AJ Freund's DCFS Worker Gets Jail Time

MCHENRY COUNTY, IL — The DCFS worker tasked with investigating the AJ Freund case has been sentenced to jail time.

A McHenry County judge on Thursday sentenced Carlos Acosta, 57, to six months in jail and 30 months of probation.

Acosta, of Woodstock, was found guilty on charges of endangering the life of a child and health of a minor, Class 3 felonies, and reckless conduct, a Class 4 felony in October. His supervisor, Andrew Polovin, 51, of Island Lake, faced the same charges in the child endangerment case but was cleared.

It's rare for DCFS employees to be charged with wrongdoing in connection with a child's death.

Prior to his conviction last fall, McHenry County Judge George Strickland said Acosta failed to protect the 5-year-old boy who was allowed to stay with his family even after officials noticed unexplained injuries on him, found filth throughout the home and even despite a history of domestic violence and his mother's heroin use, according to Shaw Local News Network.

"This was a refusal to investigate," Strickland said Friday.

MORE ON PATCH

• AJ Freund's DCFS Worker Guilty In Child Endangerment Case
  
• 1 Year Later, AJ's Memory Lives On
• Closing Arguments Begin In Trial Of Ex-DCFS Workers Charged In A.J. Freund's Death
• 'I'd Give My Life To Get AJ Back': Cunningham
• DCFS Reflects On 4th Anniversary, Changes Made Since AJ's Death