Former NFL Star Convicted of Raping Homeless Woman

Former NFL player Kellen Winslow Jr. has been convicted of raping a 58-year-old homeless woman last year in his picturesque California beach community of Encinitas, north of San Diego. A jury returned the verdict Monday in San Diego Superior Court in Vista but was expected to continue deliberating on two more counts of rape involving a 54-year-old hitchhiker last year and an unconscious teenage girl in 2003, the AP reports. The jury also found the 35-year-old former tight end guilty of indecent exposure and lewd conduct involving two other women, but jurors found him not guilty of one count of a lewd act. Winslow, who played for Cleveland, Tampa Bay, New England, and the New York Jets, faces up to life in prison if convicted of all counts.

All five women testified during the nine-day trial. Winslow did not take the stand. Defense attorneys pointed out inconsistencies in the accusers' testimonies and argued the women invented the allegations to prey on the wealth of Winslow, who earned more than $40 million during his career. Prosecutors say the son of Hall of Famer Kellen Winslow felt empowered by his fame to abuse the most vulnerable. Prosecutor Dan Owens told the jury of eight men and four women that Winslow is a "wolf in sheep's clothing." The homeless woman in Encinitas testified that he befriended her and attacked her next to his vehicle after inviting her for coffee in May 2018. He was also convicted of touching himself in front of a 77-year-old woman who went to the same gym as him earlier this year and exposing himself to a 54-year-old woman while she tended to her garden last May.

(More Kellen Winslow stories.)