Florida

Florida Gators QB Jalen Kitna Arrested on Child Pornography Charges

Kitna, 19, is the son of former NFL quarterback Jon Kitna, and is the backup QB for the Gators

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University of Florida quarterback Jalen Kitna was arrested on multiple child pornography charges Wednesday, authorities said.

The 19-year-old was booked into the Alachua County Jail on five counts of possession of obscene material depicting child pornography, according to online jail records.

In a statement, UF said Kitna has been suspended from the football team.

"We are shocked and saddened to hear of the news involving Jalen Kitna," the statement read. "These are extremely serious charges and the University of Florida and the UAA have zero tolerance for such behavior. Jalen has been suspended indefinitely from the football program."

Alachua County Sheriff's Office
Jalen Kitna

According to Gainesville Police, officers with the Internet Crimes Against Children Division served a search warrant at Kitna's home after they received a cyber tip that a Discord user distributed an image of child sexual abuse through their platform.

Investigators discovered two images had been shared through a Discord account belonging to Kitna, police said.

Kitna told detectives that he remembered sharing the two images but believed them to be "legal" since he found them online, police said. Kitna added that he realized he shouldn't have shared the images, based on the reaction from the other Discord user that he shared them with, police said.

Detectives seized Kitna's electronic devices and found three additional images of child sexual abuse, police said.

Kitna is the son of former NFL quarterback Jon Kitna, and is the backup QB for the Gators. He played briefly in the team's loss Friday to Florida State.

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