Supervisor denies DCFS workers were ‘lazy’ at endangerment trial in death of 5-year-old AJ Freund

Questioning by defense attorneys Wednesday led to suggestions that former child welfare workers did more to investigate an abuse allegation involving 5-year-old AJ Freund than was reflected in their reports.

The cross-examination challenged prosecutors’ narrative that former Department of Children and Family Services investigator Carlos Acosta and his supervisor, Andrew Polovin, failed to prevent AJ’s death by abuse from his mother in 2019.

Acosta and Polovin each are charged with child endangerment and reckless conduct, relating to their investigation of an incident that occurred about four months before AJ was fatally beaten at his home in Crystal Lake.

AJ died in April 2019 after being beaten and forced into a cold shower by his mother, JoAnn Cunningham. She is serving 35 years in prison for his murder. AJ’s father, Andrew Freund Sr., is serving 30 years for burying AJ in a field and concealing his death.

In December 2018, police called DCFS to investigate a large bruise on AJ’s hip and filthy conditions in his house, including urine and feces on the floor. Police took AJ and his 3-year-old brother into protective custody, but Acosta released them. He and Polovin closed the case as unfounded on Jan. 4, 2019.

Under questioning from defense attorney Rebecca Lee, the defendants’ former regional supervisor, Carol Ruzicka, now retired, acknowledged that the case file referenced police and medical reports detailing prior incidents involving Cunningham, despite prior testimony that the defendants failed to document such issues.

Ruzicka also acknowledged that DCFS was “never humming on all cylinders” and was subject to a court order meant to limit worker caseloads. DCFS often has exceeded those limits, and a state audit found 102 deaths of children who had prior DCFS contact from 2015 to 2017 — yet Lee said this was the only prosecution of such a case that she knew of.

At times, the two defense teams have tried to shift part of the blame to the other defendant.

Questioned by Polovin’s attorney, Matthew McQuaid, Ruzicka acknowledged that Polovin gave extensive written directions to Acosta on how to handle the case, such as questioning how AJ actually got hurt and how the parents disciplined him, to get photos, police reports and a medical exam, assess any health or safety hazards and potentially refer for services.

Polovin also noted two prior abuse investigations he handled involving AJ, when AJ was born with heroin in his system and was put in foster care, and in March 2018, when Cunningham was found with fresh heroin needle marks on her arms, feet and neck.

Ruzicka said Polovin had a reputation and history of closing cases hastily without being thorough, and she counseled him about it — but when asked if the defendants were “lazy,” Ruzicka replied, “Oh, no.”

She also conceded that AJ’s bruise was not deemed a “serious” DCFS case in comparison with cases involving broken bones, burns or internal injuries, and that the decision of how to handle the case was a “judgment call.”

DCFS could take custody of a child only when there was an urgent or immediate threat, and has a goal of keeping families together when it’s safe to do so.

The McHenry County state’s attorney’s office paid Ruzicka almost $8,000, at $200 per hour, for her previous work on the case, and she planned to bill the office for her time testifying.

Also on Wednesday, a doctor who specializes in child abuse testified that he would be concerned by photos of bruises on AJ’s body. The presence of multiple bruises and scratches near both his eyes, nose and lips and above his hip were concerning, said Dr. Raymond Davis of the Medical Evaluation Response Initiative Team, or MERIT.

The fact that the bruise on AJ’s hip wrapped around from front to back also suggested potential abuse, Davis said.

MERIT Director Shannon Kruger, a nurse practitioner, also testified that the number, location and types of injuries suggested nonaccidental injuries, unlikely to be caused by a dog, and would have prompted MERIT to see AJ quickly.

An emergency room doctor who examined AJ was alarmed by his bruises and the fact that AJ said, “Maybe someone hit me with a belt” and “Maybe Mommy didn’t mean to hurt me.” The ER doctor suggested that another physician trained in child abuse look at the case, but that was never done.

The trial was expected to continue through Friday.