Kristi Noem said undocumented immigrant sent Trump death threat. Police say he was framed.

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A suspect awaiting trial on robbery and battery charges in Wisconsin had a brazen idea to get off scot free: Get rid of his victim, the main witness in his case, by persuading authorities to deport him.

So Demetric D. Scott, pretending to be the victim, wrote a series of letters to state and federal officials threatening to assassinate President Donald Trump, prosecutors say. The letters had the return address and name of the victim, Ramón Morales-Reyes, and noted he would "self-deport" after killing the president.

The Department of Homeland Security took the bait.

One day after receiving the letter, immigration agents arrested Morales-Reyes, 54, after he dropped his daughter off at school in Milwaukee.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem soon blasted out news of the arrest, noting in a press release that a dangerous threat from an undocumented individual had been removed. “Thanks to our ICE officers, this illegal alien who threatened to assassinate President Trump is behind bars,” Noem said.

But the story quickly began to fall apart. Morales-Reyes’ attorney and family said he cannot speak or write in English. Within days, Scott admitted his ruse and police searched his cell and found a pen and an envelope containing the Milwaukee ICE office’s address and phone number.

Scott was charged June 2 with felony witness intimidation, identity theft and two counts of bail jumping. His attorney, Robert Hampton III, declined to comment to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, part of the Paste BN Network.

But the man he framed is still in federal custody, due to appear at an immigration hearing soon. And Noem and DHS have yet to retract their false allegations he was behind the threat to kill Trump. As of June 4, Noem's original statement remained online without any correction or additional information. The agency said he is in the country illegally and has a criminal record so will remain in custody.

Morales-Reyes' deportation defense lawyer Cain Oulahan has said he is trying to find ways for Morales-Reyes to receive any form of immigration relief to be protected from deportation while his case is pending.

How investigators unearthed the plot to frame Ramón Morales-Reyes

Authorities sussed out Scott's scheme in part by listening to calls he made while in jail, court records show.

"This dude is a (expletive) illegal immigrant and they just need to pick his (expletive) up," according to a call recording linked to Scott's jail inmate ID that is cited in the complaint.

The man later added on the same call: "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."

On May 22, the day Morales-Reyes was arrested and six days before DHS sent out its press release, Milwaukee Detective Timothy Keller, who is assigned to the FBI-Milwaukee Joint Task Force, interviewed Morales-Reyes.

He learns Morales-Reyes cannot read, write, or fluently speak English. He also notices Morales-Reyes' handwriting is "completely different" from what is on the letters. Keller asks Morales-Reyes who might want to get him in trouble. Morales-Reyes tells him the only person he can think of is Scott.

Undocumented crime victim applied for U-visa but could still be deported

Morales-Reyes’ attorney Kime Abduli described her client as humble, soft-spoken and hard-working. She said he has three children who are U.S. citizens.

“I’m just glad that they have identified who it was or have a better sense of who it was,” she said. “And that Ramon is being cleared of any involvement in this.”

Morales-Reyes is in the process of applying for a U-visa, a visa that allows undocumented victims and witnesses of certain crimes to stay in the U.S. for up to four years if they help with the investigation.

He applied for the visa as a victim and witness of a robbery Scott is accused of. According to Abduli, his application was delivered to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services over a month ago, and no receipt has been issued by the agency yet.

Abduli said this is not uncommon. Due to the significant backlog of cases, it takes about two months to get a receipt and at least seven to eight years to receive the visa. In the meantime, a pending application would not protect Morales-Reyes from deportation.

Calls for Kristi Noem and DHS to retract statement about Morales-Reyes

Since DHS issued its statement, Morales-Reyes' family has received numerous death threats, according to his lawyers and immigrant advocacy organization Voces de la Frontera.

At a news conference May 30, the organization's executive director, Christine Neumann-Ortiz, urged DHS to issue a correction to clear his name.

"Every minute that passes without the DHS issuing a correction to the serious allegation represents a real threat and danger to the family," Neumann-Ortiz said.

On May 29, DHS said the investigation into the threat against Trump was ongoing and that Morales-Reyes would remain in custody, given his undocumented status and record.

Publicly available documents show Morales-Reyes is connected to a hit-and-run incident and an incident of disorderly conduct and property damage related to domestic abuse in 1996. Based on the documents, he received a non-criminal conviction for the disorderly conduct charge, which is usually a ticket. The other charges were dismissed or not prosecuted.

What was the robbery case against Scott?

The trial Scott was trying to avoid had already gone to trial once, in January 2024 but a judge declared a mistrial when the jury could not reach a decision. A new trial date was set for July 14.

The case revolved around a bicycle. On Sept. 26, 2023, Morales-Reyes was riding a bicycle his wife had purchased a few weeks earlier, getting some exercise to help with his diabetes, when a man approached him and started shouting, he said in court.

The man attacked Morales-Reyes with a corkscrew and cut him under his left armpit, an altercation captured on a neighbor’s Ring doorbell camera. When police arrived, an officer interviewed Morales-Reyes in Spanish, getting a description of the suspect.

Police arrested Scott within hours and he was charged with armed robbery, aggravated battery, and second-degree recklessly endangering safety and bail jumping. Scott told police, and later a jury, that the bicycle was actually his and had been stolen days earlier. He said he was trying to get his property back and that Morales-Reyes had threatened him first, when they were out of view from the Ring doorbell.

“I told the truth,” Scott later said in court. “I told him that I accidentally cut him.” At the time of his arrest, Scott had an open warrant for skipping court in a burglary case. He was charged with breaking into his mother’s apartment building and stealing a ladder and other items. He was booked into Milwaukee County Jail on Sept. 26, 2023, and has remained there since on $10,000 bail.

A list of past convictions

Scott has past criminal convictions that date back to 2000 including battery, disorderly conduct and third-degree sexual assault.

In 2010, Scott was charged with felony murder in the death of Steve Allen, according to previous Journal Sentinel reporting.

Scott was seen punching and kicking Allen, who was lying on the pavement while demanding the return of property, the Journal Sentinel reported. Allen died two days later.

Online court records show Scott was convicted of second-degree recklessly endangering safety in that case and sentenced to five years in prison and five years on extended supervision.

(This story has been updated to add new information.)