Man Robbed Mexican Immigrant, then Wrote Fake Trump Threats in His Name So He'd Be Deported Before Testifying: Prosecutors

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2 days ago

A Milwaukee man allegedly confessed to framing a Mexican immigrant by writing fake death threats in his name against President Donald Trump and members of ICE.
Demetric Deshawn Scott, who will soon go on trial in an armed robbery case, is accused of trying to get trial witness Ramón Morales Reyes deported so that he wouldn't be able to testify.
Police listened in on multiple jail calls in which Scott allegedly detailed his plan to sabotage the trial, including enlisting his mother to mail the threatening letters from her home.A Wisconsin defendant faked assassination threats against President Donald Trump in order to get the star witness in his criminal trial deported, prosecutors claim.
Demetric Deshawn Scott was charged with identity theft, bail jumping and felony intimidation of a witness in a criminal complaint filed in Milwaukee County Circuit Court on Monday, June 2, and obtained by The Washington Post.
Scott, 52, is accused of writing several letters to U.S. officials under someone else's name that threatened the lives of Trump and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, saying things like, 'I think it is time Donald J. Trump get what he has coming to him.'
One letter allegedly reads, "I will self deport myself back to Mexico but not before I use my 30 yard 6 to shoot your precious president in his head. I will see him at one of his big ralleys."
Another allegedly reads, 'My family is with the Mexican Mafia how would you like it if we use a bomb to blow up the white house while your precious president is still inside... Somone [sic] need to blow this entire country up like 911 in New York. Can't you white understand we are tired of running its time to kill ICE Agents or be killed.'
In the complaint against Scott, prosecutors allege that he wrote the letters in order to impersonate and frame Ramón Morales Reyes, 54, who is set to testify against him in a case of armed robbery and aggravated battery in July.
Scott's plan, the complaint alleges — citing multiple calls made from the Milwaukee County Jail using Scott's inmate ID number — was to get Reyes deported before he could testify against him by getting the Trump administration's attention.
'This dude is a goddamn illegal immigrant and they just need to pick his ass up,' Scott allegedly said, according to one call transcript. 'I'm dead serious, 'cause I got jury trial on July 15. I got final pretrial on June 16, 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 15 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 other calls made to his mother, Arnita Scott, the defendant allegedly tells her that he's mailed her letters in a manila envelope, and asks her to drop them in the mailbox for him. The complaint alleges that Scott's mother later confirmed to police that she had mailed letters for her son, but said she didn't know what was in them.
The mailed assassination threats succeeded in catching the attention of the Trump administration, which has reportedly given ICE orders to arrest 3,000 immigrants each day.
Morales Reyes was apprehended by ICE officials on May 22, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem described him at the time as an 'illegal alien who threatened to assassinate President Trump.'
However, the complaint explains that Milwaukee investigators quickly realized Morales Reyes does not read, write or fluently speak English. They also tested his handwriting against the threatening letters and found it to be 'completely different.'
According to the complaint, Scott was then interviewed by a police detective on May 30, in which he allegedly confessed to writing the letters and said his goal was 'freedom.' Authorities also searched his jail cell and allegedly discovered the blue pen used to write the letters as well as contact information for the Wisconsin Attorney General's Office and the Milwaukee ICE office, both recipients of the forged threats.
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Despite Scott's alleged confession, Morales Reyes remained in ICE custody and is expected to appear before an immigration judge on June 4.
In an email to The Associated Press, Morales Reyes' attorney, Cain Oulahan, said he is exploring all legal avenues to get his client released.
'While he has a U visa pending, those are unfortunately backlogged for years, so we will be looking at other options to keep him here with his family, which includes his three U.S. citizen children,' Oulahan wrote.
On Tuesday, June 3, the Department of Homeland Security told The Washington Post in an emailed statement, 'The investigation into the threat is ongoing. Over the course of the investigation, this individual was determined to be in the country illegally and that he had a criminal record. He will remain in custody.'
The City of Milwaukee Common Council released a joint statement, written in both English and Spanish, from all 15 of its members on May 30, in which they condemned the DHS detention of Morales Reyes.
'The Department of Homeland Security's top priority should be protecting the people of this country. In this instance, they did the exact opposite,' the statement read. 'Their quick-triggered incorrect statement caused a man and his family to receive death threats and for him to be detained for something he did not do, while further fueling the anti-immigrant sentiment being pushed at the national level. All things that undermine what should be the department's chief priority of promoting public safety.'
Read the original article on People