A Wisconsin man has been sentenced to more than 16 years in prison for masterminding a scheme designed to have an immigrant deported under the Trump administration.

By posing as a dishwasher and father of three, the man duped Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) into believing he was responsible for sending threatening letters about President Donald Trump. This deception led federal authorities to mistakenly arrest and publicize the man’s face and name on the DHS website.

Demetric Scott, 52, was sentenced on Friday after a Milwaukee County jury found him guilty of using someone else’s identity to damage their reputation and intimidate a witness, as detailed in online court records. He was also convicted of reckless endangerment and bail jumping related to a robbery involving the targeted individual, Ramon Morales Reyes, whom Scott impersonated to stop him from testifying.

During the sentencing, Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Kristy Yang criticized Scott, saying, “It was clear and it still is clear to me today that you only care about yourself,” according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Judge Yang continued, “You went to great lengths to advance your own self-interests. And you even stated in open court your disdain for the victim and how you still wanted the victim deported. It’s such a shame that you would feel like that and have so much hate.”

Prosecutors revealed that Scott allegedly involved his mother in the plot without her knowledge, instructing her to mail fabricated letters purportedly from Morales Reyes. These letters contained threats to assassinate Trump and “blow up the White House” and the entire country, reminiscent of the 9/11 attacks in New York.

“I am not scared of the Trump Administration,” Scott wrote in one of the phony letters, according to a criminal complaint.

“We are tired of this president messing with us Mexicans,” Scott said. “We have done more for this country than you white people — you have been deporting my family and I think it is time Donald J. Trump get what he has coming to him. I will self deport myself back to Mexico but not before I … shoot your precious president.”

Prosecutors said Scott framed Morales Reyes after being arrested for attacking him while stealing a bicycle Morales Reyes was riding in Milwaukee. Scott allegedly kicked Morales Reyes off his bike and then stabbed him with a box cutter before fleeing on the bike. He was in jail for the attack when he orchestrated the death-threat scam to try to get Morales Reyes deported before he could testify against Scott.

“They just need to pick his a— up,” Scott told an acquaintance during a jailhouse phone call. “I’m dead serious cause I got jury trial on July 15th. I got final pretrial on June 16th so if he is apprehended by the 16th, we can go into court and say, ‘Hey, he’s in custody now. … There is no reason for us to even continue the July 15th jury date.’ And the judge will agree cause if he gets picked up by ICE, there won’t be a jury trial so they will probably dismiss it that day. That’s my plan.”

In another call, Scott said: “I don’t want to take a chance and lose, I’m facing too much time. So, I told my lawyer, postpone this get everything we can get that way I can beat this motherf—ing case. I said, ’cause the next time I go to court, I want to win.’”

Milwaukee County Assistant District Attorney Kyle Elderkin requested a lengthy prison sentence for Scott at his sentencing, saying, “When somebody actively works against the interests of justice, actively works to try to get cases dismissed and people deported, something has to be done to send a clear message that that is not OK,” according to the Journal Sentinel.

Scott was sentenced to 10 years in prison and five years of extended supervision for the recklessly endangering safety charge; one year and six months for the misappropriating identity charge, along with two years of extended supervision; and five years in prison and five years of extended supervision for intimidating a witness, according to court records.

Scott also received 882 days of initial confinement for the bail jumping charge, which he already served prior to sentencing and was credited for, along with a year of extended supervision.

Elderkin noted Friday how Morales Reyes chose to not make an appearance at Scott’s sentencing hearing, as he did not wish to be a part of any more court proceedings for the case, per the Journal Sentinel.

“He has testified in not one but two jury trials, he has had his name broadcast and his image broadcast not just on local media, not just on national media, but international media,” Elderkin told the court. “He has done his service to testify to the truth in this case.”

When Morales Reyes was identified by Noem and DHS after his arrest, law enforcement sources familiar with the death-threat investigation told CNN that federal officials knew he did not pen the letters but Noem and her office reported that he wrote and sent them to an ICE office anyway, while publicly identifying and accusing him in a press release. Time stamps on social media posts from Noem and the timing of the DHS press release both fall on the same day that a judge signed a search warrant for Scott’s jail cell in connection with the letters — May 28, 2025, according to court documents.

“This threat comes not even a year after President Trump was shot in Butler, Pennsylvania and less than two weeks after former FBI Director Comey called for the President’s assassination,” Noem said. “All politicians and members of the media should take notice of these repeated attempts on President Trump’s life and tone down their rhetoric. I will continue to take all measures necessary to ensure the protection of President Trump.”

ICE arrested Morales Reyes in May 2025 and booked him at the Dodge County Jail in Juneau, Wisconsin, pending removal proceedings as he was “in the U.S. illegally,” according to DHS officials. The Associated Press reported in January that he moved to the U.S. from Mexico in the 1980s and was working as a dishwasher in Milwaukee. The father of three, who is married, is currently out on bond and has applied for a U-visa, which allows crime victims and their family members to live in the U.S., per the AP.

“He’s been traumatized by going through all this, all these different levels that feel like victimization,” deportation defense attorney Cain Oulahan told the AP. “He just wants to work and be with his family again.”