Carlos Acosta

The former Illinois Department of Children and Family Services caseworker convicted in the mishandling of the AJ Freund case could face prison time when he is sentenced Thursday.

A Crystal Lake police officer broke into tears Monday as she spoke of her disbelief when a child protective specialist from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services allowed AJ Freund, a bruised 5-year-old boy, to leave the police station with his mother.

The criminal trial for two former Illinois Department of Children and Family Services employees assigned to the case of a 5-year-old Crystal Lake boy killed by his parents in 2019 is set to begin Monday.

The 19 police reports that Department of Children and Family Services employees did not request during an investigation into whether AJ Freund, the 5-year-old Crystal Lake boy later killed by his mother, was being abused can be admitted as evidence, a judge ruled.

The McHenry County Board approved raising its portion of residents' property taxes, which will add about $14 onto a $7,000 bill.

With the polls now closed in Illinois, the count can begin to see which candidates will take the 18 open seats on the McHenry County Board.

The McHenry County Board voted along party lines to send a pair of resolutions voicing opposition to SAFE-T Act and another piece of criminal justice legislation proposed at the state level.

An out-of-county judge will be brought into the McHenry County courthouse to preside over the cases of two case workers charged criminally in connection with the death of a 5-year-old Crystal Lake boy killed by his parents in 2019.

McHenry County Board determined Tuesday how it will stagger the terms of its members for the next decade.

The former Department of Child and Family Services case investigator charged in connection with the death of Crystal Lake’s 5-year-old AJ Freund is asking to have his case separated from his old supervisor’s.

A day many local activists have hoped for arrives Saturday when Illinois law requires McHenry County’s contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to end and the county jail is no longer home to people in ICE custody.

County officials originally proposed a larger property tax levy increase for 2022, but many board members were uncomfortable with the idea

The motion, and the evidence the prosecution wants to admit at trial, are not being made available to the public to view, as they have been impounded.

McHenry County has received as much as $10 million from a contract with ICE, but a new state law requires the contract to end along with the revenue stream

The number of county board districts will be increased to nine from six to account for the reducing the board from 24 to 18 members in the 2022 election

The McHenry County Board voted Tuesday evening to postpone consideration of a flag policy that many board members and residents saw as an attempt to stop the county from flying the gay pride flag.

Former DCFS employee Carlos Acosta will be allowed to travel to Texas at the end of July

McHenry County Board to consider the cancelation of ICE contract after committee approval Thursday

Resolution will be considered by second committee next Thursday; activists say action at the local level is sends an important message

The push to end McHenry County's contract with ICE has gone on for months with protests, a car caravan and numerous public comments at public meetings.

The Crystal Lake parents convicted of beating and killing their 5-year-old son could be called to testify in the trials of two former child welfare employees who had contact with the family in 2018, court records show

The McHenry County Board will consider to formally encourage the McHenry County Sheriff's Office to start using body cameras and request that the agency run a cost-benefit analysis to see if the idea would be financially feasible.

Prosecutors will have to show former caseworker Carlos Acosta, 54, and his supervisor Andrew Polovin, 48, were not only neglectful and endangered Freund, but that it was their activity or lack of activity that caused the death of the child

The details of the case, where Acosta was the caseworker and Crystal Lake’s AJ Freund ultimately died, are well documented. So is public opinion, which is both Freund’s parents and DCFS should pay for his death.

A pair of former child welfare employees who had prior contact with slain Crystal Lake boy AJ Freund and his family were arrested Thursday on child endangerment charges.

A decision by the McHenry County Board on whether the jail should keep its contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was pushed back Thursday

A resolution to end McHenry County's contract with ICE was shot down in a Law and Government Committee meeting of the McHenry County Board Tuesday morning.

Prosecutors are investigating whether they should charge a former Department of Children and Family Services worker with child endangerment related to his actions after a 2018 report of injury to Crystal Lake’s AJ Freund, who later was killed.

At the start of Tuesday evening’s McHenry County Board meeting, District 3 board member Joseph Gottemoller filed a motion to remove two new resolutions from the meeting’s agenda.

“Maybe someone hit me with a belt,” 5-year-old AJ Freund told an emergency room physician Dec. 18. “Maybe mommy didn’t mean to hurt me.”

Newly elected McHenry County Clerk Joe Tirio said he plans to improve accuracy of elections following news that his predecessor did not include tens of thousands of early votes, a margin that altered the outcome of several major races

The outcomes of three major McHenry County races changed Thursday after Clerk Mary McClellan updated the county’s election website to include early voting numbers.