Ex-child welfare workers don’t testify in their trial related to death of 5-year-old AJ Freund; closing arguments expected next month
CHICAGO — Two former child welfare workers declined to testify Friday in their trial on charges they failed to protect 5-year-old A.J. Freund before his death at the hands of his mother in Crystal Lake in 2019.
Carlos Acosta, a former investigator for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, and his supervisor, Andrew Polovin, both declined to tell their side of the story, as is their right.
Each man is charged with endangering the life or health of a child and reckless conduct. Prosecutors rested their case Thursday. AJ died in McHenry County, so the case is being heard there, but judges there recused themselves, so Lake County Judge George Strickland is handling the case.
In December 2018, police took the boy and his 3-year-old brother into protective custody after finding the house in disrepair with urine and feces on the floor, and a large bruise on AJ’s hip and other marks on his face.
The boy told a doctor, “Maybe someone hit me with a belt,” and “Maybe Mommy didn’t mean to hurt me.” AJ’s mother, JoAnn Cunningham, had a history of heroin addiction and calls of domestic violence to her home, which are known risks for child abuse. But Acosta, consulting with Polovin, released the boys to their parents, and closed the case two weeks later as “unfounded.”
Four months later, AJ was found beaten to death by Cunningham. She and the boy’s father, Andrew Freund Sr., are in prison. AJ’s brother is living with a relative.
Defense attorneys argued that DCFS workers were overworked and understaffed, with caseloads that exceeded a court order. The threat to AJ, they said, only became evident in hindsight.
After a scheduling conference next week, attorneys likely will give closing arguments in the bench trial in early October.
If convicted of a Class 3 felony, which would require showing the defendants’ actions were a proximate cause of AJ’s death, the defendants could face two to 10 years in prison. If convicted of misdemeanors, they could get probation.
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