SAN DIEGO (AP) – 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 Kellen Winslow, recipient of the San Diego Chargers Hall of Fame, appeared by videoconference at the hearing in the San Diego Superior Court in Vista, a city north of San Diego. He declined to comment before his sentence, saying his lawyers advised him not to speak.
“In the future, I intend to tell my story,” said the former Cleveland Browns star, who was once the highest-paid tight end in the NFL.
San Diego County Superior Court Judge Blaine Bowman said that Winslow can only be described in “two words and that is a sexual predator”.
The judge said he attacked women who were especially vulnerable, making friends with a homeless woman, hitching a 54-year-old ride and attacking a teenager after she passed out at a party.
Bowman called them “blatant” crimes. He noted that Winslow continued to hunt women even after his first arrest. He performed an obscene act in front of a 77-year-old woman at a gym while hiding his GPS tracking bracelet with a towel. He also exposed himself at that time to a 57-year-old neighbor who was gardening.
“The victims’ vulnerability was not accidental,” said Bowman. “It was the type of victim you sought because you felt that perhaps they would not report the crime” or “would not be considered credible by the jurors.”
The 14-year sentence was the maximum allowed in a court settlement. He was convicted of forced rape, rape of an unconscious person, assault with the intention of committing rape, indecent exposure and obscene conduct in public.
Four of the women who gave testimony on Wednesday, including a victim who asked the prosecutor to read hers. They all described suffering for years after their attacks of fear and emotional trauma.
The woman who was homeless and raped in Winslow’s hometown, Encinitas, a seaside community north of San Diego, was called to the hearing via videoconference from the San Diego County District Attorney’s office, where she was watching to the process with another victim.
She said that since she was raped, she has difficulty raising her head and walking, and is constantly afraid, looking under beds and in closets, and that she cannot be alone.
“It is affecting my life every day and every night,” she said. “I never feel safe inside or out. You have done so much damage to my life. “
Once chosen in the first round of the NFL draft, Winslow played for the Cleveland Browns, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New England Patriots and New York Jets. He won over $ 40 million in his 10 seasons before leaving in 2013.
Winslow’s lawyer, Marc Carlos, said he suffered head trauma due to several blows to the head while playing football, which can only explain why he “got off track”, moving from a star athlete to a condemned sexual predator. He said his client has accepted responsibility and intends to get help.
Winslow was first convicted after a trial in June 2019, when jurors found him guilty of forced rape and two misdemeanors – indecent exposure and obscene public act.
The same jurors did not come to terms on other charges, including the 2018 rape of the 54-year-old hitchhiker and the 2003 rape of the unconscious 17-year-old high school student who went to a party with him when he had 19.
Before being tried again for these charges, he pleaded guilty to raping the teenager and hitchhiker sexual assault. These appeals saved him from the possibility of life imprisonment.
The father of two, whose wife filed for divorce after he was convicted, faced up to 18 years in prison on all charges.
But both sides agreed to reduce the burden of sexual assault to assault with the intention of committing rape last month. This reduced the maximum sentence to 14 years.
Winslow must also register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.