Milwaukee – A Wisconsin man faces charges that accuse him of forge a letter that threatens the life of President Donald Trump in an effort to deport another man.
The prosecutors said in a criminal complaint filed on Monday that Demetric D. Scott was behind a letter sent to state and federal officials with the return address and the name of Ramón Morales Reyes.
Scott was accused on Monday of witnessing serious crimes, identity theft and two charges of bail jump. His lawyer, Robert Hampton III, did not immediately return an email by Associated Press looking for comments.
Immigration agents arrested Morales Reyes, 54, on May 21 after leaving their son at school in Milwaukee. Kristi Noem National Security Secretary announced the arrestsaying that he had written a letter threatening to kill Trump and “sport” to Mexico. The announcement, which was also published by the White House in its social media accounts, contained an image of the letter, as well as a photo of Morales Reyes.
But the claim began to unravel when the investigators spoke with Morales Reyes, who does not speak English fluently, and obtained a sample of handwriting that was different from the letter in the letters, according to judicial documents.
Morales Reyes appears as a victim in the case involving Scott, who awaits a trial in the Milwaukee County prison on armed robbery and aggravated battery charges. The trial is scheduled for July.
The law agents listened to several calls that Scott made of the jail in which he talked about letters that needed to be sent by mail and a plan for someone to collect for ICE so that Scott’s trial could be dismissed, according to the criminal complaint. He also admitted to the police that he wrote the letters, according to the documents.
Morales Reyes works as dishwasher in Milwaukee, where he lives with his wife and three children. He had recently requested a U visa, which is for people in the country illegally who become victims of serious crimes, said lawyer Kime Abduli, who submitted that request.
Abduli told Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Monday that he was glad that Morales Reyes was authorized of any participation in the writing of the letter.
His deputy lawyer of deportation, Cain Olahan, wrote in an email on Monday night that the main approach is now to ensure the release of Morales Reyes of Custody and the next step will be to look for any relief so he can qualify in the Immigration Court.
“While he has a slope visa, unfortunately they are behind for years, so we will look at other options to keep him here with his family, which includes his three American citizen children,” Olahan wrote.
