Content warning: This communicative contains details astir kid pornography. The contented whitethorn beryllium hard to work and emotionally upsetting.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A time aft being arrested connected kid pornography charges, Florida backup backmost Jalen Kitna spent astir of a 75-minute closed-circuit video quality Thursday despondent and slouched implicit a podium, look buried successful his hands, portion his parents watched from the courtroom.
His father, Jon, a retired NFL quarterback, clasped hands with Kitna’s mother, Jennifer, passim the proceeding. They assured the tribunal they would instrumentality their lad backmost to their location successful Burleson, Texas, and instrumentality with him for aboriginal tribunal dates successful Alachua County. Kitna was ordered to beryllium held connected $80,000 enslaved by Eighth Judicial Circuit Judge Meshon Rawls, banned from net entree and prohibited from unsupervised interaction with minors.
The redshirt freshman was charged Wednesday with 2 counts of organisation of kid exploitation worldly and 3 counts of possession of kid pornography, based connected his usage of the societal app Discord, constabulary said.
Thursday’s ruling came soon aft explicit details emerged from a Gainesville constabulary report, alleging that 1 of the images Kitna shared connected Discord progressive a pre-pubescent miss having enactment with an big male. Another shared representation featured what constabulary described arsenic a pubescent juvenile miss exposing her genitals. Those images were shared June 21, constabulary said, spawning a cyber extremity 2 days aboriginal from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Police tracked the images to an IP code astatine Kitna’s flat successful Gainesville and subpoenaed verification records from Verizon and Discord tracing backmost to Kitna. Upon executing a hunt warrant Wednesday, constabulary said Kitna turned implicit his iPhone. The instrumentality turned up 3 further images of 2 nude pubescent juvenile girls successful a shower, constabulary allege. Those images were saved to his telephone connected Dec. 7, 2021, constabulary said.
Kitna admitted to sharing 2 images that helium believed to beryllium “legal,” constabulary said successful the report. Kitna said helium realized helium should not person shared those 2 images, based connected the absorption from different Discord idiosyncratic successful the chat, the study said.
Judge Rawls assigned $25,000 enslaved for the 2 idiosyncratic counts of organisation of kid exploitation, second-class felonies successful Florida. She acceptable enslaved astatine $10,000 each for 3 counts of possession of kid pornography, which are third-class felonies.
Defense lawyer Caleb Kenyon, lobbying for Kitna to beryllium released connected his ain recognizance with nary bond, cited a sentencing script successful which Kitna, if convicted connected each counts, mightiness service lone 16 months. He besides argued that immoderate of the images mightiness not person progressive minors, and suggested an result successful which Kitna, arsenic a 19-year-old with nary transgression history, would service nary jailhouse time.
Afterward, Kitna’s co-counsel Ron Kozlowski declined to sermon immoderate facts of the case. Kitna’s parents were accompanied successful the courtroom by Kevin Sides, whom defence attorneys identified arsenic Kitna’s “local pastor.” An online bio shows Sides launched an Athletes successful Action ministry astatine the University of Florida successful 2008. Whereas different defendants connected the closed-circuit video wore jail-issued shirts and pants, Kitna was dressed successful a one-piece anti-suicide gown.
“He’s got bully household support,” Kenyon said.
(Photo: David Rosenblum / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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English (US)