Former Public Defender Travis Schwantes Charged With Paying Client for Sex, Fraud

Travis Schwantes. Photo courtesy of Schwantes for Judge.

Travis Schwantes, a longtime public defender and one-time candidate for circuit court judge, has been charged with multiple felonies and misdemeanors related to his alleged solicitation of prostitution.

Schwantes was one of half a dozen individuals charged as a result of an investigation into a prostitution operation at an apartment building on the 2900 block of W. Kilbourn Avenue in the Concordia neighborhood, according to a criminal complaint filed Nov. 21.

The complaint alleges Schwantes paid for sex from three women identified during the investigation and falsified records to represent one of the women in court while he was regularly paying her to engage in prostitution. He did this knowing the woman suffered from drug addiction, was being trafficked and had a history of being sexually abused, according to the complaint.

He faces two felonies for soliciting prostitution and falsifying records, and two misdemeanors for pandering and patronizing prostitutes. He went on leave from his public defender position in May and resigned in September.

Schwantes has spent his entire career in the State Public Defenders Office (SPD). He ran for a vacancy on the Milwaukee County Circuit Court in 2020, eventually dropping out to endorse Gov. Tony Evers‘ appointee to the empty seat on the bench. Schwantes has represented high-profile defendants like Jordan Fricke, who was convicted of killing Milwaukee police officer Matthew Rittner.

Investigators used interviews, cellphone and GPS records, as well as payment records from services like Venmo and Cash App to establish evidence of Schwantes’ alleged crimes. Schwantes took a leave of absence from the SPD in May this year after law enforcement seized his cell phone during the investigation.

Three women who admitted to engaging in prostitution for Schwantes said he identified himself as a state public defender.

One of the women, identified in the complaint as Victim 1, told investigators Schwantes advised her “on how to thwart law enforcement to continue her operation of prostitution and specifically told her that she was doing everything right by working during the day and coming out to get the customers and bring them into the residence.”

Another woman, Victim 2, said Schwantes told her he could help with three open warrants for her arrest stemming from criminal cases in Milwaukee and Waukesha County, according to the complaint. In Aug. 2023, Schwantes was appointed as the woman’s attorney. It was odd for Schwantes to be appointed to the case, a misdemeanor, as he was an attorney that primarily handled felony cases, according to the complaint.

Schwantes filled out the paperwork to represent her himself. It was very odd that a supervising felony attorney would fill out an eligibility intake form, especially for a misdemeanor case, a former SPD employee told investigators. While filling out these forms, he falsely claimed she was unemployed and lost her job cleaning houses as a result of her criminal charges. The woman later told investigators she never told Schwantes to put the information in the report.

“In addition the entries were also materially false as they hid Victim 2’s true source of income and hid Schwantes criminal activities that are associated with his solicitation of Victim 2,” the complaint states. 

Another woman wrapped up in the prostitution investigation, identified as Victim 3, told investigators that she never shared any personal information with Schwantes. Nonetheless, he somehow figured out her name and that she had been a victim of sexual assault. The man who assaulted her was not convicted for the crime and later Schwantes represented him against charges of serial child sexual assault. Schwantes told the woman that he “put him away” as the perpetrator was sentenced to 25 years in prison in that case. He did this in “an apparent effort to take credit for the sentence and gain the allegiance and trust of Victim 3″ according to the complaint.

The only way Schwantes could have figured out who she was and that she was a victim of a previous crime was through the internal file system for the state public defender’s office, according to the complaint. Investigators say Schwantes used “protected information from the Office of the State Public Defender for his personal gain.”

His initial appearance is scheduled for Dec. 20. Schwantes is being represented by Joseph Bugni.