Jalen Kitna, former Burleson High School quarterback and son of former Cowboys QB Jon Kitna, was arrested on child pornography charges by the Gainesville Police Department in Florida on Wednesday after a search of his apartment and phone.
Kitna is accused of distributing and possessing child pornography, the department reported on Thursday. Two of the five charges are second-degree felonies that could lead to 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine; three are third-degree felonies.
Kitna was released from jail on Thursday after posting an $80,000 bond. One of the conditions of his release was that he could not have unsupervised contact with children or use the internet, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
His parents, Jon and Jennifer Kitna of Burleson, told Judge Meshon Rawls that they would keep an eye on their 19-year-old son while he was home.
The elder Kitna is a high school coach in Burleson. He played in the NFL for 14 years, including the last two of his career with the Dallas Cowboys in 2010 and 2011.
Jalen Kitna helped the Elks to a 6-4 season as a senior before graduating from Burleson High School in 2021, according to MaxPreps. That December, Kitna chose to study and play football at the University of Florida, Sports Illustrated reported.
In the 2022 season, Kitna, a redshirt freshman, completed 10 of 14 passes for 181 yards and a touchdown.
The University of Florida suspended Kitna indefinitely after his arrest Wednesday, according to the Tampa Bay Times. His bio has already been removed from the Florida football website.
“We are shocked and saddened to hear of the news involving Jalen Kitna,” said the school,” Tampa Bay Times reported. “These are extremely serious charges, and the University of Florida and the UAA have zero tolerance for such behavior.”
The Gainesville Police Department and the Internet Crimes Against Children Division carried out a search warrant at Kitna’s Davie, Florida, residence on Wednesday, the department said.
A detective from the Gainesville Police Department said he went to Kitna’s house to talk to him. Kitna allegedly told the detective that he remembered sharing the images but thought they were “legal” because he found them online.
Kitna reportedly said that the other Discord user’s reaction made him realize he should not have shared those two images.
The report claimed that Kitna then noted that his Discord account had been shut down, and he thought that someone had told Discord about him. Kitna said that he got an email from Discord saying that his account had been shut down because he had broken the rules.
Kitna’s electronic items were taken away as part of the search warrant. A preliminary look at the devices allegedly yielded three more images of child sexual abuse, according to Gainesville police.
