A former child abuse investigator was sentenced to six months in jail Thursday for failing to protect AJ Freund, a 5-year-old boy killed in 2019 by his mother in Crystal Lake, and welfare workers took the occasion to protest what they said was a dangerous workload.
Carlos Acosta, 58, a former investigator for the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services and former McHenry County Board member, also was sentenced to 30 months of probation and 200 hours of volunteer service, and ordered to pay $1,000 to the McHenry County Children’s Advocacy Center.
In what was believed to be the first such conviction of a child welfare worker in Illinois, Acosta was convicted last year of endangering the life or health of a child.
AJ’s mother, JoAnn Cunningham, was convicted of murder and is serving a 35-year sentence. His father, Andrew Freund Sr., was convicted of involuntary manslaughter, concealment of a homicide and aggravated battery of a child, and is serving 30 years.
In December 2018, four months before the boy’s death, Acosta was called to investigate after AJ was found to have a large bruise on his hip while living with a heroin-addicted mother in a damaged house filled with urine and feces.
AJ told a doctor, “Maybe mommy hit me with a belt. Maybe mommy didn’t mean to hurt me.” But prosecutors said Acosta let the boy go back with his parents without investigating further.
Defense attorneys raised the issue of DCFS investigators’ workload, but Lake County Associate Judge George Strickland, who handled the case after McHenry County judges recused themselves, said the case “had nothing to do with the DCFS being overworked.”
He said Acosta’s apathy led him to violate the agency’s own procedures for investigating abuse, by failing to use resources like getting a forensic doctor or special investigators to look into obvious red flags, and failing to look into the mother’s history of substance abuse.
Noting that Acosta “falsified” his reports by leaving out damning information, the judge said, “This was truly a willful refusal to investigate.”
Strickland previously acquitted Acosta’s supervisor, Andrew Polovin, in the case, saying he deserved “vilification” but the judge couldn’t tell what he knew due to the faulty reports.
Bailiffs immediately took Acosta into custody to begin the three months he will likely serve due to reduced time for good behavior in jail. Just before the sentence, Acosta apologized for AJ’s death.
“A day does not go by where I don’t regret and feel remorse over the loss of AJ,” he said. “I am truly sorry for the pain I have caused AJ’s family … my family, my community and my colleagues.”
“I am not the lazy uncaring monster that (McHenry County State’s Attorney) Patrick (Kenneally) has portrayed me to be,” he said. “I am a social worker. … I have lived in and served my community for the last 30 years. … I do accept my responsibility for my role in this tragedy.”
“All I can ask for today is leniency from the court, the opportunity for redemption from my community, and forgiveness from my god.”
Despite Acosta’s apology, First Assistant State’s Attorney Randi Freese said he showed an “utter lack of remorse,” noting he wore an earring depicting a raised middle finger to work and to an investigative meeting after the incident, and that his phone password began with “apathy.”
Prosecutors had asked for at least one year in prison, while defense attorney Rebecca Lee asked for probation, arguing that Acosta had paid a high price by losing his career and being publicly shamed and convicted.
“I would submit that he made these grievous errors as a harried, overworked DCFS employee, and not with the intent to cause harm,” she said.
Kenneally said the case was not an indictment of DCFS, but should show that child welfare, police and prosecutors should be held accountable if they don’t do their jobs to protect children.
“I would consider it a wake-up call for everybody,” he said.
“We hope and we continue to pray that AJ’s death and all that he suffered has already saved children’s lives and will continue to do so,” he added.
DCFS workers Chyaire Brown and Alex Medina challenged Kenneally during his post-hearing press conference, saying DCFS employees are badly overworked and supported Acosta. Brown, a supervisor in Will and Grundy counties, said investigators often are assigned more than 12 new cases a month, in violation of a court order to limit their caseload.
Workers are often harassed by parents, Brown said, noting that two workers were murdered on the job in the past six years.
When AJ was born with heroin in his system, he was taken away from his mother and placed in protective custody with Lisa Matsen for the first year and a half of his life.
At the sentencing, Matsen testified that AJ was a happy child with a beautiful smile. She and her family marked AJ’s milestones like learning to crawl and say his first word, and celebrated his first birthday at a nature center. He loved the outdoors, animals at the zoo, Curious George, playing in the snow and being pulled in a sled.
After Cunningham underwent drug treatment and a court order returned AJ to his parents, Matsen and her family continued to help take care of him when needed. But after two years, Cunningham cut off any contact, saying AJ acted up after being with her.
“I was really the person he called mommy, and I remain to this day the only real mother he ever knew,” Matsen said.
Matsen still takes care of AJ’s younger brother, Parker, and another adopted son, calling them “the light of my life.”
“I cannot describe the loss my entire family and others felt and continue to feel,” she said. “We think about him every day. Our only solace is knowing he was able to experience love, family, peace and joy for his short time with us. … He will always be in our hearts and the hearts of others as well.”
DCFS issued a statement calling AJ’s case “heartbreaking,” and cited initiatives the office has made to improve child protective services, implementing recommendations from the state inspector general and experts, such as the evidence-based SAFE Model.
“The work of frontline child protection workers is incredibly difficult, and DCFS continues to implement strategies to improve critical thinking and decision-making by field teams and supervisors,” the statement read.
