Antonio Kitchens
Introduction
Antonio Kitchens is a Milwaukee band and drumline teacher who was charged in October 2026 with sexually assaulting two of his students and attempting to sexually assault a third, all inside the auditorium of Rufus King International High School. The Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office charged the 28-year-old with two counts of sexual assault of a student by school staff and one count of attempted sexual assault of a student by school staff after three 17-year-old students described near-identical encounters. He was ordered held on a $25,000 cash bond and remains under investigation for possible additional victims.
Background Information
Kitchens had been the band and drumline teacher at Rufus King International High School, a Milwaukee Public Schools campus, for three to four years, and Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction records show he had been a licensed teacher since 2020. According to the criminal complaint, he would isolate students in the school auditorium under the pretense of discussing their grades and absences, then hold a laptop, set it on a student’s lap, and use the back of his hand underneath the device to touch the student over their clothes.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Charged, presumption of innocence. Kitchens faces three felony counts; the charges are accusations in a criminal complaint, no conviction has been entered, and he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
The complaint filed October 18, 2026 alleges the attempted sexual assault took place in May 2026, followed by one sexual assault in June 2026 and another in early October 2026. All three victims, identified as 17-year-old students, described the same scenario: alone with their teacher in the auditorium while he held a laptop over their laps and touched them inappropriately over their clothes with the back of his hand. One student said he froze during the first encounter, and that the touching kept happening until he avoided Kitchens and band class altogether. Another said he initially thought the contact was an accident, then asked a friend whether anything had ever happened with Kitchens — the friend replied, “You too?”
A third student described a May 2026 encounter in which he repeatedly moved away while Kitchens continued moving his hand toward him, before finally getting out of the chair and walking out of the auditorium. One student told investigators he believed Kitchens targeted him and a friend because they were quiet kids who would not speak up. At the time the complaint was filed, Milwaukee police were investigating leads involving two additional potential victims. Kitchens was arrested at the school campus the week before the charges were filed.
Public Reaction and Consequences
Milwaukee Public Schools said staff immediately contacted the school resource officers in the building and alerted Child Protective Services after receiving the report. In a message to Rufus King staff and families, principal Doreen Badillo called the reported behavior “absolutely unacceptable,” said the teacher was not currently working in the school, and said support was being provided to students. The district confirmed it is conducting its own investigation, including a Title IX investigation.
The case also surfaced an uncomfortable parent account. Raylena Windmon, whose son graduated from Rufus King the previous school year, told TMJ4 her son had taken extra trumpet lessons with Kitchens and that some interactions made him uncomfortable, including an offer of a ride home after practice. “I actually warned my son about Mr. Kitchens and told him, ‘Do not be alone with him,’” Windmon said. She said her family never reported concerns because nothing had happened to her son that she felt she could act on.
Current Status
Kitchens appeared in court on Monday, October 19, 2026, where a court commissioner set cash bond at $25,000 and ordered him to have no contact with the three students, with Rufus King International High School, or unsupervised contact with anyone under 18. He is due back in court for a preliminary hearing on October 26, 2026. The charges carry a maximum sentence of up to 15 years in prison and up to $25,000 in fines if convicted on all counts. He is not currently working at the school, and MPS’s own investigation, including the Title IX thread, remains open.
Impact on Their Career/Life
Kitchens’s teaching career in Milwaukee Public Schools is effectively over regardless of the criminal outcome: the district has removed him from the school, a Title IX investigation is running alongside the criminal case, and the complaint’s account of a teacher using grading meetings as cover in an auditorium has made the case a defining story for a campus still processing a separate impersonation scandal weeks earlier. If convicted on all three felonies, he faces a potential 15-year prison term, and investigators’ statements about two additional potential victims signal the case may widen before it closes.