Corey Richards called KENS about a payment dispute with Anthem School of Music. It wasn’t the first time KENS had a complaint about the school.
SAN ANTONIO — Corey Richards said he started to notice money missing from his paychecks around January of 2024. He said it was a few hundred dollars a month. The teacher ended up suing owner Nathaniel Villarreal in small claims court and Villarreal didn’t show up to contest it.
Richards didn’t know it at the time, but two other teachers had also sued Villarreal over missing pay and he didn’t show up in those cases either. Villarreal didn’t pay Richards in full until KENS 5 got involved. Richards is now the second teacher to call KENS 5 regarding pay issues with Villarreal.
Richards joined Anthem School of Music back in August of 2022.
The teacher said he contacted owner Nathaniel Villarreal about the missing wages in January 2024 and was hoping it would be straightened out. Instead, the teacher said the problem continued for several months afterwards and he finally sent a letter of resignation in August 2024.
“I called him and said, ‘dude, you are not paying me! I’m not coming in any more,” Richards said.
Richards had never gone to court before, and was hesitant to do so at first, but eventually filed a small claims case in early 2025.
Villarreal then offered to pay Richards $500 upfront and pay installments totaling $911 over the next few months if he dropped the case. Villarreal also threatened to counter-sue Richards for $10,000 if he didn’t take the offer.
Richards said the initial $500 did get paid and he dropped the lawsuit. He said Villarreal did not send the remaining payments.
The music teacher then re-filed the lawsuit and went to court in late 2025. Despite Villarreal’s threats to courter-sue, Villarreal didn’t show up to court at all and Richards won a judgement for the remaining $911.
Other teachers have also sued Villarreal for missing wages. Michael Carraway sued Villarreal in March of 2024 after he didn’t get his last check. Carraway received a default judgment for $640 plus court costs but still couldn’t collect the money. He then called KENS 5 in 2024 and Villarreal paid him after KENS 5 got involved.
A third teacher sued Villarreal for a final paycheck in October of 2024 and received a default judgement after Villarreal didn’t show up in that case either.
Villarreal has also been involved in additional lawsuits, including a lawsuit with Bexar County regarding delinquent property taxes.
Richards had still not been able to recover his money as of last January and then decided to call KENS 5. The teacher said he had not heard from Villarreal since April of last year when he called off the first lawsuit.
KENS 5 then reached out to Villarreal and asked him if he would be paying the judgement. Less than 30 minutes later, Villarreal texted Richards and claimed that a check was already in the mail.
The check did show up later on Feb. 2, but it was post-dated for Feb 10. Richards had previously sent a demand letter to Villarreal in December, after winning the judgement, asking to be paid in the next 60 days. Villarreal then decided to post-date the check for the end of that period.
Nathaniel Villarreal also provided KENS 5 the following statement:
Cory K. Richards was terminated from Anthem School of Music August 5th, 2024, for multiple conduct violations and breach of contract as an instructor.
Mr. Richards was awarded through a default judgment the amount of $911.00 in Late November of 2025. Mr. Richards sent Anthem School of Music a personal letter to a residence demanding payment within 60 days stamped on December 9th received December 11th instructing payment to be made within that time. This Letter was failed to be mentioned regarding this interview when questioned and has been provided to Mr. Richards and Kens 5 when contacted on the 29th of January.
On January 26th a post-dated check was sent to Mr. Richards and mailed to the address with the stamped envelope provided by Mr. Richards complying with his sixty-day request.
KENS 5 also previously asked Villarreal why he didn’t show up in small claims court against Richards and the owner said he didn’t have time.
Villarreal did send the check for $911, and another check for court costs, but he told Richards the check wouldn’t clear on the 10th and Richards would need to wait until the next Friday. The checks did clear on that day.
“It’s great to finally receive what you’ve been owed but the length that he went through to not pay me is unjustifiable,” Richards said. “KENS 5, dude, if it wasn’t for you guys, I wouldn’t have gotten paid.”
If you have a problem like this, we want to help you fix it! In our series, Call KENS, we do our best to solve problems for our viewers. The number to call is 210-470-KENS, or fill out the form on this page.