AJ Freund DCFS caseworker gets 6 months in jail: ‘I am truly sorry for pain I have caused’

The child welfare caseworker found criminally guilty for mishandling the case of AJ Freund before the Crystal Lake boy was killed by his mother was sentenced Thursday to six months in jail and 30 months of probation.

Former Department of Children and Family Services caseworker Carlos Acosta of Woodstock could have gotten only probation or up to up to 10 years in prison for his conviction on two counts of endangering the life or health of a child, which are Class 3 felonies. He is required to serve half of his jail term.

“What AJ deserved was a chance ... a happy life. What AJ got was a shallow grave,” Judge George Strickland said before imposing the sentence. “And, yes, it was foreseeable.”

Acosta was immediately taken into custody after the judge imposed the sentence, which also included 200 hours of community service and a $1,000 donation to the Children’s Advocacy Center. After Acosta was cuffed and as he was being led from the courtroom, he leaned in for a kiss from his wife, but David Walz, a court security officer, pulled him back.

While acknowledging the tough and important work that DCFS child welfare specialists have, the judge said there was “no evidence that Mr. Acosta was overworked” but, rather, that his actions showed “truly a willful refusal to investigate.”

Strickland said that while he considered it a high bar to impose a sentence on a government employee, “there is not immunity no matter what you do. There has to be some form of accountability when such a dramatic failure to act took place.”

At his trial, Acosta was accused of failing to take the required measures to protect AJ despite strong evidence of continued abuse and neglect by his parents. The boy had been placed in foster care because he was born with drugs in his system, but he was eventually returned to his parents. Much of the testimony centered on what occurred after after an emergency 911 call was made Dec. 18, 2018, by a Crystal Lake police officer concerned about AJ’s welfare.

At the time, the officer said the Freund home at 94 Dole Ave. was cold, “filthy” smelled of urine and feces, its kitchen floor was torn up and the ceiling was falling in. The officer testified she also saw and photographed AJ who had a large bruise on his hip and a fat lip.

What AJ deserved was a chance ... a happy life. What AJ got was a shallow grave.

—  Judge George Strickland, in sentencing former DCFS worker Carlos Acosta for inaction before AJ Freund was killed by his mother

AJ had told an emergency room doctor that “maybe Mommy didn’t mean to hurt me” but was nonetheless returned to his parents’ house. The DCFS investigation of alleged abuse was closed in January 2019 and classified as “unfounded.”

Just four months later, AJ was murdered. His parents – JoAnn Cunningham, 41, and Andrew Freund Sr., 65 – eventually pleaded guilty in his slaying and are in prison.

At his sentencing, AJ’s foster mother, who took custody of him during the first 18 months of his life because he was born with heroin in his system, described AJ as a beautiful, bubbly and “an amazing child.” He loved to watch “Curious George” and “Sesame Street” and had over come “so much in his life.”

“He had the most amazing smile and he was just perfect,” she said. “He loved animals and going to the zoo. ... He played with stuffed animals and loved to be outside playing in the snow and being pulled in the sled.”

She said she “mourned his absence” when she was court-ordered to give him back to his biological parents and was heartbroken when, two years later, his parents cut her off from seeing him at all. She could only hope his parents were staying sober and he was being cared for. She relied on Acosta and DCFS to inform her should they need help. She “would have dropped everything” to help AJ, she said. “However, that call never came.”

Of Acosta, she said: “Mr. Acosta had an opportunity to be a hero, actually he had a responsibility to be a hero.”

Assistant State’s Attorney Randi Freese argued probation alone would be inadequate, calling Acosta “a defiant and apathetic DCFS employee, someone who had a job who outright refused to do it.”

Acosta’s failure to intervene “had fatal consequences for AJ, and now there should be criminal consequences for the defendant,” Freese said. “He didn’t do even the bare minimum for AJ so he doesn’t deserve a minimum sentence.”

The day AJ “mustered up courage” while in the hospital to say, “‘Maybe Mommy didn’t mean to hurt [me]’ ... should have been a new beginning for AJ,” Freese said.

“It should have been the day he escaped his house of horrors and monstrous parents,” Freese said. “It should have been the day he got a fresh start. Now everyone knew the truth. They’d seen the condition of that house; they’d seen the condition of his drug addicted, lying mother; most importantly, they’d seen obvious signs of physical abuse on his tiny little body.”

“Those tiny scared words screamed proof beyond any doubt that the sweet little boy had been abused and that he was in danger. ... He needed help, he wanted help. The problem is that this guy got assigned to the case,” she said, turning toward Acosta and holding a photo of AJ, “the child abuse investigator who couldn’t have cared less.”

In asking for probation, Acosta’s defense attorney Rebecca Lee noted Acosta, 58, spent in professional life in social service work and asked the court to “take into account the high price Carlos has already paid and will continue to pay forever.”

Lee said Acosta was a low risk for reoffending and had otherwise led a law-abiding life.

“We do not dispute the tragedy of AJ’s death,” Lee said, acknowledging Acosta made “some bad judgment calls and serious omissions.” But she said he was “a harried, overworked DCFS employee” who did not have “an intent to do harm.”

Acosta also gave a statement Thursday saying he is remorseful, he takes responsibility for his ”role in this tragedy” and asked for leniency.

“A day does not go by I don’t regret and feel remorse. I am truly sorry for pain I have caused AJ’s family, also my family and my community and colleagues in child welfare profession,” he said. “I am not the lazy, uncaring monster [McHenry County State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally] portrayed me to be.”

Acosta listed his history as a social worker, volunteer and elected official and asked that he have the “opportunity for redemption from my community and forgiveness from my God.”

In an unusual move, prosecutors had brought child endangerment charges against Acosta and his supervisor, Andrew Polovin, arguing that if they’d followed procedures as they were “required,” AJ’s life could have been saved.

Polovin, 51, of Island Lake, was found not guilty on the same charges.

At the time of AJ’s death in 2019, Acosta had recently been elected to the McHenry County Board.

Defense attorneys have maintained that the Woodstock field office where the two worked was understaffed and overworked.

Prior to his sentencing, Acosta’s attorneys sought unsuccessfully to argue that he should receive a new trial. They asserted he did not receive a fair trial last fall when his case was heard before Strickland. But the judge denied the defense’s motion.