By Des Bieler | Washington Post
Former NFL player Kellen Winslow II was arrested Thursday by San Diego County police for numerous sex crimes, including kidnapping, rape, sodomy and indecent exposure. Authorities have yet to offer details of the incident that led to the arrest, but Winslow, who was booked into a detention facility in Vista, California, is scheduled to be arraigned Friday.
A representative of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department told The Post that one of the charges was related to an arrest last week of Winslow, 34. That charge, residential burglary, stemmed from a complaint by a resident of a mobile home park in Encinitas, California, and the former tight end’s representatives denied any wrongdoing.
Winslow’s arrest Thursday was on an outstanding warrant, on charges related to “other incidents” apart from the mobile home park episode. Those charges included:
- Two counts of kidnapping with intent to commit rape
- Two counts of forcible rape
- One count of forcible sodomy
- One count of forcible oral copulation
- One count of indecent exposure
- One count of residential burglary
Authorities also said that, at the same time as Winslow’s arrest, a search warrant was executed at his residence. If convicted, he could face life in prison.
Winslow had been scheduled to be arraigned Thursday for an incident June 7 in which police said the resident “indicated a black male adult had walked into a neighbor’s residence.” After being “confronted,” the male drove away in a black SUV that matched Winslow’s car, and he was “positively identified” by the resident, then placed under arrest.
That resident said to San Diego’s KGTV that after she saw Winslow emerge from her neighbor’s home and asked him if she could help with anything, he replied, “Nope, just looking for my dog.” She said that when she asked about the dog, he said, “Well, it’s a red dog, Clifford.”
Winslow was booked into the Vista facility but was released the following day after posting $50,000 bail. His representatives said he was shopping for his mother-in-law, and that the residence he entered belonged to friends who attended church with his wife (via NBC News).
A spokeswoman for Winslow described that arrest as being the result of an “overreactive neighbor,” and that he was being “sarcastic” in his responses about looking for his dog. As of this writing, the spokeswoman had yet to respond to a request from The Post for comment on Thursday’s arrest.
An attorney for Winslow said last week that, regarding the mobile home incident, his client “emphatically denies committing any burglary. He would have no need to burglarize or steal anything from anyone at a trailer park.” He added that the former tight end “looks forward to being vindicated” in court.
The son of Kellen Winslow, a Hall of Fame tight end for the Chargers, Winslow II grew up in San Diego before playing at the University of Miami. He was drafted sixth overall by the Browns in 2004, and he spent five seasons in Cleveland, with a 2007 Pro Bowl selection, before moving on to stints with the Buccaneers, Patriots and Jets.
Winslow’s final season was in 2013, and in November of that year, while a member of the Jets, he was arrested in New Jersey for possession of synthetic marijuana. In that incident, police were called to the parking lot of a Target store after a woman claimed she saw him masturbating while in his car.