Criminal Records of Rittenhouse Victims: What Were They?

What were the criminal records of Kyle Rittenhouse‘s victims? Joseph Rosenbaum, Anthony Huber and Gaige Grosskreutz all had criminal histories. Rosenbaum and Huber died; Grosskreutz was shot in the bicep.

Some may dispute the term “victims” being used for the men, because Rittenhouse, 18, was found not guilty of all charges against him in a Kenosha County courthouse. The jury agreed that he acted in self-defense. That finding has put more scrutiny on the backgrounds of the men he shot. Others may dispute that the criminal histories are relevant.

But they did come up in different ways in court, just not to the jury.

The judge, Bruce Schroeder, denied a defense request to tell jurors the criminal history of Rosenbaum, so they never did. Defense attorneys indicated they would try to present Huber’s criminal history to the jury if prosecutors persisted in presenting a character witness for him. It never happened, so they didn’t go down that path, either. Grosskreutz, the only man shot by Rittenhouse to survive, was asked by prosecutors on the witness stand how many criminal convictions he had. He said one. Jurors didn’t learn more about it, though.

That was the extent the men’s criminal records came up in court.

Rittenhouse had gone to Kenosha, testimony indicated, to work as a lifeguard and visit a friend. His father lived in that city. He then took a gun and went to protect businesses, work as a medic (although he wasn’t certified as one) and clean up graffiti. As night fell, he ended up protecting a Car Source outlet, a branch of a business that had lost its other outlet to arsonists.

Rosenbaum, who was described by even state witnesses as agitated and belligerent and using a racial slur throughout the night, chased Rittenhouse into the corner of a car lot. A witness, Richie McGinniss, testified that Rosenbaum was lunging to get Rittenhouse’s gun at close range when Rittenhouse shot him. Rittenhouse then ran down the street and fell. Huber struck him with a skateboard while rushing toward him and got a hand on his gun; he was shot and killed. Grosskreutz testified he thought Rittenhouse was an “active shooter” so he advanced toward him, and pointed a gun at him, from close range. He was shot and wounded. Prosecutors tried to claim that Rittenhouse provoked the Rosenbaum shooting by pointing his gun at another man, Joshua Ziminski, first. However, the defense denied this, and the jury rejected it. The above details are captured in several videos.

Read a full profile on Grosskreutz, who has worked as a paramedic and was doing so that night, here and on Rosenbaum here. Huber’s family has blasted the court decision. His great aunt testified in court, describing him as always carrying his skateboard because he loved the activity. You can read a full profile of Huber here. The full profiles expand the coverage beyond the men’s criminal records to tell more about their lives.

Even after the verdicts, there are those who see the man as heroes, trying to stop an active shooter, especially in the cases of Grosskreutz and Huber, who did not see the exact circumstances of the Rosenbaum shooting but heard the crowd yelling that Rittenhouse had shot someone.

Susan Hughes, Huber’s great aunt, told the Today show, “I want Anthony to be remembered as a person who really was just trying to get on with his life after some early difficult years, and was making real, real progress in that regard.”

“No verdict will be able to bring back the lives of Anthony Huber and Joseph Rosenbaum or heal Gaige Grosskreutz’s injuries just as no verdict can heal the wounds or trauma experienced by Jacob Blake and his family,” Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers said in a statement after the verdicts.

Here’s what you need to know:

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Joseph Rosenbaum Criminal Record

Rosenbaum was a registered sex offender. At the time of his death, he was on the Wisconsin sex offender registry for an Arizona child molestation case.

Joseph Don Rosenbaum, otherwise known as Jo Jo and Joseph D. Rosenbaum, had a very serious criminal record that sprang from an exceptionally troubled life.

Rosenbaum was a registered sex offender. That stems from a serious case out of Arizona, where he once lived.

He faced 11 charges in that case, but they were amended in a plea deal, and Rosenbaum was convicted of amended counts. According to online court records, Rosenbaum received 10 years in prison on Dec. 12, 2002 for sexual contact of a minor, and then was sentenced to 2 years, 6 months for sexual contact of a minor related to the same 2002 incident.

See part of the complaint here.

Some of the counts allege anal rape and oral sex with minors, masturbating in front of a 15-year-old, distributing naked photos of a woman to a minor under age 18, and other similar offenses. There were five victims, all minor boys.

Rosenbaum was convicted on Aug 8, 2016 for interfering with a monitoring device and was placed on lifetime probation in 2002. However, court records say, he had violations while on probation, including using synthetic cannabinoid and alcohol, not participating in sex offender treatment, and accessing sexually oriented materials considered inappropriate.

While in prison in Arizona, he racked up many violations that were assaultive in nature.

In Wisconsin, he had pending cases.

He had open criminal cases, according to Wisconsin online court records; one was for misdemeanor bail jumping and was filed on July 30, 2020. He also had misdemeanor cases for battery with a domestic abuse modifier and disorderly conduct (domestic abuse).

