SAN DIEGO – Former NFL player Kellen Winslow II was sentenced on Wednesday to 14 years in prison for several rapes and other sexual crimes against five women in Southern California, including a homeless man when he attacked her in 2018.
The 37-year-old son of the Chargers Hall of Fame recipient, Kellen Winslow, appeared by videoconference at the San Diego Superior Court hearing in Vista, California.
Winslow II declined to comment before his sentence, saying his lawyers advised him not to speak.
San Diego County Superior Court Judge Blaine Bowman said that Winslow can only be described with “two words, that he is a sexual predator”. Bowman said that Winslow selected women who were vulnerable because of their age or life situation with the idea that “I hope he gets away with it in his mind.”
Winslow was convicted of forced rape, rape of an unconscious person, assault with the intention of committing rape, indecent exposure and obscene conduct in public. The forced rape involved a homeless woman in her hometown of Encinitas, a coastal community north of San Diego.
The 14-year sentence was the maximum allowed in a court settlement.
His lawyer, Marc Carlos, said that Winslow suffered head trauma due to several blows to the head while playing football and suggested that this is why he “got off track”, moving from a star athlete to a condemned sexual predator.
Carlos said that his client has accepted responsibility and intends to get help.
Jurors also convicted Winslow for two misdemeanors – indecent exposure and obscene public act – involving two other women.
But the jury did not agree with other charges, including the alleged rape in 2018 of a 54-year-old hitchhiker and the rape of an unconscious 17-year-old high school student who went to a party with him when he was 19.
Before being tried again for these charges, he pleaded guilty to raping the teenager and sexual assault with the hitchhiker.
The father of two, whose wife filed for divorce after he was convicted, faced up to 18 years in prison on all charges. Both sides agreed to reduce the charge of sexual assault to assault with intent to commit rape last month. This reduced the maximum sentence to 14 years.
Winslow was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in 2004 and spent four seasons with the team, being nominated for the Pro Bowl in 2007. He also played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New England Patriots and New York Jets. He was once the highest-paid tight end in the league, and his last season in the NFL was in 2013.