SAN DIEGO — Former NFL tight end Kellen Winslow II was sentenced Wednesday to 14 years in state prison after pleading guilty to committing sexual offenses, including rape, against five women in California over nearly two decades.
Winslow, 37, the son of Hall of Famer Kellen Winslow, agreed to the sentence last month through a new plea deal, KNSD reported.
Winslow -- who was the No. 1 pick of the Cleveland Browns in the 2004 NFL draft and was later the highest-paid tight end in the league -- must also register as a sex offender for life, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
Winslow had been convicted in 2019 for multiple rapes and other sexual offenses against the women, including one who was homeless when he attacked her in 2018, the newspaper reported.
Superior Court Judge Blaine Bowman, who presided over the trial, dismissed statements from the defense that Winslow’s behavior could have stemmed from repeated head trauma sustained from years of football, according to the Union-Tribune.
“That leaves us with someone who can only be described in two words -- and that is a sexual predator,” Bowman said before sentencing Winslow. “That’s what Kellen Winslow II is. He’s a sexual predator. He preys on vulnerable victims and is very brazen in the way he carries out his crimes.”
Winslow declined to comment before his sentence, saying his lawyers had advised him not to speak.
“In the future, I do plan to tell my story,” Winslow said.
The homeless woman spoke during the hearing, which was conducted via video due to COVID-19 restrictions.
“That man is not a good man,” the woman told the court on Wednesday. “I don’t think you know how truly dangerous that man is.
“If you don’t think rape affects a human being, you’re damn wrong.”
A 54-year-old woman, who said Winslow assaulted her behind a shopping center after he picked her up in March 2018 while she was hitchhiking, sent a letter to the court.
“I was so scared when he raped me,” the woman wrote in the letter, which Deputy District Attorney Dan Owens read aloud. “He scared me so bad, knowing now that he was my neighbor, and I couldn’t believe that an NFL football player would take advantage of me.”
In June 2018, Winslow was arrested and accused of raping the homeless woman and the hitchhiker, as well as of committing other offenses targeting women, the Union-Tribune reported.
Winslow eventually agreed to plead guilty to two charges: sexual battery of the hitchhiker, and the 2003 rape of an unconscious teenager when he was 19 and a student at the University of Miami, the newspaper reported.
Winslow spent four seasons with the Browns and was named to the Pro Bowl in 2007. He also played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New England Patriots and New York Jets. His final season in the NFL was 2013. He made 469 catches in 105 games for 5,236 yards and 25 touchdowns.