MCHENRY COUNTY, Ill. — The trial for two former DCFS workers accused of reckless conduct related to the death of 5-year-old AJ Freund in April 2019 began on Monday.
Andrew Polovin and Carlos Acosta were taken into custody and charged with two counts of endangering the life of a child and health of a minor and one count reckless conduct back in Sept. 2020.
Both pleaded not guilty.
Last December, a judge ruled that nearly 20 police reports that Polovin and Acosta allegedly failed to review will be allowed to be used in the trial.
The same month Freund was killed, Acosta and Polovin were placed on desk duty and they both left the agency later that year.
Polovin was Acosta’s supervisor in the months before Andrew “AJ” Freund’s body was found in a shallow grave near his family’s Crystal Lake home in April 2019. Freund was tortured and beaten prior to his death.
Documents allege that Polovin and Acosta “knowingly caused or permitted (AJ) … to be placed in circumstances that endangered AJ’s life or health.”
Freund’s mother, JoAnn Cunningham, pleaded guilty to her murder charge and was sentenced to 35 years. His father, Andrew Freund, pleaded guilty to an assortment of charges and was sentenced to 30 years.
Cameras are allowed in the courtroom for the trial.
