crime victims, his attorney, immigration lawyer Cain Oulahan, told AP.
“He’s been traumatized by going through all this, all these different levels that feel like victimization,” Oulahan said, adding that his client just wants to work and be with his family again.
Scott was acquitted in the same trial of armed robbery and battery, but still faces up to 26 years in the state system when he is sentenced on Feb. 27, with a separate burglary case pending.
The Daily Beast has contacted DHS for comment.
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