The bail conditions read: “Not to Possess or Consume Alcohol. *Not To Possess or Consume Controlled Substances w/o a Prescription. No contact including the residence, electronic or 3rd party with: Kariann S, Park Ridge Inn.”

When his fiancée found pornography on his phone, the Washington Post reported, “Rosenbaum body-slammed her” and ended up in jail. He attempted suicide.

Court records from the Arizona court system, where he was convicted in a child molestation related case, give the background of Rosenbaum and describe it as extremely troubled.

The court records say that Rosenbaum was asked to leave his mother’s residence but an acquaintance allowed him to stay at her home, as did her sister and cousin. While there he had “contact with their sons, the minor victims. The five victims range in age from nine to 11 years old.” One mother noted a burn mark on her son in 2002, and that’s when he said he was molested by Rosenbaum.

Rosenbaum was born in Waco, Texas, to unmarried parents and only met his father twice. He was molested as a child, and spent his later teenage years in group homes, the records say. A relative “sexually abused the defendant and his brother on an almost daily basis between ages 10 and 13,” the report says.

“The defendant was raped, touched on his genitals, forced to perform oral sex, and required to watch his stepfather abuse his brother.”

His mother spent time in prison and gave him up to welfare authorities. He enjoyed the “rush” or “natural high” of getting in trouble, the report says. By 18, he was periodically homeless, which would continue when he moved to Kenosha to follow his former girlfriend, who had brought their child there. He was in special education classes and once stabbed a teacher. He once claimed affiliation with the South Palo Verda Gang but was no longer affiliated with it later.

Rosenbaum was often unemployed when he wasn’t working for fast-food restaurants, the court records say. He had bipolar disorder, according to court testimony.

The report says that he had a “risk to recidivate” which was of “great concern to the community.”

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Anthony Huber Criminal Record

Anthony Huber also had a criminal history.

Court records in Wisconsin show that Huber was convicted of disorderly conduct in 2018 as a domestic abuse repeater. It was a misdemeanor. He was cited for possessing drug paraphernalia.

His most serious case came when he was found guilty of a felony for strangulation and suffocation, domestic abuse. He was also convicted in that case of felony false imprisonment with a dangerous weapon, domestic abuse.

A charge of second-degree recklessly endangering safety was dismissed and read-in, as was a charge of battery and two charges of disorderly conduct. He was ordered not to possess weapons and no contact orders were issued.

In court, Rittenhouse’s defense attorney Corey Chirafisi gave more details about the case. It turns out it involved his brother.

“[Anthony] Huber told his brother that if he didn’t start cleaning a room in his house he was going to gut him like a pig,” Chirafisi said in court adding, The New York Post reported, that Huber “did this while holding a 6-inch butcher’s knife to the brother’s stomach.”

“Huber grabbed his brother by the neck, dug his nails in and choked him for approximately ten seconds,” Chirafisi said. “He put a knife to his brother’s left ear and his brother felt it cut.” The defense attorney said that Huber said: “I’m going to burn the house down with all you f***ers in it.”

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Gaige Grosskreutz Criminal Record

Gaige Grosskreutz, the man who lived, also has a criminal history in Wisconsin.

The online court website only shows one criminal conviction for him, and he said in court that he had only one criminal conviction, which no one contested.

He was convicted of a felony, but the felony was expunged.

He does, however, have a prior misdemeanor conviction for intoxicated use of a firearm in Wisconsin, online records show. He received probation in that 2015 case, records reveal.

His arrest and case history from the state Department of Justice is much longer than what you can currently find through online court records. It shows a string of dismissed cases and an expunged felony conviction from Waukesha County, Wisconsin.

In January 2021, he was accused of second-offense drunk driving, but the case was dismissed on a prosecutor’s motion.

You can read the criminal complaint in his second OWI case here.

It was dismissed after he alleged the arrest stemmed from an unlawful traffic stop. You can read his motion to suppress the evidence here.

He was found guilty of a 2019 forfeiture for obedience to officers and loud noises in Ashland, Wisconsin.

A police report in West Allis, Wisconsin, accused him of “lurking” in an area where police in that suburban Milwaukee community keep their private vehicles, videotaping them. Heavy contacted West Allis municipal court to get the disposition of that ticket. He was found guilty of loitering after pleading no contest on Nov. 3, 2021, they said. Here is the court record.

That information was obtained through an open records request. Here’s part of the police report:

“Gaige had no reasons to be there and had no vehicle in the lot. He was previously detained for prowling in the same area and released,” the report says in the prowling case. “Gaige appeared to be video taping personal vehicles in the rear police parking lot. Gaige made clear his anti law enforcement views. Gaige was arrested for prowling, booked, cited and released.”

Grosskreutz admitted during testimony that his concealed carry permit was expired, making it unlawful for him to carry concealed, but he had his gun stuck in the back waistband of his pants much of the night.

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