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Details revealed in Florida Gators QB Jalen Kitna’s child pornography case

Police say Kitna was in possession of five images and shared one of a prepubescent girl.
Jalen Kitna appeared in four games with the Florida Gators this season.
Jalen Kitna appeared in four games with the Florida Gators this season. [ PHELAN M. EBENHACK | AP ]
Published Dec. 1, 2022|Updated Dec. 1, 2022

One of the five images of child pornography Florida Gators quarterback Jalen Kitna possessed was of a prepubescent girl engaged in a sex act with an adult man, according to the Gainesville Police Department.

That’s among the details revealed in an arrest report, obtained Thursday morning by the Tampa Bay Times, about the complaints against the 19-year-old Kitna.

The investigation began in June with a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children into images of child pornography being shared on the messaging system Discord. Gainesville police received the case in July. The user’s IP address and phone number helped lead investigators to Kitna.

Related: Florida Gators backup QB Jalen Kitna booked on child pornography complaints

The report said Kitna shared that image of a prepubescent girl and another of a pubescent female exposing herself. “So young junior” are among the words written on both pictures. He told authorities that he thought they were legal because he found them online.

When police searched Kitna’s phone, they found three more images of two nude pubescent juveniles in the shower, according to the report. All three of those images appear to be self-produced and were saved onto his cell phone last December. The report did not estimate their ages.

Kitna told police that he was in servers that discuss, solicit and distribute child sexual abuse material, but he “tries to shy away from it,” the report said. Kitna also said he had been in groups on the message system Kik that distributed similar material and that he “might have accidentally downloaded” those types of items but would delete them.

Kitna was arrested Wednesday on five complaints related to possessing child pornography. He was also indefinitely suspended from the football team.

Florida Gators quarterback Jalen Kitna was booked into the Alachua County Jail on Wednesday.
Florida Gators quarterback Jalen Kitna was booked into the Alachua County Jail on Wednesday. [ AP ]

Kitna made his first court appearance Thursday. After more than an hour, a judge set his bond at $80,000. Kitna is not allowed to use the internet or have unsupervised contact with minors. He was released early Thursday evening and is expected to return to Texas with his family.

The former three-star recruit and son of longtime NFL quarterback Jon Kitna appeared in four games for the Gators this season as a redshirt freshman. He completed 10 of his 14 passes for 181 yards and a touchdown.

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Kitna was No. 2 on UF’s depth chart. If starter Anthony Richardson decides to leave early for the NFL draft and skip the postseason (as top prospects often do), Kitna could have been in line for his first career start in UF’s undetermined bowl game.

Related: Why the next three weeks are crucial for Florida Gators, Billy Napier

Kitna is being represented by Gainesville attorney Ron Kozlowski, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

In a statement, a Discord spokesperson said the service has a “zero-tolerance policy for child sexual abuse” and works “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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