In what’s believed to be the primary profitable prosecution of its type in Illinois, a former little one welfare employee was discovered responsible Friday of kid endangerment within the beating dying of 5-year-old AJ Freund in Crystal Lake, however his supervisor was discovered not responsible.
Carlos Acosta, who was the case investigator for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, was discovered responsible in McHenry County court docket of endangering the life or well being of a kid. He was discovered not responsible of reckless conduct.
Lake County Judge George Strickland mentioned he couldn’t discover Acosta’s supervisor, Andrew Polovin, responsible of both cost as a result of he didn’t know the way a lot Polovin knew about AJ being abused. Strickland dealt with the case as a result of all McHenry County judges recused themselves.
AJ died in April 2019 after being overwhelmed by his mom, JoAnn Cunningham. She is serving a 35-year sentence for his homicide.
The boy’s father, Andrew Freund Sr., was sentenced to 30 years in jail for convictions associated to overlaying up the homicide by burying the boy’s physique in a area.
Acosta, who’s free on bond, faces two to 10 years in jail or probation. He is a former McHenry County board member.
Polovin’s legal professional, Matthew McQuaid, mentioned he and his shopper have been “grateful” for the decision.
“I never thought he committed a crime,” McQuaid mentioned.
He mentioned Polovin, who was fired by DCFS, is working in one other area.
This was believed to be the primary profitable prosecution of a kid welfare employee in Illinois, McHenry County State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally mentioned.
He mentioned AJ’s household supported the prosecution and was “relieved” by the decision.
As for DCFS, Kenneally mentioned he hoped it might convey accountability to the company.
“We hope it’s a shift in the landscape,” he mentioned. “We’ve been running across — at least as long as I’ve been here — a significant deficit in the ability of DCFS to investigate these cases and to get us accurate information and to help us keep children safe.”
The case centered on occasions that occurred Dec. 18, 2018, 4 months earlier than AJ’s dying, when police referred to as Acosta to analyze AJ’s potential little one abuse.
At that point, Cunningham had referred to as police to report her ex-boyfriend had stolen her cellphone and her suboxone, a drug used to deal with heroin habit.
When Crystal Lake police responded, Officer Kimberley Shipbaugh reported that the home was “disgusting,” with a ripped-up ground and ceiling, damaged and open home windows, and feces and urine all through. When she requested about a big bruise on AJ’s hip, she mentioned the hairs on her arm stood up when the mom prompted AJ to agree that the canine did it.
Immediately suspecting abuse, the officer took AJ into protecting custody.
Later that day, when a health care provider requested how the bruise occurred, the boy advised her, “Maybe someone hit me with a belt. Maybe Mommy didn’t mean to hurt me.”
The physician really useful {that a} doctor skilled in little one abuse conduct a extra thorough examination and that AJ not be launched to his mom. But Acosta ended protecting custody, and let AJ go house together with his father, with no additional medical examination.
The choose discovered that Acosta’s reviews have been “dishonest” by repeatedly omitting necessary warning indicators of potential abuse, such because the mom’s psychological sickness, obvious latest drug use, marks on AJ’s face, and horrible residing situations.
The case ought to have been seen within the context of the household’s long-standing dysfunction, the choose mentioned. Cunningham had misplaced custody of AJ for 18 months when she gave beginning to him with opioids and benzodiazepines of their our bodies. She had a historical past of heroin use, as not too long ago as March of 2018, had repeated calls to the police for home violence in opposition to AJ’s father, had repeatedly threatened suicide, and beforehand misplaced custody of a foster little one.
Strickland mentioned Acosta’s failures have been a proximate reason behind AJ’s dying, and referred to as the reason that the canine brought on the bruise “laughable.”
“This is a refusal to investigate,” the choose mentioned.
Even if DCFS staff have been overloaded with circumstances, because the protection prompt, they need to have gotten assist from the police, prosecutors, docs, and the Children’s Advocacy Center to look into the case, the choose mentioned.
“I know that you weren’t supervising anything,” the choose advised Polovin. He significantly ridiculed Polovin’s remark in a textual content message about AJ’s bruise being attributable to a canine, “That looks nasty, but if that’s what the kid says.”
“As far as I’m concerned, you completely abdicated your responsibility in this case,” the choose advised Polovin. “However, because I don’t know exactly what you knew and when you knew it, I cannot find you guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The choose mentioned he was “haunted” by movies of AJ’s mom repeatedly taunting her son about how he may report her to authorities.
“At the end of the day … he was failed by the adults in his life,” the choose mentioned. “He died, he was tortured to death. He deserved due process. AJ never got due process from DCFS. He died suffering, and I hold the two of you and DCFS responsible for that.”
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