The University of Florida quarterback arrested Wednesday on child porn charges allegedly shared a photo that showed a pre-teen having sex with an adult man, along with four other disturbing images, the Tampa Bay Times reported, citing an arrest report.
The disturbing details emerged Thursday after a nearly seven-month investigation, which began with a tip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that accused Jalen Kitna, 19, of sharing child pornography on the chat app Discord.
After the case was taken over by Gainesville police in July, investigators said they discovered Kitna was active in servers and chats that would discuss, solicit, and distribute child sexual abuse material, but he tried to “shy away from it,” Kitna said, according to the police report.
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Detectives said Kitna shared an image of a prepubescent girl—aged 10 to 12—and another of a pubescent female. “So young junior” was written on both pictures, the Times reported.
Kitna told authorities he thought the photos were legal since he found them online, his arrest report said. He was also allegedly in groups on the messaging app Kik, which cops say he used to send similar material.
Kitna allegedly told cops that he “might have accidentally downloaded” child pornography but insisted he would delete them.
Detectives searched Kitna’s phone during the investigation and allegedly discovered three photos of child pornography on it that were “self produced” and saved onto his phone last December. The report did not list ages.
Kitna, who is the son of longtime NFL quarterback Jon Kitna, appeared in court on Thursday and posted a cash bail of $80,000—a number potentially shrunk by his parents’ testimony.
Kitna had his first court appearance on Thursday in Gainesville, Florida.
WJXT4Video from the hearing showed a deflated Kitna repeatedly burying his head in his hands as he watched his parents assure an Alachua County judge that they’d ensure Kitna never missed a court date if he was granted pretrial release.
The judge obliged the Kitna family’s request, but demanded Kitna be barred from accessing the Internet and ordered him not to have unsupervised contact with minors while living with his parents in Texas.
Kitna is being represented by Gainesville attorney Ron Kozlowski, who did not respond to a request for comment from The Daily Beast.
The 19-year-old faces five felony charges of child pornography, which can carry up to five years in jail and a maximum $5,000 fine for each illegal material found, according to Florida law.
Kitna played only sparingly as a backup QB in 2022, but was poised to become a starting QB next year and in an upcoming bowl game if starter Anthony Richardson declared for the NFL draft.
Kitna’s playing career appears to be all but over as of now, however, with the University of Florida indefinitely suspending him from the team.
“We are shocked and saddened to hear of the news involving Jalen Kitna,” Florida said in a statement. “These are extremely serious charges and the University of Florida and the [University Athletic Association] have zero tolerance for such behavior.”
