This is a shocking and horrifying case that keeps getting stranger.
Kellen Winslow Jr., as a football player, came from high quality stock.
His father, Kellen Winslow Sr., played in the NFL for nine seasons with the Chargers, amassing a career stat line of 6,741 receiving yards, 45 touchdowns and five Pro Bowls en route to a Hall of Fame enshrinement in 1995.
His son, Kellen Winslow Jr., showed promise as a player who had the potential to follow in his father’s footsteps. The 6-foot-4, 241-pound tight end was an All-American for the Miami Hurricanes and was drafted with the sixth pick by the Cleveland Browns in 2004.
Things did not start off as planned for him as he suffered a broken fibula two games into his rookie season, putting him on the sidelines for the entire year. He returned after two surgeries, only to be injured again in 2005 in a motorcycle accident, which also resulted in a staph infection and another lost season.
But in 2006 he bounced back, and over the next six seasons, he was one of the best, if not the best, receiving tight ends in the game. During this time, he hauled in 432 passes for 4,786 yards and 23 TDs, which also included a Pro Bowl selection in 2007.
The Browns eventually traded him to the Bucs in 2009, where he signed the largest contract for a tight end at the time, a six-year, $36 million deal, and he rewarded the team with three great seasons.
But then his career took a downward turn, with only one small, brief glimpse of success in 2013 with the Jets. Since that time, Winlsow Jr. hasn’t stepped onto an NFL field, and if fans think his career ended poorly, they had no idea just how horrible his life had become.
The talented tight end had a few brushes with the law and faced other violations, including a four game suspension in 2013 for PEDs and an arrest in 2014 for possession of synthetic marijuana. Trouble for sure, but nothing compared to what was discovered over the last week.
First, on June 7h, Winslow Jr. was arrested and charged with one felony count of first-degree burglary charges after a resident in the senior community of Encinitas in northern San Diego called police to report a burglary. Winslow spent a few hours in jail, posted $50,000 bond and was released while denying the charges. His legal team and publicist both said it was a mistake and that he knew the owner of the trailer home he was seen around.
“Mr. Winslow emphatically denies committing any burglary. He would have no need to burglarize or steal anything from anyone at a trailer park. He looks forward to being vindicated once this matter is fully investigated and adjudicated through the court system,” said his attorney Harvey A. Steinberg.
His publicist, Denise White, issued a statement, calling the incident a misunderstanding as her client went by the mobile home park to check out homes for his mother-in-law before going to the gym.
“An over-reactive neighbor called police after she saw Kellen walking around a mobile home,” her statement read. “He was sarcastic when answering her questions about what he was doing there. He said he was looking for his red dog Clifford. He actually has a red dog named Clifford. However, thats not why he was there.”
Then, as we were all trying to digest that news while fuming over another Black man having the cops called on him, a shocking bombshell was dropped when he was arrested on charges of rape and kidnapping.
According to NBC San Diego, Winslow was arrested and charged with “two counts of kidnapping with the intent to commit rape, two counts of forcible rape, one count of forcible sodomy, one count of forcible oral copulation, two counts of residential burglary and one count of indecent exposure.”
The eight felony accounts and one misdemeanor consists of multiple female victims between the ages of 54 and 86. If convicted, he faces life in prison.
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Kellen Winslow Jr, who is facing a possible life sentence without parole if convicted, will be represented by Harvey Steinberg, who helped get not guilty verdicts or dismissal of criminal charges for players such as Bill Romanowski, Perrish Cox, Brandon Marshall, Rolando McClain.
Per the San Diego Tribune, the charges in the complaint include:
- “Kidnap, rape and forced oral copulation of a 54-year-old woman in March;
- Kidnap, rape and sodomy of a 59-year-old woman in May;
- Indecent exposure in May (the victim was a 55-year-old woman);
- Burglary with the intent to rape a 71-year-old woman in June;
- Burglary with the intent to rape an 86-year-old woman in June.”
- After the charges were reviewed, Winslow was ordered to remain in jail with a no-bail status.
On behalf of our son and my husband, we want to reiterate our love, support and affection for him during this difficult process,” read a statement from Winslow’s wife and father. “We will always be there for him, and we know the true facts will come out.
But if the facts prove to be true, it doesn’t look like Winslow will come out in this lifetime, which is exactly what needs to happen.
