Yahoo Sports Ex-Florida QB Jalen Kitna has child porn charges dropped in plea deal, sentenced to probation
Jalen Kitna was dismissed from Florida shortly after his arrest last year
Former Florida quarterback Jalen Kitna had five felony child pornography charges dropped Wednesday as part of a plea deal, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
Kitna, who is the son of former NFL quarterback Jon Kitna, pleaded no-contest to two misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct and was sentenced to one year probation, which could be reduced to six months. As a result of his plea deal, Kitna will not have to register as a sex offender, and he will not serve any jail time.
“I want to start off by apologizing to my family, my friends and those that care about me,” he said in a statement in court, via the Sentinel. “Their support through this whole ordeal has meant a lot to me. The hardest thing about this whole process has been seeing how it’s affected them.
“The valuable lessons that I’ve learned through this whole deal have been very helpful. I’m looking forward to applying those things and moving forward.”
Kitna was arrested Nov. 30 after police said he allegedly shared child sexual abuse images on Discord. According to the arrest report, Kitna told police initially that he “remembered sharing the two images but believed them to be ‘legal’ since he found them online.” Police said they found three other images of child sexual abuse material on Kitna’s electronic devices.
He was initially charged with five counts of felony child pornography — two counts of distribution of child exploitation material and three counts of possession of child pornography. Kitna was suspended by Florida immediately after his arrest and was later dismissed from the team.
Kitna, a former three-star recruit, signed with Florida and was the primary backup quarterback to starter Anthony Richardson in 2022. He appeared in four games that season but completed just 10 passes and threw one touchdown. His dad, Jon, spent 14 seasons playing in the NFL for the Seahawks, Bengals, Lions and Cowboys before retiring in 2011.
