Last month, former Florida quarterback Jalen Kitna agreed to a plea deal that cleared him of child pornography charges but charged him with two second-degree misdemeanors stemming from child pornography allegations.
As a result of the plea agreement, five felony child pornography charges were dropped.
On Friday, the son of former NFL quarterback Jon Kitna released a statement.
“Out of respect to the legal process I have chosen to remain silent the last 8 months, knowing the accusations levied against me as a teenager were not accurate and would be proven to be not true,” Kitna said, via The Gainesville Sun. “The extensive six-month long investigation brought the prosecution to the conclusion I knew all along this was not a child pornography case.
“I had hoped this outcome would exonerate me and provide understanding. The reaction has been quite the opposite and created even more confusion with people making judgments based only on the initial reports, which didn’t tell the whole story.”
Kitna went into further detail, describing how and why the charges went away.
“They told me an image I shared online was potentially of an underage female,” Kitna said. “I was shocked, because I had found it on an easily accessible, legal site, and I was never looking for illegal material. The photo included only a portion of the female body. I had no reason to believe the photo might be illegal.”
“This investigation found no other images that were even questionable: No photos, no videos, no chats, no searches for inappropriate material, not one illegal activity. The State determined the items police originally arrested me for should not be prosecuted either, either because the people depicted appeared to be of age or because it was not clear.”
“I know I did not commit the crime people assumed and maybe believed. I have learned the lesson of how quickly naive decisions can lead to catastrophic consequences. I’m sorry my family and friends have had to go through this unimaginable eight months, their love and support throughout has been humbling and encouraging.”
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After his plea agreement, Kitna decided to switch schools after he was dismissed from the Florida Gators football program last year following those charges. He is banned from stepping foot on the University of Florida’s physical campus, with the ban extending until 2025.
Kitna is the son of former NFL quarterback Jon Kitna, who now serves as the coach of Lakota East High School in Cincinnati. Jalen appeared in four games as a redshirt freshman for the Gators in 2022, serving as the primary backup to Anthony Richardson.
There’s no word on which college he plans on continuing his football career. One would wonder if it will likely be a smaller school since no top schools would want anything like his situation attached to them.
