Jalen Kitna is finally opening up about his arrest on child pornography charges.
Last November, the 20-year-old former University of Florida quarterback was arrested over claims he possessed and shared an explicit image of a minor online, TMZ reported.
Kitna faced five felony child pornography charges, according to ESPN. However, the charges were finally dropped last month, with Kina pleading “no contest” to two separate misdemeanor charges.
Now, Kitna is seeking to set the record straight.
“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,” he said in a statement published by TMZ.
“The extensive 6-month-long investigation brought the prosecution to the conclusion I knew all along — this was not a child pornography case,” he continued.
He went on to provide details about his arrest and the events that entailed.
“Nov. 30, 2022, at the age of 19, detectives arrived early in the morning and started asking about my pornography use,” he explained. “I was totally compliant. I shared all my passwords and hid nothing from them.”
“They told me an image I shared online was potentially of an underage female,” he continued. “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.”
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“Regardless, they arrested me on suspicion of possessing child pornography. As they put me in handcuffs I tried to process everything. It sounded like they believed I searched out and shared illegal pictures, but I knew that I had not.”
Having being kicked off the Florida Gators team following his arrest and banned from being on campus until 2025, he detailed how he had undergone a evaluation by a specialized physician who confirmed he had no “deviant characteristics.”
“After a full day of evaluation and testing by a specialized doctor of 40+ years, the doctor determined I have no deviant characteristics, had normal interests as a teenager, and I’m in the lowest possible percentile for likelihood to commit a crime,” Kitna explained.
He also said that although he struck a deal that included a no contest plea, this did not amount to an admission of guilt.
“The misdemeanor plea of ‘no contest’ is not an admission of guilt, and I was not adjudicated by the court, meaning there was no conviction,” he wrote. “The police have returned all my devices because they contain no illegal material. And the University of Florida has lifted the campus ban imposed during the investigation.”
Kitna, who is hoping to resume his football career, said he would learn from the experience that “naive decisions can lead to catastrophic consequences.”
“I understand that there are many who will never get past the original headlines, but for those who want to look at this objectively, I hope this will provide details to see the truth.”
“I know with the continued love and support of those close to me — and hopefully some understanding by others — I’ll have a chance at the life that I dreamed of and worked so hard for,” he concluded. “I am determined to use my story to help others avoid the pitfalls of naive technology use.”
