A Racine, Wisconsin, couple previously charged in connection to the Antifa-linked Kenosha, Wisconsin, riots in 2020, have been sentenced for a 2022 robbery.
A local court sentenced Joshua Ziminski to three years in prison, and his spouse, Kelly Ziminski, faces a 20-month sentence.
Both pleaded guilty to burglary and robbery in Kenosha, with threat of force charges, in May and will face extended supervision and probation following their release.
Participants in Kenosha Riots Charged With Robbery
In 2020, Mr. Ziminski was seen firing a “warning shot” at Kyle Rittenhouse, just before the latter shot three men in self-defense, killing Joseph Rosenbaum.A jury in 2021 cleared Mr. Rittenhouse of homicide, attempted homicide, and reckless endangerment charges for the deaths of Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and the wounding of Gaige Grosskreutz.
Mr. Rittenhouse was 17 when he brought a semi-automatic rifle and a medical kit to Kenosha, in what he said was an attempt to protect local businesses as riots broke out after police shot Jacob Blake.
Mr. Rittenhouse was also accused of being a white supremacist by the left, despite having no connections to any such organizations or holding that particular ideology.
Mr. Ziminski was out on bail for his involvement in the riots when he and his wife went on a crime spree resulting in seven felony charges.
The original charges included felony armed robbery, felony armed burglary, felony false imprisonment, felony intimidation of victim, felony ID theft, and misdemeanor battery.
Ziminskis Beat and Rob Man After Accusations of Abuse
The charges arose from a crime committed on Aug. 26, 2022, when a victim identified the couple as two of three people who had attempted to rob him that morning.The victim accused Mr. Ziminski of ordering him out of his house and into his truck while armed with a knife.
After being driven to several ATMs at which his account would not release any money, the victim escaped to a gas station, where he called 911.
According to court documents, the man claimed that the Ziminskis and their accomplice “threatened to kill him and bury him in a basement where no one would find him.”
Ms. Ziminski claimed that they were trying to get $200 that the man owed her for cleaning his house.
She accused the victim of hitting her and sexually assaulting her while cleaning his residence and went outside to tell her husband, who hit the man.
Couple Accused of Setting Fires During 2020 Riots
Ms. Ziminski was already on probation, and Mr. Ziminzki was out on bond, pending trial for charges of felony arson, misdemeanor disorderly conduct/use of a dangerous weapon, and obstructing an officer during the 2020 riots.The Ziminskis were accused by prosecutors of participating in “protests and riots in downtown Kenosha” after the shooting.
Mobile phone footage shows the couple trying to “block law enforcement vehicles that were clearing the area” south of 56th Street on Sheridan Road because of a curfew that was imposed at the time.
The court filings state that Ms. Ziminski took a video on her phone that shows her husband “lighting a dumpster on fire” and then asking people for lighter fluid to help spread the flames.
The recording then shows him pushing the waste container onto Sheridan Road as police vehicles moved toward him.
Ms. Ziminski was seen in the video footage “adding flammable material to the fire to increase the flame.”
All charges in connection to the 2020 riots against Mr. Ziminski were eventually dropped.
