GAINSVILLE, FL – University of Florida backup quarterback arrested and charged with two counts of child pornography. The football team has severed ties and the school has suspended him indefinitely pending the outcome of the investigation.
The future could have been bright for former backup Gators quarterback Jalen Kitna. Not only was the 19-year-old prepped to compete for the starter role next season, but he is also the son of former NFL quarterback Jon Kitna, who saw varying successes during his many years in the league. Despite any future plans Kitna may have had, they have been all but destroyed after his arrest for possession of child pornography on November 30th.
A Gators spokesperson released a statement on Kitna’s arrest, in part, it read: “We are shocked and saddened to hear of the news involving Jalen Kitna. These are extremely serious charges and the University of Florida and UAA have zero tolerance for such behavior. Jalen has been suspended indefinitely.” Police began investigating Kitna seven months ago after receiving a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) that he was sharing child pornography on an app called Discord. NCMEC is an organization that goes through all of cyberspace searching for children being exploited and abused.
When they find any image which may be of a child being exploited or abused, they notify the proper jurisdiction which then begins an investigation. The investigation would then investigate the images to determine if they were videos and images which depicted sexual acts or other forms of abuse of a child. Once detectives have determined that children were depicted in the images and videos, they would then have to seek out search warrants for the IP addresses and phone numbers associated with the images. Once those search warrants were obtained, detectives reported they discovered these particular images and videos of child pornography were associated with Kitna.
During their investigation, detectives reported that Kitna was allegedly: “Active in servers and chats that would discuss, solicit, and distribute child sexual abuse materials.” Detectives noted some of the images that were allegedly possessed by Kitna involved a prepubescent girl and another pubescent female exposing themselves. While it is not known if those images were illegal (in order to be child pornography the child would have to be committing a sexual act), Kitna allegedly told detectives he believed the images were legal because he found them online.
Detectives also reported they found more disturbing images when they searched his phone, most likely with a search warrant. One of the five images that Kitna allegedly had on his cell phone was that of a prepubescent girl who was engaged in sexual acts with an apparent adult man. Other images found were that of two naked teenagers who were in the shower. According to police, these images appear to be self-produced and were saved onto his phone in December of 2021.
Police did not estimate the age of the girls in these images nor advise if they have been identified. Kitna allegedly admitted to detectives that he was on several online servers that engage in child sexual abuse material, but instead of being an active participant, he “tries to shy away from it.” He also allegedly admitted to being in groups on Kik that distribute this type of material and that he “might have accidentally downloaded” child sex abuse videos and images but would delete them after the accidental download.
Kitna was charged with five counts of possession of child pornography and appeared in front of a judge who assigned an $80,000 bond. Upon his release, the judge ordered he is not allowed to have any unsupervised contact with a minor and he is barred from accessing the internet pending future court hearings. According to the Tampa Bay Times, Discord released a statement on the incident and noted the company has a “zero tolerance policy for child sexual abuse.” In part, the statement said: “[Discord is] relentless to find and remove this abhorrent content and take action including banning the users responsible and engaging with the proper authorities.”
The future could have been bright for former backup Gators quarterback Jalen Kitna. Not only was the 19-year-old prepped to compete for the starter role next season, but he is also the son of former NFL quarterback Jon Kitna, who saw varying successes during his many years in the league. Despite any future plans Kitna may have had, they have been all but destroyed after his arrest for possession of child pornography on November 30th.
A Gators spokesperson released a statement on Kitna’s arrest, in part, it read: “We are shocked and saddened to hear of the news involving Jalen Kitna. These are extremely serious charges and the University of Florida and UAA have zero tolerance for such behavior. Jalen has been suspended indefinitely.” Police began investigating Kitna seven months ago after receiving a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) that he was sharing child pornography on an app called Discord. NCMEC is an organization that goes through all of cyberspace searching for children being exploited and abused.
When they find any image which may be of a child being exploited or abused, they notify the proper jurisdiction which then begins an investigation. The investigation would then investigate the images to determine if they were videos and images which depicted sexual acts or other forms of abuse of a child. Once detectives have determined that children were depicted in the images and videos, they would then have to seek out search warrants for the IP addresses and phone numbers associated with the images. Once those search warrants were obtained, detectives reported they discovered these particular images and videos of child pornography were associated with Kitna.
During their investigation, detectives reported that Kitna was allegedly: “Active in servers and chats that would discuss, solicit, and distribute child sexual abuse materials.” Detectives noted some of the images that were allegedly possessed by Kitna involved a prepubescent girl and another pubescent female exposing themselves. While it is not known if those images were illegal (in order to be child pornography the child would have to be committing a sexual act), Kitna allegedly told detectives he believed the images were legal because he found them online.
Detectives also reported they found more disturbing images when they searched his phone, most likely with a search warrant. One of the five images that Kitna allegedly had on his cell phone was that of a prepubescent girl who was engaged in sexual acts with an apparent adult man. Other images found were that of two naked teenagers who were in the shower. According to police, these images appear to be self-produced and were saved onto his phone in December of 2021.
Police did not estimate the age of the girls in these images nor advise if they have been identified. Kitna allegedly admitted to detectives that he was on several online servers that engage in child sexual abuse material, but instead of being an active participant, he “tries to shy away from it.” He also allegedly admitted to being in groups on Kik that distribute this type of material and that he “might have accidentally downloaded” child sex abuse videos and images but would delete them after the accidental download.
Kitna was charged with five counts of possession of child pornography and appeared in front of a judge who assigned an $80,000 bond. Upon his release, the judge ordered he is not allowed to have any unsupervised contact with a minor and he is barred from accessing the internet pending future court hearings. According to the Tampa Bay Times, Discord released a statement on the incident and noted the company has a “zero tolerance policy for child sexual abuse.” In part, the statement said: “[Discord is] relentless to find and remove this abhorrent content and take action including banning the users responsible and engaging with the proper authorities.”
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