Florida QB Jalen Kitna released on bail after child abuse image charges
Florida back-up quarterback Jalen Kitna was released from jail on an $80,000 bond on Thursday, a day after he was arrested on five charges involving child abuse images.
Judge Meshon Rawls set the bond and as conditions for Kitna’s release ordered him not to have any unsupervised contact with minors and not to have any internet access.
Kitna sobbed into his hands when his father, former NFL quarterback Jon Kitna and mother, Jennifer Kitna, addressed the court during a 75-minute appearance. Jalen Kitna was at Alachua County Jail and on a closed-circuit feed when Jon and Jennifer Kitna stepped to a podium in the courtroom and promised they would supervise their 19-yearold son at their home in Texas.
“He’s got a great family. He’s got good family support. He’s going to be well taken care of,” one of Kitna’s attorneys, Caleb Kenyon, said outside the courthouse.
The Gainesville Police Department released Kitna’s arrest report on Thursday, providing details about the complaints filed against the now-suspended football player.
The investigation began in June with a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children into images of child abuse images being shared on the social media platform Discord. The investigation led authorities to Kitna.
Kitna shared two images of a girl, police said in the report, adding that the phrase “so young junior” was written on both pictures. Kitna told a detective he thought they were legal because he found them online. When police searched Kitna’s phone, they found three more images of girls, according to the report. Those three images were saved to his cellphone last December, police said. The report did not estimate the ages of the girls.
Kitna also told police he had been in other messaging groups on at least one other social media platform that distributed similar material, according to the arrest report. Discord had previously deactivated Kitna’s account because of a violation of the terms of service, police said.
“Discord has a zero-tolerance policy for child sexual abuse, which does not have a place on our platform or anywhere in society,” a Discord spokesperson said in a statement. “We work relentlessly to find and remove this abhorrent content and take action including banning the users responsible and engaging with the proper authorities.”
Two of the five arresting charges, which still need to be formalized by the state attorney’s office, are seconddegree felonies that could result in a prison term of up to 15 years and a fine of up to $10,000. The other three are third-degree felonies.
Kitna is also being represented by Gainesville attorney Ron Kozlowski as well as noted Jacksonville attorney Hank Coxe, who has a history of taking on cases involving high-profile athletes.
Jalen Kitna appeared in four games for the Gators this season. Jon Kitna played 14 seasons in the NFL with Seattle, Cincinnati, Detroit and Dallas. He started 124 games and now is a high school coach in Texas.
The Gators suspended Kitna indefinitely about an hour after his arrest.