A Wisconsin man was sentenced on Friday to 16.5 years in prison after he was convicted of forging threats against President Trump in an effort to get an undocumented immigrant deported.
Demetric D. Scott, 52, a lifelong Wisconsin resident, was found guilty last month of handwriting letters in which he impersonated a Mexican immigrant and threatened to shoot and kill the president and then “self deport myself back to Mexico,” according to court records. The letters included in the return address the name Ramon Morales Reyes, a man who was set to testify against Mr. Scott in a 2023 robbery case, court records say. Mr. Scott was arrested after the robbery incident, and he wrote the threatening letters in jail as he was awaiting trial.
In January, Mr. Scott was convicted of felony identity theft and witness intimidation over the threats, as well as bail jumping and reckless endangerment for his actions in the robbery case. On Friday, Judge Kristy Yang of Milwaukee County sentenced Mr. Scott to 10 years in prison on the endangerment count, a year and six months on the identity theft count and five years on the intimidation count.
Neither Mr. Scott nor his standby counsel could be reached for comment on Friday. Last year, Mr. Scott said to investigators that he had no intention of harming the president.
Prosecutors had framed the forged letters as an attempt to get the attention of the Trump administration and weaponize the threat of Mr. Morales Reyes’s deportation.
Mr. Morales Reyes lives in Milwaukee with his wife and three children and worked as a dishwasher until he was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement last year, according to his lawyer, Cain Oulahan. His arrest came after ICE had received one of the forged letters, the agency said. Mr. Oulahan said on Friday that his client had a pending application for a work visa and was still fighting his deportation case.
The news of Mr. Scott’s sentencing was welcome, Mr. Oulahan said.
“This guy attacked him once and then tried to get him deported,” Mr. Oulahan said. He added that he had not had a chance to speak to Mr. Morales Reyes since Mr. Scott was sentenced but said that “he is probably relieved.”
After Mr. Morales Reyes was detained by ICE last year, the Department of Homeland Security said that Mr. Morales Reyes’s criminal history included arrests for felony hit and run, criminal damage to property and disorderly conduct with a domestic abuse modifier. But the charges did not show up on public databases, and Mr. Oulahan said he was still trying to sort out his client’s criminal history.
Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, touted Mr. Morales Reyes’s detention at the time, saying she would “continue to take all measures necessary to ensure the protection of President Trump.”
After detectives in Wisconsin found that Mr. Morales Reyes had been framed, homeland security said Mr. Morales Reyes was no longer under investigation for threats against the president but would remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings. Mr. Morales Reyes was released on bond in June.
Susan C. Beachy contributed research. Mitch Smith contributed reporting.
Pooja Salhotra covers breaking news across the United States.
The post Man Convicted of Forging Threats Against Trump Gets 16.5 Years in Prison appeared first on New York Times.
